An Overview on How to install Neon & LED Interior car lights.
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Posted: Tuesday, November 22, 2005
by Antonio Gabellone
Antonio's Prodigy Enterprises
So you've got your LED or Neon interior car lights, but you're now a bit confused as to where all the car interior neon lights and wires go?" Well fear not, we'll show all the "in's & out's" of this type of installation and the easiest way of doing it.
It's a good idea to disconnect the battery before installing any car light accessories. You can do this by disconnecting the negative battery cable and placing it to one side of the battery where it won't touch any part of the vehicles body. It's also wise to have your vehicles service manual handy for information about the specifics of the electrical system on your vehicle.
For interior car lights, the best places to mount the LED or neon tubes are under the dash on both sides just above where your feet go, but high enough so as not to kick the tubes or damage them. There are also many other places you can fit them and their location is only limited by your imagination.
To operate the lights manually, your going to need a switch located near you, so you'll need to buy a simple "2way toggle" switch (or use the switch that may have came with your neon/led tube kit) from your nearest custom car accessories store. This switch will be inserted into (in-line with) the main power wire that supplies the kit with 12Volt power.
Choose if you want your interior car lights to turn on automatically when the headlights are turned on, or if you want to control the lights separately with a "toggle" switch.
If you want the neon or LED tubes to light up automatically when the headlights are turned on, then you will need to find a wire under the dash near the steering column. This wire you are looking for is normally Red or Yellow, and it's supplying the "headlight control switch" with 12V power - you're going to have to "tap" into this wire to light-up your neon lights when the headlights are turned on.
If you want to be able to control the interior car lights separately from the headlights, (best option) then there's two ways you can do this...
1) The power wire can be connected directly to the Positive side of the car battery, or...
2) It can be connected to any 12V power wire from under the dashboard.
If you choose to tap into a power wire from behind the dash to power your interior car lights you'll also need to buy a "Circuit Tester" from your nearest custom car accessory store - they only cost about $10 dollars. To use this tester is simple, it looks like a pen with an earth wire hanging out the top of it and a clamp attached to the end of the wire, and it has a globe inside the middle of the pen, or on its end, which lights up when you have found power somewhere.
To complete the interior car lighting "electrical circuit" - you'll now just need to attach the earth wire coming out from the from your led or neon tubes to the chassis of the vehicle. You can do this in the same way as described above for the earth wire on the tester - anywhere where there is bare steel under the dash is always a good earth connection for your interior car lights, even if you find a screw under the dash that is screwed into bare steel and it is holding another wire in place as an earth, you can use this too as an earth location. The control panel earth wire will need to be securely screwed to the chassis of the vehicle or to any "Earth wire" to complete the power circuit.
After your "power" & "earth" connections are complete, your car interior neon lights should now work. If they appear dull and not real bright, then be sure to check that you have made GOOD earth and POWER connections.
That's it, you're all done - now all you have to do is put any plastic panels back into place that you may have removed, pack your tools up, and then head off to show your friends what a great look you've just created on your car - Enjoy!
Please see our "More-In-depth" and step-by-step picture illustrated instructions on the How to install Neon or LED interior car lights page.
About the Author:
Antonio Gabellone is the Owner/Author of All-Neon-Car-Lights.com - The Site is a great resource aimed at Neon Car Lights and LED lights with "life-time Warranties". Copyright© All-Neon-Car-Lights.com 2003-2009 - Permission is granted to reprint this article provided the webmaster supplies a *LIVE* link to the authors website.
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More commentsHey I want to place a neon light at the top of my rear window, where should i hook up the wires? I was told that I need to connect them to my rear brake lights but how do i do that? ThanksGirly
Hi GirlyYou only need to connect to the brake light wires if you want the neon tube to come on when the brake lights do...The brake light wires are found in the trunk - you will need to track down the power wires for the brake lights, and then connect your power neon wire to this brake light wire.Alternatively, if you don't want the neons to come on with the brake lights, you can connect the neon tube directly to the car battery.Hope this help - and have a great new year ;-)Antonio
Hiya Mate,
I bought 2 green led lights, they have 2 wires a red and a black, i placed the red on the battery postive and the black on a bolt, can you shed some light on why they are not working.
thank you for your time
Hi antonio, quick reply lol,
so let me just brake it down so i understand , (just learning)
Red (positive)
Black ( negative)
I run the red wire to the postive on the battery and then i run the negative to earth, though where do i find earth. i thought earth was a peice of metal.?
I appreciate your replyHi James
The earth is the other pole on the car battery - opposite the positive pole - this is a better earth location, because using a bolt may not be a good earth and thats probly why you leds are not working.
Kind regards
Antonio
you better hooked up both positive and negative to the cigarette lighter.
how 2 fit a PROJECTOR lens inside the head lamp ?
hey im a nube at this but where would i hook up an expansionZ? i want to light up the back interior of my car to but im scared if i put it under the seats it wont be enough glow for me, and plus i dont want any of my crazy friends to kick them out. PLZ HELP ME
Hi Jason
You may need to hook the lights up near the roof in the interior so they do not get kicked.
Alternatively, you can always install them further under the seats so they do not get kicked.
You really need to look around for a good place to install them.
Hope this helps
kind regards
Antonio
I bought interior led lights from wal-mart and the two wires are both black but one has a white line along the wire on one of them. Is that the positive wire? and I hook them up to my fuse box inside my car which is fuse 10 and it isn't working. My other car I hooked up lights and used fuse 10 and it works perfectly fine. Why isn't it working for me this time?
Hi Antonio,
I hooked up my positive wire to my positive nod on my battery and earthed it to a bolt, but the trouble is the lights came on for my LED lights and then the wire connected to the battery and to my switch begin smoking and burned up the wire. Do I need a different gauge wire or is the battery not a good idea? Why did it burn the wire i had connected?
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