Anyone wire a switch for engine bay light?

Turbo6Smackdown

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2005
I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas on wiring a manual switch somewhere in the engine bay or maybe the cabin to allow our engine bay lights to say plugged in, and turned on only when we want them on. Anyone?
 
sounds like a good product for john spina at capers!
he could easily make a plug and ply jumper harness with a simple toggle like his high speed fan switch.
Id buy it
 
I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas on wiring a manual switch somewhere in the engine bay or maybe the cabin to allow our engine bay lights to say plugged in, and turned on only when we want them on. Anyone?

And to shut it off for car shows, although pulling the bulb out is not that difficult.
 
Or maybe just cut the wire down low where you can't see it and just put a simple switch there? then if you wanted to reverse it all you'd have to do is yank the switch, solder and shrink wrap it and noone will see it. :) I'm going to hook this up..
 
Yep. Go to home depot and get one of those roller thumb switches in the 'ceiling repair section'. You know, the on off things used in 70's beer lights.


I was going to write a 'how to' a while back but thinking about beer lights got me to thinking about beer.....
 
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I did that on my 86 when I bought the car new. Put a tiny toggle switch in the base of the hood light mounting plate, and could turn it off once the hood was up. Worked well, but seems I kept it off all the time. You very rarely need that hood light turned on.

When it comes right down to it, the light from that fixture really doesn't light the engine well enough. Plus, that fixture uses a mercury switch inside it, which is no longer used on any hood or trunk lamp housing...contraband because of the mercury.
 
I have a really decent led bulb in mine. So I took my fixture off, polished the shit outta the surface on the inside for more reflectivity and popped that led in there and that thing illuminates the shit outta my engine bay lol. When I'm out cruising and I'm pulled over to relax and let some heat out people always come over to talk so I plug in my light and we go over some stuff in the engine bay. I just don't wanna keep plugging & unplugging the same plug over and over again. I'd rather just keep it plugged in so it doesn't look ghetto, and use a switch instead. :) I use it when adjust boost or fuel pressure when it's night time out. :)
 
I did one. I put the switch inside the gutted fan delay timer relay housing. I used two enclosed light housing from some GM cars with leds in them.
 
I just cut the stock plug and socket off mine and replaced it with a weather pack connector - easy to plug/unplug and weather resistant.


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I borrowed this switch idea from Rick Lutz . Switch is available at the parts stores and you can chose different colors if you don't like blue. Slips right into the factory hole.
 

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I hooked up my own LED strips and put a switch up front on the header panel right behind the headlight. Much brighter and can work on the engine at night like its daytime. See the following link for pics:

Trunk and Under Hood LEDs
 
If you put in a switch, just be sure you don't forget to turn off the light, because you won't know if it's on with the hood closed, and it'll drain the battery over a period of time. :facepalm: Of course with an LED bulb, that will be a very LONG period of time... :D

I swapped my hood bulb for an 1156 and that thing is BRIGHT. I would consider an LED replacement because there's no heat and it's very low power consumption, but I find LED lighting is too directional, and tends not to diffuse enough. An 1156 lights up the entire engine bay.
 
All the ideas you guys posted work fine. It just a matter of preference about how it's done. Here's what I did on my car: I installed an in-line switch sold in hardware stored intended for lighting paintings hanged on a wall in the 12V. wire and that's it. It's at the bottom of the picture...
Claude. ;)
DSCN4981.JPG
 
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