Thread: LED license plate lights to replace trunk light
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Old Dec 31, 2014 | 11:47 PM
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onehundred80
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From: Ontario
Default Re: LED license plate lights to replace trunk light
Originally Posted by onehundred80
Show time Act 1! LEDs in the Trunk PDF
Show Time Act 2 ! LEDs in the Foot Wells PDF ............I used these lights in the foot wells.

I took out the driver side panel with the trunk light in it and fitted the LED license plate light in place of the OEM trunk light and it fits like a glove. The spring clip has to carefully lifted to clamp over the thicker panel. I used a small screwdriver to pry it up and over the panel thickness.

I will now wire it up using the proper socket and fit another light in the other side, it is bright enough with one light but it may be better with two lights. The wires are in corrugated plastic loom and routed behind the rear hatch panel. I was going to cut out the old light plug and replace it with the new one but bluecoupe suggested that I keep the old plug. The new wire uses spade terminals in the old plug to get the power. I cut down 1/4" spades to 1/8" to fit the old plug. One of the new plugs with pigtails was soldered to the new wire and insulated with shrink tubing. The spade terminals used were the crimp style.

Access to the socket at the rear is obviously achieved through the access panel for the rear lights.

The OEM light loses more than half its light because it has no reflector, as a result the area behind the trim panel is brighter than inside the hatch area.Anyone who replaced their license plate lights with LEDs could use their old license plate lights in the trunk and wire them up as shown here.
These are the lights I used.

Ideally you would use the Mercedes socket #A 036 545 11 28 as I did for this application (from MrMopar), these are the same as the ones on the license plate lights, but you can use suitably insulated 3/16" female crimp on spade terminals. The Mercedes socket is hard to get, so use the spade terminals if you cannot get them.



The first picture shows the light installed in the original trunk light hole.
The second and third pictures are the rear of the installed light.
 The fourth picture shows a close up of the spade terminal to fit the OEM trunk light plug.
The fifth picture shows the two ends of the cable between the two lights.
The sixth and seventh pictures show the illuminated trunk.
The eighth picture shows the cut out dimensions for the second trunk light.



Show Time Act 2 added to the first post.
LED lights added to foot well kick panels.
 
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