dome light for tailgate(or back door)

[2hi2cme]

how is everybody doing today or tonight.
anyways my question is.
you know when you open your jeep unlimited doors
the light goes on,then it goes back off again in like 2 or 3 seconds after you close the door.
How come they didn't incorporate a light close by for the back lift gate somewhere.
you know at night when your looking for something back there like your wallet or your beer
you can't see a thing.
I would like to know if any body can tell me if there is any after market dome lights for the rear lift gate or hatch or back door what ever you want to call it.
or if any body got any ideas on how to install one so that the light goes on when you open the back door.
would be a nice option.
i know there is 2 pins on the bottom of the door that control the third brake light ,maybe i can get my power source from there.
and does any body know how they would fabricate one.

the vernster

[04unlimited]

I am no electrical engineer, but I don't think this one would be too difficult. The absolute simplest way would be to get a couple of those battery powered touch lamps and put some hook and loop tape on the back, and attach it to the side of the tub behind the rear seat.

The two pin would be one source of power, but really, you can tap in anywhere, and simply have the light on a circuit that closes when the tailgate opens...using something like what is on your fridge. The circuit is closed when the plunger is not depressed by the shut tailgate.

This gives me some inspiration here...

[treeofliberty]

I like the simplicity of the battery powered solution. This got me looking around the Internet for an LED solution, since the power consumption would make the batteries last much longer. This led (no pun intended) me to flexible, 12V LED strips, like this:



As I typed this, Bonnie found a guy selling 12-inch strips of these on Ebay with a buy-it-now price of $2.49.

Mount a couple of these under the lip in the rear area and I imagine they would light up the whole tailgate area nicely.

Thanks a bunch for yet another Jeep project 2hi. This is too cool to pass up.

[tex]

I had a battery powered flourescant light in the back of my Jeep last winter. It held for months on 4 AA batteries. I bought it at Home Depot and there was an optional plug in power adapter. An LED light would last forever on batteries. If you run power to it, be sure to add an extra power outlet in the back for a cooler or inverter or whatever.

[04unlimited]

I wouldn't mind seeing the LED strip installed. There are also those rope lights that look similar to what you have a pic of Tree, but are encased in a clear rubber tube...those may hold up better in that area.

I found this one on eBay under "12V Rope light" for $25.

[04unlimited]

Thanks for the Santa Pic as well...I used it yesterday.

[jp]

I had an alarm put in my Jeep and they tied the tailgate into my lights and alarm using a magnetic sensor switch. The switch is the type that you would use on windows in a home alarm system. I assume it is probably normally off switch. Part of the switch mounts to the gate, the wired part mounts to the Jeep fender wall.

I don't know what it takes to tie into the lights, but I would think it would be a simple straight tie in.

JP