Decided I needed some more light in the back, especially since I'm outside and camping more often. Picked up one of these from my supplier at work. Slim LED Light, draws 2 amps:
For my wires, I tapped into the power wire for my rear dome light. Cut and soldered into the 12v battery wire (Blue Wire). Ran the power wire through the loom and down the hatch. Coat hanger was very useful in routing the wire. All my connections were soldered and heat shrunk. Used electrical tape to secure everything together.
I wanted the light to only come on with the hatch open. Since running the wire through the loom so was a pain, I decided to use the ground signal from the rear hatch latch as my ground for the light. This way the cargo light will only get a ground with the hatch open. It is the Red Wire coming out of the latch harness. If you do this. make sure you run your ground the same path as the existing harness that is there and away from the rear window track. It is clipped inside the hatch.
Secured all wires. Followed existing harness and ran wires to outside of the hatch cover plate. Added a couple cable tie holders and secured my wires. Added an inline fuse just in case:
Final result in day time. I'll take some pictures later when it gets night. But it is pretty bright:
The down side is that it only comes in white from my supplier. So I'm going to run around some stores this afternoon and see if I can pick up some paint to match the Brown plastic. If I can't I'll spray it flat black.
On a side note, if anyone wanted to follow my directions and also add a switch to the light so the light comes on with the latch open and with a switch if needed... You can run a relay and a switch, but for the signal wire for the light run GROUND. Do not run 12 volts. You can avoid a relay and just put a switch in again, grounding a wire somewhere and soldering another ground wire to the ground wire on the light, however I'm pretty sure your rear dome light will also come on because the light is now connected to the dome circuit. Or you can soldered ground and power wires from the rear dome light and run both ground/power wires off the dome light and through the loom and hatch...
Thanks for looking,
Rafal
For my wires, I tapped into the power wire for my rear dome light. Cut and soldered into the 12v battery wire (Blue Wire). Ran the power wire through the loom and down the hatch. Coat hanger was very useful in routing the wire. All my connections were soldered and heat shrunk. Used electrical tape to secure everything together.
I wanted the light to only come on with the hatch open. Since running the wire through the loom so was a pain, I decided to use the ground signal from the rear hatch latch as my ground for the light. This way the cargo light will only get a ground with the hatch open. It is the Red Wire coming out of the latch harness. If you do this. make sure you run your ground the same path as the existing harness that is there and away from the rear window track. It is clipped inside the hatch.
Secured all wires. Followed existing harness and ran wires to outside of the hatch cover plate. Added a couple cable tie holders and secured my wires. Added an inline fuse just in case:
Final result in day time. I'll take some pictures later when it gets night. But it is pretty bright:
The down side is that it only comes in white from my supplier. So I'm going to run around some stores this afternoon and see if I can pick up some paint to match the Brown plastic. If I can't I'll spray it flat black.
On a side note, if anyone wanted to follow my directions and also add a switch to the light so the light comes on with the latch open and with a switch if needed... You can run a relay and a switch, but for the signal wire for the light run GROUND. Do not run 12 volts. You can avoid a relay and just put a switch in again, grounding a wire somewhere and soldering another ground wire to the ground wire on the light, however I'm pretty sure your rear dome light will also come on because the light is now connected to the dome circuit. Or you can soldered ground and power wires from the rear dome light and run both ground/power wires off the dome light and through the loom and hatch...
Thanks for looking,
Rafal
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