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I'm not that brilliant (pardon the pun) with the differences, but it is MUCH brighter and likely much higher in the color temp scale. It absolutely looks out of place. Plus it lights up your back storage which shows everyone else what's back there. Since I don't feel comfortable with that, I installed the switch and now I control when I want the operating room brightness and when I'm good without it. I only turn it on when I actually go back there.
I requested by Defender3d (Tim) colortemp 3000k , he granted my request. I like it.
I'm not that brilliant (pardon the pun) with the differences, but it is MUCH brighter and likely much higher in the color temp scale. It absolutely looks out of place. Plus it lights up your back storage which shows everyone else what's back there. Since I don't feel comfortable with that, I installed the switch and now I control when I want the operating room brightness and when I'm good without it. I only turn it on when I actually go back there.
Ya Know, I need to install the switch just because I know it's an option. Had I not seen this thread I'd not probably give it another thought. I'm thinking that maybe when I'm camping and need to pop to the trunk to get some random item at night it might be nice to not destroy everyone's night vision with a 100yd radius. Also, it's a good excuse to drill holes in the car and I've got that 19mm hole saw I used for the ladder. Be a crying shame to not use it again.
No idea on lumens or color. It's bright. Really tremendously bright. (unlike the installer who broke the plastic tab off the fuse box).
I used the 3/4” paddle bit, like Dr. Coop recommended, and it worked perfectly. But if I had a 19mm hole saw I’d be all over using the exactly right tool for the job!
That's exactly what did it for me. I went camping with folks and was tired of blinding myself & everyone else. When I got home it was easy-peasy. The only thing was the heart-ache of deciding where to drill the hole. I think I have a good spot now.
@Defendit.. - I gotta ask. What the heck were you doing!? That's looks epic.
On the switch install, if @GrouseK9 , @Defendit.. or anyone offer their help on the simple wiring I'd be grateful.
Do the switch wires tap into the wire going to the over head light and I must strip the black outer case, or do they tap into the already exposed wires at the * ?
I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking the former.
You want to be on the “downstream” side of the OEM light, otherwise it will be switched as well. So strip the black outer sheath, exposing the red and black wires that run to the new light. Take a good 3” of that outer sheath off so you have plenty of room to work with.
fish two 15” pieces of jumper wire down from the hole you just cut in the little panel to come out the hole the OEM light sits in. Strip all 4 ends.
Now snip the recently-exposed red wire going to the light, leaving two ends which you will strip. Connect the lower end of each of the jumper wires to one of the ends of the red wires, doesn’t matter which. You just effectively made the red wire long enough to reach up to the switch location. For connections I just used small wire nuts, taped hell out of them for insulation and mechanical strain relief. Fancy people will use more sophisticated methods. I leave that to your discretion
Take the two upper ends of jumper wires which are sticking out of your newly drilled hole and either a) wire-nut them to the pigtail wires that came with our switch, or eliminate those pigtails and crimp appropriate sliding connectors onto the ends of jumper wires if you have them.
Tape everything up nicely, insert switch into hole, insert OEM light back into hole, after testing to make sure it all works.
@NoGaBiker nailed it. In a moment of complete stupidity (not uncommon with me) I put the switch on BOTH wires running to the new light. When I figured out what went wrong I had a grand laugh and now another "dumb 'stuff' I've done" story. Pro tip: Follow EXACTLY what @NoGaBiker wrote and do it to the RED line only and that is on the new light only.
Oh, and I'm one of the 'fancy people' which is in direct conflict with my typical dumb-arsed, red-necked core. Once you buy heat shrink connectors you will ALWAYS look for a use for them. I never do electrical connections without them. When I worked on my 1964 Series IIa, I used electrical tape and wire nuts. It led to a lot of "mysterious" problems that took a while to track down. I figure the L663 has enough of those on its own without my contributions. Around the time of my '94 Defender I started to change. Either way works great, but as you can tell from the above story - I have a lot of "user errors" and heat shrink makes them less likely.
