Adding (Additional) Red Lighting To Interior

Hey ya'll, this is my first post here as I just bought my truck 2 weeks ago. I drove a Jeep TJ before that... now it's been retired for off road/weekend use only. I tried searching for the answer to this but didn't find much since I don't really know how to phrase it.

I'm interested in adding some red lighting to my interior to be in addition the map/dome lights. My plan is to wire them to a switch so that when I go hunting in the morning I don't kill my night vision while gathering all my crap in the cab (kind of like how battle lights in a navy ship/sub work). I've seen people who replaced their map/dome lights with red LEDs, but I want to maintain a regular light option as well, since the red would be annoying to try and read a map or anything intricate.

I was thinking about buying an OEM switch and incorporating it into a blank on my panel. Also thought about the space between the map lights to mount 2 red LEDs (not sure what's behind there).

Looking for ideas on how to do this. Has anybody done anything similar? Where did you mount the lights? How did you wire it?

Thanks in advance.

 

I recently decided to do this EXACT same thing. Im in my truck alot at night and stop to do paperwork. I hate the map light (especially since its bright white LED already) so I want to add a red light as well. I thought about a snake light that plugs into the cigarette lighter plug but those all look really cheap. The space between the some lights would be perfect but the difficult part would be to find a light that looks good, fits good, and is angled correctly.

 

Yeah, thats why I figured you could drill a hole and run 2 red LEDs out through that space. But I suck at electrical so I was hoping someone might (i can't resist) light the way.

 

You know about this, right?

http://www.flyzeye-designs.com/PRODUCTS.html

 

Im great with electrical, so this was on my list of to-do's. stay tuned and we can work something out.

yeah, but its too low. that more of a dash accent light. we need an actual reading light.

 

this is what we have in our patrol units. they work great. but idk how you would mount this in the truck unless you drilled it down to the center console.




I also had something like this is mind:

 

Yeah ProForce, based on your link this seems to be right up your alley. You've got some pretty badass ideas. Makes me wish I'd paid more attention in high school electronics shop. I will be standing by. If you get it figured out I'd love to see some pics and a wiring diagram.

 

what do you think about the pictured i posted....

 

Yeah the bottom picture was kind of what I was thinking in that there are just 2 exposed bulbs coming out of the plastic. I think the 2 LEDs would be plenty of light and it would be pretty diffuse in that set up. Should be good all around lighting.

 

I attached a diagram of how I envisioned it.

 

Thanks for the plug!