Not quite true: Clodhopper's situation is possible (although his battery must have been weak to start with).
The LED bulbs that you install for replacements should have built in resistors; they're usually marketed as CANBUS or "error free" in the description. If they are not designed for CANBUS, the bulbs will still draw current even though they're off and you can see the low glow of the LEDs in the dark. I have no idea why the system continues to shoot current through the system, but there it is.

In my case, I installed Putco 280003W Type T in the front dome light and Amico 43mm Canbus Error Free in the rear dome light; both are compatible with CANBUS and draw no current when "off".

 

Ah, well in my case with led's in the dome light and tied to the door switches I've got zero issues with the canbus draw. No resistors in the dome bulbs....just 3 little led's. Odd.

Sent from my DROID4

 

Well I just got my LED's in and ready to install. Now I'm looking for some help.

It appears the entire sound-bar must come down to drill the holes and gain access to the dome light electrical (is that right?).

Can someone tell me if there are any "gotchas" or tricks to removing the sound bar? I have a 2011 JKU and I see the bolts keeping it in place but I wonder if the entire sound-bar comes down at once or just some of it?

Thanks in advance.

 

Unplug the connection on passenger side, take out the 6 bolts and it comes down in one piece

 

Can you just tie these into the dome light wiring? Or not a good idear

 

I just ordered 2 of these. I may still run em to a switch but will be putting them in the same front locations. I find myself screwing around with things after dark up front and the domes just dont cut it.

 

Thanks very much YETI; appreciate the help.

 

I really like the OP's install, but I too will be making mine a bit different. I will have two "cool white" LED's installed like the OP, but I will be using a switch. Also, since I sometimes sleep in the back of the JKU on backpacking trips, I am installing two red LED facing back to illuminate the "sleeping area". In this way I can see well enough to find things without lighting the place up like day time.

 

If you're installing the lights facing to the front, you can do the install without taking the soundbar down. While the bolt lights have a nut that, if used, would require removal of the sound bar, you could glue them in place and not use the nut.
Again, I used a 3/8" drill bit then a rat tail file to enlarge the hole to the right size (the bolt is metric, and who the hell has metric drill bits?). As long as you get the hole size right, you could put some glue (or maybe even caulk) on the threads and then push the bolt light into place (just don't get any glue on the lens. Also, I wouldn't use a strong glue like epoxy because you may have to remove/replace them in the future).
But...
before gluing them in place, you will want to do your wiring. They can be soldered to the circuits on the back of the dome light (you've got to remove the dome light with a #10 torx bit).

If you want to install lights facing the rear, the sound bar has to come down.

BTW, the "cool white" lights are a bit more yellow than pure white, but the illumination they provide is still very good. And as noted in a post above, you can get them in other colors.

 

Thanks for the thread and advice I looked hard at the blue and red colors as that is my color scheme, but I am doing this for efficiency, not style, so I went with the super whites.