Turning Off Interior Lighting

[CdbShtr]

I have acquired a 98 XLT 4wd that I need to work out of. In my previous vehicle, I could turn off the interior lights with a dash switch. Is it possible to turn off the interior lights so working with the doors and rear open doesn't run down the battery? Thanks in advance for any support or suggestions you might have.

 

[tonydiv]

My answer to this was to install led lighting, you could leave them on for a month and they wouldn't drain the battery.

superbrightleds.com has the festoon and 194 bulbs to do all 5 interior lamps. I used the same 194 bulbs to do the running board lights too. They are at least as bright as the standard lamps. They are available in a bunch of different colors, but the natural white best mimics the color used in most new cars.

The festoon lamp # is 4410-x9 and the 194 lamp # is wled-xhp5 (for 97 - 02, not sure about 03- on)

I've used superbrightleds.com for lights for 2 different cars and at least 20 different lamps for the sailboat and there wasn't a dud in the bunch.

 

[CdbShtr]

Does this mean the inside lights can not be turned off?

Does anyone know if there is a single wire that can be switched then??

 

[tonydiv]

I suppose if you wanted to, you could make the switches at each light the only way to turn that light on. The cargo area light is easy, it already has a 3 position switch. For the others, there are 3 wires leading to each interior light: a constant 12v, a switched 12v (from the door switches) and a ground. If you cut the switched wire, then the lights wouldn't go on when you opened the doors, but you could still turn them on manually. The trade off is that you have to get in to a dark vehicle at night.



The lights will eventually time out and go off, but it seems to take forever.

 

[CdbShtr]

Thanks

Tonydiv, I appreciate both of your replys, thanks.

 

[z168]

I was hoping someone had a solution to this. I hate that the whole car lights up at night

 

[blue_ox]

I haven't tried this but i suggest looking for the fuse for interior lights and pull it out temporarily.

 

[Bart Man]

I installed a simple single pole switch in the left rear panel below the seatbelt, if you remove the panel you'll find the wiring for the lamp circut,I don't remember what wire it was but you can just remove the rear light behined the rear window and it will show you what wires go down to the left side panel and just cut into the wire, with the switch open position ALL of the inter. lights will turn off, with the switch off it don't affect the other door light operation.Then when you turn the switch on the lights will work as normale, I hope this will help,It worked out great for me! Let me know if you ne any other help with this.

 

[ShanePat]

Simlar prob. - time out for interior lights?

I'm going the LED route for similar problem.
I don't have a manual yet for the 98, EB, 4.6L we just bought.
Is there a time out for the interior lights to save the battery?

(We're going to have CNG added to the truck and use it for long trips and hauling extra kids.)

Thanks,
Shane

 

[tonydiv]

I've wanted to go the propane route for a while now, but it's hard to justify the cost. How much do you expect to spend on the conversion?