Thread: Rear Work Light

Ideally you should connect to a second battery to avoid draining the starting battery. Connect the switch to the Accessory position on the ignition (this avoids a flat battery if the lights are left on accidentally) and run through a relay. You should be able to pick up switches and relays from any car accessory shop.

I've attached a wiring diagram of the circuitry I put in to my Defender 90. I put in two switches - one in the front and one in the back. It makes the work lights easy to use. I also put in a warning LED in the dash to avoid driving with the work lights on.

Hope this helps.

You can purchase a aftermarket switch, just make sure it 12V. Or to keep it looking standard and like it belongs there I picked up some LR rear de-mister switches. They have an on/off function not related to the ECU as the rear fog light has.
I believe Disco 2 switches also fit and look standard.
If you go with a standard switch, you will have to chase up some plugs of the wiring loom as LR don't sell them separately. You may get them from a quality switch supplier as well perhaps.
Of course the picture on the switch doesn't match the function but I'm confident I can source some stickers or labels from somewhere.

If you want it to work regardless of ignition you will have to source the power from the battery, preferably an auxiliary. You could tap into the ignition's power supply with a bit of hunting around also. Just make sure you fuse it and run a relay. You will have to run a + and - from source to light, well that's how I would do it.
Take the time to secure the wiring under the car well with zip ties. You may wish to encase the wires in lagging as well.

And when it all works hey presto it's quite rewarding.

Thank you for the replies so far.

The work light has a LED replacement globe fitted.

I have a dual battery system so will also definately be running it off of the 2nd battery.


I was hoping there was already wiring in place. I heard about the possibility of wiring behind the fet rear speaker. Is this true?

Thanks again.

Originally Posted by Brucet

Thank you for the replies so far.

The work light has a LED replacement globe fitted.

I have a dual battery system so will also definately be running it off of the 2nd battery.


I was hoping there was already wiring in place. I heard about the possibility of wiring behind the fet rear speaker. Is this true?

Thanks again.

Hi Brucet,

I've done this in my Puma:

I bought a cruise control switch for a Disco (part number YUH100370) and removed the facia. I took the facia off the switch blank from the dash, drilled a hole in it and inserted the lens from the YUH100370 facia. I then put the facia onto the new switch.

I purchased a plug from dingocroft (part number zzplug01). This plugs into the YUH100370 although you have to cut off a spline from either the plug, the switch or both (sorry - can't remember exactly).

I wired the switch to the fusebox for my auxiliary battery and via a Narva 68000 relay to the work light. The setup is neat and works very well. I wired in some internal rear and external rear 12v sockets at the same time, all controlled from the dash.

For comments about the wiring behind the speaker, have a look at this post. Since you've got a MY11 (and depending on the current draw of your work light) perhaps the wiring for the rear washer could be pressed into service? But then you'd be tied into the main battery...