Rewiring dome light switch?

adventureboss

TJ Enthusiast
Original poster
Joined
Aug 1, 2023
Messages
139
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
I'm a little surprised I'm the only one actually bothered by this it seems, maybe its a model year thing? The switch for my dome lights is on the left steering wheel stalk that controls the headlights, dimmer, etc. and it's kind of annoying. I'd like to be able to turn it on/off with a separate switch mounted where the O/D rocker switch or diff lock rocker switch would be on a TJ. How hard would it be to add in a toggle, or rocker switch and just re wire the dome lights to that instead of having it controlled by the headlight stalk? I'm sick of having to reach all the way over the steering wheel when I'm trying to load things in from the passenger side of the Jeep.

It should be just simple wiring right? Am I overthinking it?
 
It's exponentially easier to wire in your own lights than to try to integrate additional functions into the factory wiring.
 
I'm a little surprised I'm the only one actually bothered by this it seems, maybe its a model year thing? The switch for my dome lights is on the left steering wheel stalk that controls the headlights, dimmer, etc. and it's kind of annoying. I'd like to be able to turn it on/off with a separate switch mounted where the O/D rocker switch or diff lock rocker switch would be on a TJ. How hard would it be to add in a toggle, or rocker switch and just re wire the dome lights to that instead of having it controlled by the headlight stalk? I'm sick of having to reach all the way over the steering wheel when I'm trying to load things in from the passenger side of the Jeep.

It should be just simple wiring right? Am I overthinking it?

It's actually quite simple to add a switch for the dome lights.
Basically, you can just add another 'door' switch which sends a ground signal to the cluster.
One side of switch goes to a ground, the other side is tapped into the cluster signal wire.
IIRC, I used the purple wire attached to one of the door switches.
Best thing is if you leave it on, it goes off automatically.
 
My dome light comes on when I open either door.Switched on by the plunger switch fitted into the door jamb at about knee level.It is a factory item
om my 2001 Sahara.i assume your Tj does not have these, or does not doors fitted/ switches removed.

Oh I didn't mean the courtesy lights, mine has those. I'm talking about the interior lights that you can turn on via the instrument cluster dimmer switch by twisting it to the most forward position. I'm just sick of reaching over the steering wheel to get to it when I'm loading things.
 
It's actually quite simple to add a switch for the dome lights.
Basically, you can just add another 'door' switch which sends a ground signal to the cluster.
One side of switch goes to a ground, the other side is tapped into the cluster signal wire.
IIRC, I used the purple wire attached to one of the door switches.
Best thing is if you leave it on, it goes off automatically.

Yup, this is along the lines of what I was trying to do. Glad to know it isn't stupid complicated or ridiculous to do like newer vehicles with a canbus haha
 
Oh I didn't mean the courtesy lights, mine has those. I'm talking about the interior lights that you can turn on via the instrument cluster dimmer switch by twisting it to the most forward position. I'm just sick of reaching over the steering wheel to get to it when I'm loading things.

Well, I don't understand your problem .As I said before.When I open the doors the roof dome light comes on ,as does the footwell lights, no matter what position the rotating switch on the column is set to. What happens when you open a door,does the dome light come on or not? I do not have to rotate the column switch to put the interior lights on. I only have to rotate the switch if I am sitting in the jeep with the doors closed . Does your jeep have any extra factory interior lights apart from the dome and footwell lights? Perhaps a previous owner has messed with the wiring to disable the auto function of the dome light when the doors are opened.