Interior Neons Options

[ShadowFX]

I have some inetrior neons and nameless other interior elctrical devices (handsfree, etc) and I cn't stand having like 4 cigarette plugs to plug in and change around all the time, can I somehow change the cig plug to an easier to handle switch or something? How would I go about doing this and would I change the plugs of the original devices?? Thanks for any help

[celicarocker]

take the wires for the neons. cut the end where it goes into the cig lighter off. take one side, and run a switch into it (if your neons already dont have switches) add a little piece of wire, and run that to a fuse (not sure what size, someone else should be able to help). now run both wires behind the dash, and wire them directly into your cig lighter. that way no wires, and you have the switch to control your lights. i did this with my radar detector, ill take some pics so you can have a better idea if you want...

[turboinduction]

Yeah, like Shadow said. Switches are the way to go. You can get them from almost any car parts place - autozone, carquest, advance auto, etc. They can come in a variety of colors and glow. Then get it, remove the center console and cut a small area in which you want the switch. (otherwise, its quite popular to upgrade to a single DIN cd player and place all switches on a plastic panel underneath the cd player). Once you do that, run a heavy duty stereo wire from the switch, biggest gauge you can find with a 12 volt fuse somewhere (probably close to the switch) to the positive battery terminal. Run another wire from the switch ground to a peice of UNpainted metal behind the dash. Cut you neon wires off. The positive wire is the one that is connected to the bulb fuse in the plug. Run that wire to the open slot on the switch, and the negitive wire to the ground on the switch. You can put as many neons as you want on this switch. If you're running the under cd player switch setup, I suggest putting more than one. Like 3 or 4. That way it doesn't get clutered back there and you'll have more control over your lights. This looks a hell of a lot better than turning on all your neons one at a time. This also gives you a way to turn off your subs if the police are so inclined to wanna hear your sound system. Trust me on the last one, they've yet to find out - its hilarious. Also, the reason I said running it to the battery is that the cig lighter is not powered when the car is not on on most cars (not sure on the Celi). Thus, you cant have your neons on when your out of the car. If you run the switch to the battery, you can have them all as long as you want. I suggest no longer than 2 hours without starting it though. Otherwise it might not start. Maybe I'll do a how-to on this... hum. If you want a picture of how I did mine, I can probably rope down my old Talon - its still buzzing around my town. Hope I helped.

[ShadowFX]

but if i only want them on while driving or ignition is on, so not for show or anything =P, i can just wire positive and neg to the cig lighter? Thanks for the help guys... oh and how about if i want to wire several neons? do i just wire them together?? (sorry i dont have much car electrical know how)

This post has been edited by ShadowFX: Apr 14, 2004 - 10:10 AM

[turboinduction]

well you could do it that way, but you would never have control to turn them off unless you just pull your keys out. personally, the switches are the best way to go. its really not that hard, get a friend that knows a little about wiring and you'll be switched up in about 2 hours. this would give you control over all the neons you want. 1 switch can control 4 neons or 4 switches can control 4 neons. You'll be happy with the switch choice later when you want to remove or add in neons. If you not confident on doing it yourself, I'll post a how-to with pics for you sometime this weekend.

... that is... as long as your neons look good! meaning i cant see them!!!

[ShadowFX]

yeah thats what i meant, going neon - switch - cig lighter? hehe yeah i have a friend whos gonna help me lol

This post has been edited by ShadowFX: Apr 14, 2004 - 10:28 AM

[Pali_playa]

you can ususally find a controller for 16 neons or more at your local best buy/circuit city....you wire the controller to 12V then the neons go into the controller...its nice for organizition and professinal look....most of them have a control for the lights to flash to the music

[ShadowFX]

hmm..

[ShadowFX]

I had a look at the back of the cig lighter today, theres a whole bunch of wires, which one/s are the postive and/or neg? I know neg i can just go from the chassis but what about the positive?

[turboinduction]

well its pretty easy to find out. take your neon and put each wire to wires on the cig lighter. if the neons light up... then you know which one is positive. if not, switch it around. i still suggest doing the switches... soo soooo much easier.

[ShadowFX]

hehe yeah ive already got 2 switches put in.. easy stuff.. now wiring i just got confused with all the wires in the back ah well i'll figure it out.. thanks for the help.. how can i test them if theyre in the plug?

This post has been edited by ShadowFX: Apr 15, 2004 - 9:53 AM

[turboinduction]

cutting time!
make sure you have fuses

[ShadowFX]

in the cig lighter, theres a L-shaped thing with two wires, a white with a black stripe and a grey one, are those the neg and positive, respectively? or am i completely wrong?

[ShadowFX]

anyone? because i was expecting a red/ black wires but yeah..

