Trunk light in ZX3/Hathbacks

[PRSman25]

Do first gen ZX3/ZX5/Hatchbacks not have a trunk light?

You know, the light you use to see things, in the trunk.
I don't see one in mine, and its kind of bothering me.
There may already be a thread on this, but I didn't see it.

Its bothering me quite a lot, the whole not being able to see things in the trunk when I'm loading up my gear at night.

Thank you Foci-wisemen.

[Sponsor]

[mainest]

My '04 SVT has one. It is part of the subwoofer "carpet" cover.

[pyroinsa]

If you don't have a sub, you still have a hatch light. It is on the left side, you will notice a light on the carpet wall, it is prolly burned out.

[pyroinsa]

You could always light up your hatch like this!!!

[02fordsvt]

It's under the left side plastic trim pieces that hold the cargo cover.

[rambleon84]

Its very dull even when its working, I ended up running a set of led strips on the underside of both of the hard plastic hatch cover portions, much better. Cant see the strips but they provide lots more light.

[PRSman25]

Yeah, I found it this morning.
I don't see how that could possibly be of any use to anyone.

rambleon, How did you run the LED strips? Wire it into the existing light? And would you happen to have pictures?!

And if anyone else has lighting solutions, let me know.
I really want something back there.

[rambleon84]

Originally Posted by PRSman25

Yeah, I found it this morning.
I don't see how that could possibly be of any use to anyone.

rambleon, How did you run the LED strips? Wire it into the existing light? And would you happen to have pictures?!

Sorry PRSman (paul reed smith fan?) I didnt see this post sooner.

Originally Posted by Blue5ive

A number of us have run led strips or blocks. The leds have just 2 wires so you can just splice into the 2 wires of the hatch light. Then just attach the led block/strip to the underside of where the cargo cover sits so its out of sight. You can even then run a wire from there to the other side and have lights on both sides and tuck the wire out of view behind the plastic I interior panels.

This is exactly what I did. The wires are perfectly hidden out of sight and power from the hatch light are more than enough to power two sets of led strips. I'll see if i cant get a good picture of the lights working tomorrow.

I believe my strips have either 6 or 9 white leds (self adhesive too) and then I just used some 18 or 20 gauge speaker wire i had laying around. I ran it under the hard plastic trim of the lower inside hatch area. I like it because it has a clean factory look, ie cant see anything unless you are really looking.

[PRSman25]

Originally Posted by rambleon84

Sorry PRSman (paul reed smith fan?) I didnt see this post sooner.

Bingo! I've got three.
They're amazing instruments.

That's what I ended up doing.
I bought a kit from VonKrause and wired it up pretty factory looking.

[Blue5ive]

A number of us have run led strips or blocks. The leds have just 2 wires so you can just splice into the 2 wires of the hatch light. Then just attach the led block/strip to the underside of where the cargo cover sits so its out of sight. You can even then run a wire from there to the other side and have lights on both sides and tuck the wire out of view behind the plastic I interior panels.