I'm thinking of installing a low wattage, under-the-hood light for times when I need to do a quick check inside the engine bay under limited light conditions. Think of it as a bright trunk light, under the hood, that comes on whenever the hood is lifted.

What I need to find is an unused 12v, 1A connection, or one that I could piggyback onto w/o disturbing the circuit operation, in the area on or near the firewall.

Back in the old days, I would look in the fuse boxes for unused circuits.

Suggestions?

 

why not just come right off the battery? wire a switch that will activate the light when the hood is up. (maybe a mercury switch) or a switch that you can simply flip to activate the light when needed. I would look to do a set of LED's maybe and just hook into the battery. just my .02

 

I would think you should be able to tap into the alarm switch thing that senses when the hood is open/closed, but I'm sure you'd have to use a relay. This is as far as I know the only switch on a MAx that senses hood position. It is located on the upper core support area, infront of the battery.

Wouldn't it be easier to just put a flashlight in you car?

 

you can definitly tap into the security switch in front left next to battery, run it into the relay; get the 12v either directly from the battery or from the fuse box. simple to do.

 

Here's a question about the hood sensor switch.

There are two wires running into it, a yellow and a black. I thought this was just an inline breaker switch. Is the black wire, ground, and the yellow wire, hot?