[hioctane]

deleted

This post has been edited by hioctane: Jul 31, 2005 - 1:21 PM

[Pali_playa]

black stripe will 99% be negative

[shid]

12 inch neon? where are you gonna fit those?

[slipgun]

I dont know how to post pictures, well im too lazy mainly toset up an account and all that, but i have some kinda pics of my setup I did for my neons, so just AIM me and ill pass em on SlipGun on aim.

P.s. I have 15" tubes in my interior as I remember ssooo... 12 is not that hard to fit at all dont worry

This post has been edited by slipgun: Apr 18, 2004 - 9:19 PM

[shid]

I measured that the only place I could fit 12 or 15s were in the map pockets- as they won't fit under the seat and it's iffy they'll fit under the glovebox and drivers side- where'd u stick em?

[hioctane]

deleted

This post has been edited by hioctane: Jul 31, 2005 - 1:21 PM

[hioctane]

look at all those wires. What's the controller/switch thing for turning the neons on and off called?

This post has been edited by hioctane: Apr 18, 2004 - 11:43 PM

[shid]

a controller. hehe thats it

http://www.optxbystreetglow.com/controlmodules.htm

[hioctane]

[shid]

Nono, the 2nd one.

and I got mine (that model) for 10 dollars.

the 2nd one is what I used for my lighting, yeah. Going to be hooking it up to some neon string (only thing that will fit for back 'vert seats) this weekend.

[ShadowFX]

sorry to go back to my original question but umm.. okay i have the cig lighter, the switch and the neon/s. what wires go to what? as i said before im very n00b at electrics.. im getting 9" neons put in, im getting a good deal on them thats why i just had a look in the car, where is it possible to put in the front neons?? i cant actually find any really sturdy spots would it be okay to zip tie two neons onto the back of the front seats? (theres a metal rod that runs accross the back of them), can i also get into the middle panelling to tuck the rear neons wires into? (so with the middle armrest?)

This post has been edited by ShadowFX: Apr 19, 2004 - 8:05 AM

[shid]

9 inches are fine shadow, thats what I'm using.

2 screwed in under the seats, into the carpet (there's a bulge)

the other two are under the dash. Each one is zip tied on one end to a bunch of wires, and zip tied/sticke'ed on the other end with one of those wall wire ties.

[ShadowFX]

do you have any pics of your neons installed? if theyre zip tied onto wires, do they move around when you drive?

[shid]

Nope, really tight zip job- and the other end is stable so the neon bar wants to stay where it is- and the zip ties don't do anything

[ShadowFX]

i just had a look under, the passenger side, do you think its possible to zip tie the neons onto the holes where the hinges for the glovebox are? theres like some holes, not direct holes but zip ties go through, im thinking of putting the passenger one there, would this work?

[shid]

Hmm, I don't know- isn't that a little high up? The way I have it now is awesome perfect- it's flush with the bottom of the side.

There's a clear plastic box to the left of the underside there- thats there I stuck it on, and the bundle of wires to the right is what I ziptied it to- this way it shines back towards the passengers legs too- while still being hidden.

[tysO]

i just added mines in my car again..spliced all the wires and im just connecting it to a switch so i can turn it on and off..i took that piece out next to the cigarette lighter and im planning to make the switches go in there. just my thing i guess, i dont like all those wires and whatever

[ShadowFX]

stil just wondering because i never got a direct answer, are the positive and neg wires for the cig lighter the grey and white with black stripe respectively? im pretty sure but prefer confirmation..

[3TST]

I'm pretty sure that...
- white with black stripe = negative (earth)
- grey = positive (live)

[Akimbo]

What's a good size neon for under the dash? I just bought two green 6 inch OPTX tubes but i think I want bigger so I may take them back.

[BLINKYxMUNKEY]

not sure on a good size but i can fit my 15in blue one under my seat screwed to the ground.

[shid]

hey yah, I used 9 inch neons. Akimbo, here's a link to the neon part of my cardomain- it's got mount points and everything. Coomer's gonna try and fit 10 inchers down there.

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/552448/4

Gah! my car domain stars keep getting lower and lower.. wtf?! It's not that bad?!

This post has been edited by shid: May 13, 2004 - 9:14 PM

[Akimbo]

my question is...are the nine inch tubes concealed and fit well?

[flipside97LTD]

Where are you planning to attach them under the dash?

[shid]

Akimbo, they fit BEAUTIFUL- are concealed, and FLUSH with the dash. So they're concealed and they lit up the entire footwell. ALSO, I've never had a problem with anyone hitten them with their foot!

[Akimbo]

Uhm im not sure, behind it? i felt around and felt a ridge where they could fit