I know there are a few different threads on under hood lights, and I like the one with the retractable light that one is cool but I had done this one on my totaled TJ and decided to take some pictures when I moved it over to the new TJ just in case any one was interested.
Warning soldering required. Insert warning if you live in California you will get cancer by reading further in this thread
I had purchased a few of these for another project and decided I liked them enough for the price that I would try them under the hood but I didn't want to have another switch and extra wires and so on so I tapped into the stock under hood lamp and put 2 of these up at the top of the hood and they light up the engine and surrounding ground really nice.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ABPGAUC/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I kept the stock light mounting and upgraded the LED in it also and so the front and the back of the engine bay have good light.
I modified this light because I had a pack of them from another project and they worked great. I needed to file off the end and solder on a loop to hang it in the way that the proper bulb would have mounted. I know they make a proper LED bulb but since I had them on hand I made a modification.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZKTXGQQ/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Ok so on to the upgrade. I used short self tapping screws and mounted the lights on both sides under the hood on the inner hood where there is a hole on both the drive and the passenger side already that the wiring can go through . Make sure what ever you do use short screws and don't pierce though to damage the hood that is just on the other side of the inner hood. One benefit of the self tapping screws is that you don't need to drill a hole and accidentally shoot through and damage the hood with the drill bit. Run the wires up and towards the center where they will need to be wired together and then wired to go down the center of the hood in the inner hood support.
The way the hood support is in place the leds won't be equally spaced from the center and I had to add a few inches to the side opposite the hoop prop. I used these crimp connectors rather than the standard butt crimp ones. Run 2 wires from the top down the center channel to help conceal them on the upper side I used some extra tape to prevent chafing and on the bottom I used split loom because there is more room but do what works for what you have on hand. Join the 2 led lights and the power supply line that is run down the center make sure to keep track of your polarity of the wires. led's matter you can't just connect them any old way. I had some spare white and blue wire so I used the white for + and the dark blue for -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M65K6PY/?tag=wranglerorg-20
The OEM light housing has plastic clips that can allow it to be removed or it can be unbolted. I unclipped mine to allow access to it for soldering to the wires on and then also to allow the tucking of the wires under it when it is reinstalled.
By using the stock housing then the lights will turn off when the hood is closed. I have read that this switch will go bad and be problematic but I have been lucky so far my 3 jeeps have always had this working. Be careful not to solder to close to the bulb holder ends because you will have the upgraded LED bulb to put back in.
The shorter bulb hanger is the positive side and the longer one is the negative side.
Once soldered up and wires tucked in put the LED bulb in the holder and clip the holder back in to its place with it's cover on. Now enjoy copious amounts of light while you put your tools away. I traced out where my wires are tucked in showing in yellow just in case it wasn't clear from my description.
I don't have any shop lights on it is really dark out and you can see still that the ground it lit up these suckers are bright.
The position of the inner hood support on the front of the hood there is a spot here where the lights are almost perfectly pointed at the engine bay. It is super bright.
Things to watch for be careful of :
Make sure you don't shoot screws that are too long all they way through the inner hood supports and mess up your hood. Man that would suck so take your time, make sure and use screws that will be short enoough to not be a problem and place them where it is clearly not going to be an issue. Also I am not sure it would be good to keep a standard non LED bulb and run the LED's that might be too much power. But the draw of the 3 led's I am certain is less that the oem light that was in there.
What I would like to do maybe differently would be to find some one with some of those KC puck lights and see just how bright they are and if I didn't have these cheep puck lights I might consider a set of those I bet they are even cooler of an upgrade.
Hope that is useful. I also put the same lights under the dash inplace of the stock ones and on either side of my speaker bar along with upgrading the stock speaker bar dome light to LED>
Warning soldering required. Insert warning if you live in California you will get cancer by reading further in this thread
I had purchased a few of these for another project and decided I liked them enough for the price that I would try them under the hood but I didn't want to have another switch and extra wires and so on so I tapped into the stock under hood lamp and put 2 of these up at the top of the hood and they light up the engine and surrounding ground really nice.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ABPGAUC/?tag=wranglerorg-20
I kept the stock light mounting and upgraded the LED in it also and so the front and the back of the engine bay have good light.
I modified this light because I had a pack of them from another project and they worked great. I needed to file off the end and solder on a loop to hang it in the way that the proper bulb would have mounted. I know they make a proper LED bulb but since I had them on hand I made a modification.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZKTXGQQ/?tag=wranglerorg-20
Ok so on to the upgrade. I used short self tapping screws and mounted the lights on both sides under the hood on the inner hood where there is a hole on both the drive and the passenger side already that the wiring can go through . Make sure what ever you do use short screws and don't pierce though to damage the hood that is just on the other side of the inner hood. One benefit of the self tapping screws is that you don't need to drill a hole and accidentally shoot through and damage the hood with the drill bit. Run the wires up and towards the center where they will need to be wired together and then wired to go down the center of the hood in the inner hood support.
The way the hood support is in place the leds won't be equally spaced from the center and I had to add a few inches to the side opposite the hoop prop. I used these crimp connectors rather than the standard butt crimp ones. Run 2 wires from the top down the center channel to help conceal them on the upper side I used some extra tape to prevent chafing and on the bottom I used split loom because there is more room but do what works for what you have on hand. Join the 2 led lights and the power supply line that is run down the center make sure to keep track of your polarity of the wires. led's matter you can't just connect them any old way. I had some spare white and blue wire so I used the white for + and the dark blue for -
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M65K6PY/?tag=wranglerorg-20
The OEM light housing has plastic clips that can allow it to be removed or it can be unbolted. I unclipped mine to allow access to it for soldering to the wires on and then also to allow the tucking of the wires under it when it is reinstalled.
By using the stock housing then the lights will turn off when the hood is closed. I have read that this switch will go bad and be problematic but I have been lucky so far my 3 jeeps have always had this working. Be careful not to solder to close to the bulb holder ends because you will have the upgraded LED bulb to put back in.
The shorter bulb hanger is the positive side and the longer one is the negative side.
Once soldered up and wires tucked in put the LED bulb in the holder and clip the holder back in to its place with it's cover on. Now enjoy copious amounts of light while you put your tools away. I traced out where my wires are tucked in showing in yellow just in case it wasn't clear from my description.
I don't have any shop lights on it is really dark out and you can see still that the ground it lit up these suckers are bright.
The position of the inner hood support on the front of the hood there is a spot here where the lights are almost perfectly pointed at the engine bay. It is super bright.
Things to watch for be careful of :
Make sure you don't shoot screws that are too long all they way through the inner hood supports and mess up your hood. Man that would suck so take your time, make sure and use screws that will be short enoough to not be a problem and place them where it is clearly not going to be an issue. Also I am not sure it would be good to keep a standard non LED bulb and run the LED's that might be too much power. But the draw of the 3 led's I am certain is less that the oem light that was in there.
What I would like to do maybe differently would be to find some one with some of those KC puck lights and see just how bright they are and if I didn't have these cheep puck lights I might consider a set of those I bet they are even cooler of an upgrade.
Hope that is useful. I also put the same lights under the dash inplace of the stock ones and on either side of my speaker bar along with upgrading the stock speaker bar dome light to LED>
