Postby rangeoflight32 » Sat Mar 04, 2017 11:30 pm
I know there are older threads about this and I found them accidentally when searching for headlight upgrades. But I had to make a new one, because was so easy to do (I am not mechanically inclined) and absurdly inexpensive. I figure may turn on a few more people to this mod.
There are five dome lights in the Pathy. Two in the front, two in the middle, above the 2nd row seats ,and one in the back cargo area.
I upgraded the front four and couldn't figure out how to get the cover off the cargo area one, but going to go with something more aggressive back there and have someone else install it.
But first of all, if you want to do this, just buy some cheap LED lights off ebay. Search for "3175 LED" and you will see they are very inexpensive. I suggest ordering them from a USA seller unless you want to save some pennies and wait a few weeks longer for delivery, but not worth it to me for such a low amount of savings.
You will see there are "bulbs" with different numbers of LEDs on them...4, 6, 8, 12, etc. Some people here said that 12 was too bright and they were blinded while driving and turning the dome light on, but 12 seems just fine to me. It doesn't seem too bright and is a definite improvement, although not as bright as I imagined.
I used a butter knife to pop off the plastic dome light cover. It didn't take too much pressure to get off and it doesn't seem that fragile. Be careful, but you probably won't break it. Getting it back on was a bit trickier, because seems like it was on correctly, but wouldn't press to turn the light on and off. So I had to just press up on it even harder and some last bit snapped into place and worked. After I figured this out with the first one, the other three went very quickly.
For the very back cargo light, I think going to get a "48-SMD LED Panel". Someone else said they had this. But looks more complicated to install, so I may have to get a shop to do it. I'm sure many of you guys could handle it though. I wonder if these 48 SMD panels are also compatible with the 2nd row dome lights? I suppose I will try it one in the cargo area first and then go from there. I suspect that those would be too bright for the front though.
Anyway, I recommend this upgrade to everyone. I'm sure there will be some downsides like attracting more insects, etc, but hopefully won't be too major.
Thanks to this forum for suggesting this and I'm really pleased. Now I just have to figure out the headlights and maybe a light bar and I'll be set for now.