How to install front LED footwells (and setup for boot, undercar etc) the safe way

[Demoniak]

Well a lot of people like to ninja power for LED's from the cig lighter, this is ok and all but not the best way.
This also means that you lose the ability to use your cig lighter for good things like recharging GPS's cause you get lost in a carpark.

Anyway.

Tools needed:

Wire cutters
Soldering iron
Cordless drill (+ drill bit 10m gauge if you use my switch)

Electrical tape
2 way switch
5m electrical cable (10amp is really all you need with 2 wires)
15w fuse
fuse mount
Gold mount point
Distribution block (see pic)
bock cover (see pics)
screws
solder
zipties/double sided tape

Step 1:
Ok first thing we do is choose which side you want to go through, i personaly like going from the passengers side as theres less to deal with cable wise, theres a great one (which i also used for the sound system) just above the carpet on a VX II.
Connect the "positive" cable with a mount and connect to the battery, with some commodores there is 3 places where you can connect this, first is constant, second is ignition and third is when the car is on. (from memory).

Then at around 500m from the connection splice in the fuse to the positive wire (15amp) - see pic


the "ground" cable connect to a bolt somewhere on the chassis.
Once this is done feed the cable through the firewall.

Step 2:
Choose a 2 way switch of your choice, i chose this one as i intend to have 3 switches, 1 for interior, 1 for boot and 1 for undercar and when active the red light activates.





From jaycar i got this distribution block which is capable of up to 8 connections, this was great for me as it covers my needs and possible future requirements without having to fiddle with the battery and cabling through the firewall again.
I also bought a cover for it so that it was a bit more safe (and hidden).



connect the wire from the battery to the first terminal point of the block.
Then get another piece of wire (only 1 wire is needed) and connect it to the second point and then join it (with a solder) to the 12v prong of the switch.

This will give you power to the switch, so the next thing you need to do is connect the positive cable from the leds to the "load" prong of the switch.
The ground wire can be connected to anywhere underneath the manual gear box or near the headunit (as long as its metal).

from there its just choice of where you want to mount your gear.

My setup i ran the wire from the battery to the centre console and then put the block inside there (as i barely use it apart from junk filling) and then drilled a hole through the wall of the console so i could mount the switch (by drilling a 10mm hole) next to the cup holder. From there i just tucked away the wires and then used screws to mount the block inside the console.




Tips:
Solder solder solder.. dont twist for this stuff.. a $10 solder pen is worth not losing your LED's to shonky cabling.

Fuse... this makes sure nothing goes wrong in your car.. fuse will pop before anything else.. saves money and headaches.

LED's over neons.. they are just as bright and the ones i got are flexible and able to be mounted anyway ( and can handle a kick from a foot unlike neons).

Zip tie over double sided tape. Double sided tape just dont cut it near the firewall.. it gets too warm and the adhesive goes shady. there are plenty of spots you can zip tie the led's to without having to drill into your dash.

Thats about it... good luck and have fun

[soslowbro]

Hey mate I did this same thing with an old car of mine and thinking of doing it to my VT. Question I'm asking is where did you get the LED strips as opposed to neons? Any auto shop should stock them?

Looks the goods mate!

[C-Shell]

"Then at around 500m from the connection splice in the fuse to the positive wire"

I'm guessing thats meant to be 500mm not 500 Meters hahaha, otherwise.... Thats a lot of wire haha

Other than that, good write up Most of my mates do the dodgy way, maybe i can help fix them up now

[mattbombers]

Good write up, when I wired up my footwell LEDs a while ago I wired them into the interior light power, I do regret that a bit though, cos I can't have em on without the roof light on, but at the same time I dont need to lol.