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LED hatch Lights

10K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  Big Blue 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone, I've spent hours looking at all the tips and tricks but have never posted. Now that I have something i find worthy of posting here it goes...
I am on my second Commander in the last 8 months and previously had and 99WJ and a 90XJ. I had installed a light into the hatch on the WJ because it lacked light in the rear and if you weren't inside the cargo area you couldn't see anything. My Commander has the same issue. I finally found an led that I like and they were pretty cheap too.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/HOT-SYSTEM-Bumper-Backup-Motorcycle/dp/B00UN2625M/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1431922620&sr=8-5&keywords=hot+systems+12v+9w[/ame]

They are very bright for the size and not huge intrusive lights.
I installed them in that small hump that covers the rear window latch, one on each side, and wired them in with the small OEM light in the hatch so they come on and off with the interior lights. I'm very happy with the results.
I've also mounted one at the bottom of each rear grab handle and wired them to the reverse lights to add some illumination there. They could also be used as rock lights.
 

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#2 ·
Very nice! And thanks for including the link to buy.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Hello everyone, I've spent hours looking at all the tips and tricks but have never posted. Now that I have something i find worthy of posting here it goes...
I am on my second Commander in the last 8 months and previously had and 99WJ and a 90XJ. I had installed a light into the hatch on the WJ because it lacked light in the rear and if you weren't inside the cargo area you couldn't see anything. My Commander has the same issue. I finally found an led that I like and they were pretty cheap too.

http://www.amazon.com/HOT-SYSTEM-Bu...1431922620&sr=8-5&keywords=hot+systems+12v+9w

They are very bright for the size and not huge intrusive lights.
I installed them in that small hump that covers the rear window latch, one on each side, and wired them in with the small OEM light in the hatch so they come on and off with the interior lights. I'm very happy with the results.
I've also mounted one at the bottom of each rear grab handle and wired them to the reverse lights to add some illumination there. They could also be used as rock lights.
Hey rboots, quick question.

The interior hatch light had two wires going to it.

One is red with a white stripe, the other is yellow with an orange stripe.

I'm assuming that the red wire with the white stripe is positive and the yellow wire with the orange stripe is negative/ground?

Can you confirm?
 
#13 · (Edited)
Hey rboots, quick question.

The interior hatch light had two wires going to it.

One is red with a white stripe, the other is yellow with an orange stripe.

I'm assuming that the red wire with the white stripe is positive and the yellow wire with the orange stripe is negative?

Can you confirm?
I just found a wiring diagram for a 2006 Commander and it confirms the yellow wire with the orange stripe is the ground for all interior dome lights as I suspected.

DOME LIGHT SUPERVISION (-) YELLOW/ORANGE At Courtesy Light

http://www.alarmsellout.com/support/diagrams/vehicle/JEEP%20COMMANDER%202006.pdf

I had the interior panel off of the rear hatch door yesterday checking out the wiring harness and looking to see how it's routed and trying to figure out exactly how I want to wire the LED's in.

When I pulled the rear hatch interior light out, 2 of the plastic tabs on the cover of the light snapped off, the whole light housing (which of course is plastic) is very brittle probably from heat & age, so, I ordered a new one from the dealership yesterday. It should be here on Monday.

My LED interior light kit should also be here Monday, so I should be able to get all of this done at once.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I just finished installing and wiring the rear hatch LED lights....what a pain in the arse that was...I had to pull the entire interior hatch panel off to be able to do the wiring....it SUCKED!!!

rboots said this was easy........well, in my opinion, it was very tedious.

It probably took me about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish.

The wire those LED's come wired with is extremely thin and somewhat difficult to strip and splice.

I had to add additional wire to the wire the LED's came with to make it long enough to comfortably splice into the existing rear hatch light wiring.

I could not find any way to snake the LED wiring through the rear hatch interior door panel without taking it off - for me, there just was not enough space to work.

Once I took the rear hatch interior panel off completely, it made things somewhat simpler - although I did break one of the plastic clips that holds it in place.

Fortunately I had some left over clips from my old door molding that I took off yesterday, that I saved - which will temporarily substitute nicely for the one I broke today, until I can order a new one.

But it's done, it works and it looks pretty damn good if I do say so myself, can't wait to see it tonight.

I also replaced the rear hatch light that I broke with the new one that I ordered from the dealership and replaced the original bulb it came with with an LED.

A couple of daytime pics:







I'll take some night-time pics tonight.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Hello everyone, I've spent hours looking at all the tips and tricks but have never posted. Now that I have something i find worthy of posting here it goes...
I'd just like to give a shout out to rboots who pioneered this rear hatch custom LED light installation/modification.

This was a great idea my friend, thanks for sharing it with us.

It looks great, it's cheap and it's very functional.
 
#17 ·
What an excellent mod!

BigBlue, would you happen to have a link to the LED's you purchased? The link above is no longer active and I'd like to buy a set of the lights and get them installed before it gets too cold.

Thanks - appreciate the great forum!

Bob
 
#25 · (Edited)
That's correct, I spliced them in directly to the rear hatch light wiring, no resistors needed.

You will have to pull the interior panel off the rear hatch door though, that's the only way you have enough room to work.

I tried to just remove the panel half-way and splice the lights in, but, I just didn't have enough room to do the splicing or run the wiring where I wanted it to go and tie-wrap it in place, so, I had to pull the panel completely off.

Not that big of a deal, but, you have to be careful with the clips that hold it in place; they can/may be brittle and you really don't want to break any of them - I think I wound up breaking one of them and had to order a replacement clip.

You can read more about the install here - 4th post down;

http://www.jeepcommander.com/forums...e-modifications/50530-led-hatch-lights-2.html
 
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