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The cargo area of my 2017 ford edge is very dim, there's a small led off to the side but it's pretty dim and very easily blocked. I'm thinking about adding some lights to help the situation, but this is the first car I've owned built in this millennium.

In previous vehicles I would have just tapped additional lights into the existing circuitry for incandescent bulbs and it was fine; new lights would trigger at the same time as the old lights. In previous vehicles however, there was a significantly smaller number of computers and they didn't ever tell me things like "Cargo area lamp burned out". I'm not certain that I can do that in the new vehicle or if I need to look into alternative power solutions. Are there any reasons I couldn't just tap the power and ground wire to the cargo-LED and wire another light source in parallel?

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  • You could "try" your method and see if it causes any issues. Another thought might be to create a separate circuit along with a toggle switch for it, that way it wouldn't interfere with any of the electronics already installed.
    – Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 ♦
    Mar 14, 2022 at 19:54

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There should be no reason you cannot do this as long as you don't try and run high wattage lamps. LEDs work on the same basic principles as incandescents, at least from a wiring point of view, and you can wire them in parallel the same way. The main consideration I'd have is not to use too much power or you could end up blowing the fuse. I'd use modular connectors so you can isolate the extra spur in case of issues.

I personally would consider a different approach. Wiring extra lights in is something I would do in an older car where I don't expect much of a resale, but you have a relatively new car there and wiring in extra lights is something a prospective buyer would shy away from. Unless it looks really high quality my thinking would be 'what other crufty mods has this person done?' Of course, you could spend a lot of time running the wiring out of sight behind plastic trim, and cutting holes out for purpose built fixtures which look like they belong. I'd consider velcro-ing a rechargeable light to the roof somewhere and seeing if that works for you first before messing with your wiring.

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  • I do appreciate your point about the extra lights not looking great and damaging resell value; as unmentioned parts of the post I will be using modular connectors (actually what are essentially mirror-taps) and command strips to hold on the lights, nothing that can't be undone in 5 minutes at the dealer.
    – Sidney
    Mar 15, 2022 at 15:03
  • That ought to work fine @Sidney, you seem to have a good idea what you want to do.
    – GdD
    Mar 15, 2022 at 16:22

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