In this round of pictures you can see the passenger floor lit up, the grill pieces that were cut for the front DRL lights, the finished front view, as well as a few pictures of the distribution block that i wired up and added.
Interior and Exterior Lighting
Hey everyone, this is a compilation of the interior and exterior lighting that i worked on for my Renegade.
About me: I am an Advanced Certified Mobile Electronics installer, I got my Renegade in February after having a 2004 Scion xB for almost 10 years. The scion was a great car but there were a lot of projects that were just added as i decided to do them or as i had the funds. My goal with this vehicle was to plan ahead and pre run wires so that everything would be clean, and in place when i finally got around to adding the components.
List of Components that have been installed so far
-Pair of 4x4 LED pods wired to the factory DRL
-20" lighter
-Eagle Eye Spot LEDs for interior
-180w Emergency Vehicle Strobe Kit
-Universal Fuse/Relay Distribution block
-Anti-vandal 16mm silver w/white ring switches
- Changed to Matte Black non illumination switches
-Flush Mount USB
In the first group of pictures you will be able to see the old and new switches, the usb charging port, the mess of wires under the dash as they were getting routed throughout the vehicle, and then once they have been cleaned up, the old switches illuminated, mounting locations for the interior lights, and mounting of the front lighting.
I started by purchasing a universal fuse/relay box so that i could make sure that every component that I was installing would be fused, have proper amperage, essentially its own circuit, and not draw power from a pre-existing wire in the vehicle. I used a combination of Ignition, Headlight, and Constant 12v sources to activate the relays. As the relay was activated it would switch power from a fused 8 awg fused wire from the battery, to the output wire. The output wire would go to the fuse and then to the bundle of switches. I did it this way instead of having the switches activate the relays for cleanliness reasons. The switch would then connect to the source when turned on. Originally i was using anti-vandal 16mm silver switches with a white led ring, but i was not happy with how it looked and how they had to be installed. So, i switched to a basic on/off non illuminated spst switch and am very happy with everything with them.
In order from left to right of the switches, they power: rear lights (not yet installed), lower 20" light bar, Mid bumper lighter (not yet installed), Dummy switch for aesthetics, upper bumper light bars (not yet installed), and Interior lighting.
I do have the lighting for the rear that will be flush mounted into the rear bumper, but it will be done the same time that i do the cutting for the trailer hitch. I also have lighting that will go in the trunk hatch, but i need to get a tilt switch for it so that when i open the hatch they will turn on.
For the front DRL lights that i installed, i removed the factory bulbs from their housings and tapped into the wiring. Originally i wasn't going to have the factory bulbs in, however i was getting error messages on the dash. Instead of going through the mess of adding resistors and whatnot, i just put them in the cases that usually come with HID kits, and black out the case. At that point i installed strobe lights into the location that i removed the DRL bulbs from. I did do all of the with the bumper removed, as i drilled front openings in the support bar to be able to access the top nut for the mounting of the lights. I mounted them so that they would be behind the grill trim pieces that are between the center open piece, and the factory fog light location. I ordered some red grill trim covers for that location so that when i cut the opening out of the grill, i would have a nice clean look. I will be doing the same for the upper grill trim when i get to that stage.
I will add stuff to this post as i add it to the vehicle, feel free to comment or pm me if you have any questions.
About me: I am an Advanced Certified Mobile Electronics installer, I got my Renegade in February after having a 2004 Scion xB for almost 10 years. The scion was a great car but there were a lot of projects that were just added as i decided to do them or as i had the funds. My goal with this vehicle was to plan ahead and pre run wires so that everything would be clean, and in place when i finally got around to adding the components.
List of Components that have been installed so far
-Pair of 4x4 LED pods wired to the factory DRL
-20" lighter
-Eagle Eye Spot LEDs for interior
-180w Emergency Vehicle Strobe Kit
-Universal Fuse/Relay Distribution block
-Anti-vandal 16mm silver w/white ring switches
- Changed to Matte Black non illumination switches
-Flush Mount USB
In the first group of pictures you will be able to see the old and new switches, the usb charging port, the mess of wires under the dash as they were getting routed throughout the vehicle, and then once they have been cleaned up, the old switches illuminated, mounting locations for the interior lights, and mounting of the front lighting.
I started by purchasing a universal fuse/relay box so that i could make sure that every component that I was installing would be fused, have proper amperage, essentially its own circuit, and not draw power from a pre-existing wire in the vehicle. I used a combination of Ignition, Headlight, and Constant 12v sources to activate the relays. As the relay was activated it would switch power from a fused 8 awg fused wire from the battery, to the output wire. The output wire would go to the fuse and then to the bundle of switches. I did it this way instead of having the switches activate the relays for cleanliness reasons. The switch would then connect to the source when turned on. Originally i was using anti-vandal 16mm silver switches with a white led ring, but i was not happy with how it looked and how they had to be installed. So, i switched to a basic on/off non illuminated spst switch and am very happy with everything with them.
In order from left to right of the switches, they power: rear lights (not yet installed), lower 20" light bar, Mid bumper lighter (not yet installed), Dummy switch for aesthetics, upper bumper light bars (not yet installed), and Interior lighting.
I do have the lighting for the rear that will be flush mounted into the rear bumper, but it will be done the same time that i do the cutting for the trailer hitch. I also have lighting that will go in the trunk hatch, but i need to get a tilt switch for it so that when i open the hatch they will turn on.
For the front DRL lights that i installed, i removed the factory bulbs from their housings and tapped into the wiring. Originally i wasn't going to have the factory bulbs in, however i was getting error messages on the dash. Instead of going through the mess of adding resistors and whatnot, i just put them in the cases that usually come with HID kits, and black out the case. At that point i installed strobe lights into the location that i removed the DRL bulbs from. I did do all of the with the bumper removed, as i drilled front openings in the support bar to be able to access the top nut for the mounting of the lights. I mounted them so that they would be behind the grill trim pieces that are between the center open piece, and the factory fog light location. I ordered some red grill trim covers for that location so that when i cut the opening out of the grill, i would have a nice clean look. I will be doing the same for the upper grill trim when i get to that stage.
I will add stuff to this post as i add it to the vehicle, feel free to comment or pm me if you have any questions.
