Recently I replaced all of my interior lights with LED's using this kit from Amazon:
Amazon.com - 10 Lights Super White LED Interior Light Kit For Jeep Grand Cherokee WK
The kit includes:
After I did the install I noticed that the 2 back courtesy lights and the cargo light remained on, even when the car was off and all doors were closed. I come to find out (thanks to some info from some helpful members on this site) that this is common when replacing all of your interior lights with LED's due to an issue with current and lack of resistance that the incandescent lights normally provide, allowing the LED's to partly illuminate. It's not a bad thing, and won't kill your battery or do harm to your Jeep. This can however be fixed by either replacing a couple bulbs (most seem to prefer the kick panel bulbs) with the original incandescent bulbs to reintroduce the resistance in the circuit, or simply by adding a resistor in parallel to the LED's.
I figured since I paid for the LED's, I'll use them so I opted for adding the resistors to the system. It was pretty simple, and I snapped some photos of the job so figured I'd share:
These 2 photos are of the courtesy lights "off". You can see they are still glowing, one much much more than the other.
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Here is the LED map light. I went to Radio Shack and picked up some 470 Ohm 1/2 watt resistors, this pack of 5 was $1.49.
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Grab some wire cutters and trim the ends of the resistor to slightly shorter than the length of the LED bulb.
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I used a pair of pliers to hold the resistor in place over the LED while I soldered one side. The second photo shows one side soldered in place.
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Here is the LED bulb with both sides of the resistor soldered in place. Now you're ready to reinstall the bulb.
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Here is the bulb/resitor reinstalled back in the map light, followed by a photo of the rear courtesy light that now remains completely off when the Jeep shuts down.
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I ended up doing both map lights with the 470 Ohm 1/2 watt resistors because one of the rear lights would turn on when the map light was switched on. Adding a resistor to both fixed the problem. The only "issue" that remains is when both map lights are switched on, the rear courtesy lights dimly light up. I'm fine with it now that the rear lights remain completely off in normal driving conditions and while the car is off.
That's it, hope it helps if you're experiencing the same issue.
Amazon.com - 10 Lights Super White LED Interior Light Kit For Jeep Grand Cherokee WK
The kit includes:
- x2 Map Lights
- x2 Rear Courtesy Lights
- x2 Front Kick Lights
- Glove Box
- Tailgate Cargo Area
- x2 Vanity Mirrors
After I did the install I noticed that the 2 back courtesy lights and the cargo light remained on, even when the car was off and all doors were closed. I come to find out (thanks to some info from some helpful members on this site) that this is common when replacing all of your interior lights with LED's due to an issue with current and lack of resistance that the incandescent lights normally provide, allowing the LED's to partly illuminate. It's not a bad thing, and won't kill your battery or do harm to your Jeep. This can however be fixed by either replacing a couple bulbs (most seem to prefer the kick panel bulbs) with the original incandescent bulbs to reintroduce the resistance in the circuit, or simply by adding a resistor in parallel to the LED's.
I figured since I paid for the LED's, I'll use them so I opted for adding the resistors to the system. It was pretty simple, and I snapped some photos of the job so figured I'd share:
These 2 photos are of the courtesy lights "off". You can see they are still glowing, one much much more than the other.
Here is the LED map light. I went to Radio Shack and picked up some 470 Ohm 1/2 watt resistors, this pack of 5 was $1.49.
Grab some wire cutters and trim the ends of the resistor to slightly shorter than the length of the LED bulb.
I used a pair of pliers to hold the resistor in place over the LED while I soldered one side. The second photo shows one side soldered in place.
Here is the LED bulb with both sides of the resistor soldered in place. Now you're ready to reinstall the bulb.
Here is the bulb/resitor reinstalled back in the map light, followed by a photo of the rear courtesy light that now remains completely off when the Jeep shuts down.
I ended up doing both map lights with the 470 Ohm 1/2 watt resistors because one of the rear lights would turn on when the map light was switched on. Adding a resistor to both fixed the problem. The only "issue" that remains is when both map lights are switched on, the rear courtesy lights dimly light up. I'm fine with it now that the rear lights remain completely off in normal driving conditions and while the car is off.
That's it, hope it helps if you're experiencing the same issue.
