Interior Lighting - How to hook up??

[UltimateWarrior 10+ year member]

I was thinking about adding some of the LED's to my interior, like maybe in the heat vents? or under the dash?. My question is this:

Where do you hook up the power? Fuse box? Battery? What kind of connector is on the ends of those LED's and where do you stick it? (That's what she said...)

P.s. What kind of interior lighting is best and where do you purchase it from? Links??

Thanks!

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[Slody4Futbol 10+ year member]

i got all my lighting from circuit city... they carry 4 packs of 12 volt LED's... they also carry neon tube's from 6" up to like 20"... depends on what you want... if you want to brighten up the floorboard... a neon tube under the front seats and a neon tube under the dash does wonders... as does a board with about 6 led's **not shining in same direction but some angled off because LED's focus light in 1 direction**.. i put led's in my center vents, and in the pocket of my console where you can't see them, but at nite when they are on it lights them up nicely, my whole floorboard is red from the neon tubes and it's very nice at nite... the led's have 2 wires coming off of each... i grouped and soldered them all together and ran the neon tubes wiring together and ran a wire from the ignition wire to my console under the carpet... grounded all the ground wires to a spot on the chassis up front... and put all the positive wires to the ignition wire i ran... then put a switch in between the ignition wire to cut the power on and off going to them all

 

[UltimateWarrior 10+ year member]

i got all my lighting from circuit city... they carry 4 packs of 12 volt LED's...

Cool, thanks! The proplem is I have no clue how to wire stuff in my car. I was one of those kids who never worked on a car with Dad so my skills are very lacking when it comes to doing anything with a car, especially electrical! I am also no electrician so although I do know basic wiring, working on a car and wondering how to configure it all is another story.

Like for instance, where in the he** do I find my ignition wire and even if I found it, how to tap into that and do all the other crap you mentioned. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif You see, you have to get real basic with me when it comes to this stuff. I did manage to replace my front door speakers and install my own HU which I did fine with directions, but trying to "wing it" would have caused me headaches. I purchased these items from Crutchfield and they came with detailed instructions which worked like a charm! Unfortunately, LED's and "other" add-ons don't come with much so you kinds have to know a little about car wiring. The other items in my sig are still to come. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

I'll keep reading and learning!

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[Slody4Futbol 10+ year member]

you could use the cigarette lighter in the console.. just take that part of the console off and use the positive and negative of the cigarette lighter and extend two wires off of it... and put all your wires from the neons/led's to it

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

you could use the cigarette lighter in the console.. just take that part of the console off and use the positive and negative of the cigarette lighter and extend two wires off of it... and put all your wires from the neons/led's to it

i dont understand this... i have like 4 cig lighters in my jimmy so this would probly work well for me

 

[Slody4Futbol 10+ year member]

just take whatever panels off that `the cigarette lighter is on... and there will be two wires on the back of it... the center one being the positive... and the outside one being negative... you can splice in a wire on each of those and use it to tie in all your led's and neons wiring there

 

[UltimateWarrior 10+ year member]

just take whatever panels off that `the cigarette lighter is on... and there will be two wires on the back of it... the center one being the positive... and the outside one being negative... you can splice in a wire on each of those and use it to tie in all your led's and neons wiring there

Well, that's sounds easy enough, thanks! So, if these LED's are always on, how long can I expect them to last? Wouldn't it be better to put a switch on them? And if so, how do you hook up a switch by still using the cig lighter?

Hmmm....

 

[UltimateWarrior 10+ year member]

Going once....twice..... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/bawling.gif.6287aa5d1d447c8af063fc9466e822ef.gif

How long do these LED's last typically? What are the good brands to get and the ones to stay away from? I saw some at Farm-Mart...., I mean, Wal-Mart but can imagine how good those kind are...

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryexcited.gif.c26a15f316d23068607f36ddacd7a7ab.gif

 

[supa_c 5,000+ posts]

check out this thread. Look towards the bottom. http://www.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?p=526038#post526038

tristanlee85 sells them

 

[supraman1379 10+ year member]

Heres how I wired my light up,

 

[supraman1379 10+ year member]

Heres how I wired my light up.

I went to a part store and bout a toggle swith and some connectors to go on it.

Then I cut the 12 V connector off the end of the wire on the light, and I wired the positive side to the acc. part on the toggle switch and i grounded the light to the main body.

All you have to do is run a wire for yer switch from yer battery or from yer cap. I suggest battery. As long as its 12 V

 

[supa_c 5,000+ posts]

O.K n/m now