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Upgraded interior dome lighting to Rigid Industries

SSVi

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Ok like many of you, I haven't been a fan of how dim the dome lighting system is, even in the 2019 model. I came across a pair of low power rock lights by Rigid and hoped I could make an improvement without making a mess of things.
Taking down the dome light fixture in the JL really isn't tough, there's three screws to deal with in the front and other than that its all clips. Now if you’re anything like me, you make sure to break at least one thing whenever you try to improve something else, in this case one of the two clips holding the actual dome light itself snapped when pulling everything down, so be careful. I knew exactly where I wanted to mount the lights, but as I pulled the molding down I realized it was about to become a pain. The plastic is closed off where I wanted to mount the lights, angled slightly forward, so I took my Dremel and a cutting wheel (after marking and drilling the mounting holes and cut a square out of the back, luckily its nowhere that can be seen when its all back together. Threading the nuts onto the screws was tough at first until I realized if I just use one finger and hold the locknut in place over the hole I could at least get the screws started, and then switch to the 11mm wrench to tighten it down.
I couldn't come across a good wiring diagram, my options were black (neg), yellow/blue or yellow/purple. Yellow/blue being the incorrect one, I of course tapped into that one first, and found it to be an always on switch, so I carefully pulled the tap back out, taped and sealed that wire up and tapped into the yellow/purple wire (also a smaller wire of the two options.) The Rigid lights operate just like factory, fade on with unlock, and slowly fade off when the doors shut. Its broad daylight right now but the difference is pretty significant, I’ll post a couple pics tonight for comparison.
Overall it was a very simple install, cutting the access holes and threading the nuts were the toughest part of all of it. If I had known the tricks earlier (and which wire to tap) this could have easily been an hour job.
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Lou_JLU

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Great work!
I've just added this huge improvement to my project list.
 

Scarr2k

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Is the third picture where you used the dremel to cut the square? Nice work.


dremel.JPG
 

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SSVi

SSVi

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Is the third picture where you used the dremel to cut the square? Nice work.


dremel.JPG
Yep, not the cleanest work, its definitely some hard angles to work with once you have it in your hands.
 

Scarr2k

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Yep, not the cleanest work, its definitely some hard angles to work with once you have it in your hands.
Thanks. Silly question but could you just use a spade bit "carefully" to make a small cicular hole? Because this hole is just to route the power/negative wire of the Rigid to the dome wiring correct?
 

jmcdtucson

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Now if you’re anything like me, you make sure to break at least one thing whenever you try to improve something else,
Yep, at least. :headbang:
Yellow/blue being the incorrect one, I of course tapped into that one first
Of course :CWL:
 

Scarr2k

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I'm debating maybe putting just one up front in passenger area and another in the rear cargo area if there's space. Unsure how that would look though.
 

JeepSmash

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Nice work. I don't mind the 2019 Dome light but I wish they had put some sort of easier to reach "map light". Maybe on the bottom of the mirror or something.
 

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SSVi

SSVi

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Thanks. Silly question but could you just use a spade bit "carefully" to make a small cicular hole? Because this hole is just to route the power/negative wire of the Rigid to the dome wiring correct?
Technically yes, but remember you have to get your fingers in there to get the bolt started and then a wrench to hold the nut in place to tighten everything up.
 

Scarr2k

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Technically yes, but remember you have to get your fingers in there to get the bolt started and then a wrench to hold the nut in place to tighten everything up.
Yep didn’t think about the bolts. That would be difficult with a small circular hole.
 

AnthemAVM

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Nice upgrade, thinking about this for the rear area.

Those little lights are not cheap.
 
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SSVi

SSVi

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Nice upgrade, thinking about this for the rear area.

Those little lights are not cheap.
$97 on Amazon I believe. I’m sure you could go cheaper if you wanted.
 
 



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