How to Wire In-Car LEDS

[vy_storm]

No idea on lifespan. Am looking to put some in the lip of the ute tray for some light (no boot lights like a sedan), so have been researching quite a bit lately.

 

[dephilile]

their life span would depend on how well it was made

my very first neon died after about 2 years. the gas eventually leaked out, they got very dim. the neons i have at the moment (ones from jaycar) are still going strong. had them for about 12 months.

i looked into using LED's or neons. Neons worked out to be cheaper at the time.

 

[samdihm]

Okay, im using a LED tube thats pre-made that is 12V.
It comes in a set of four already and i presume comes equiped to go into the cig lighter. i dont want to do that because it will look tacky and i will have wires everywhere. What can i connect it to under the centre console? strip the wires and connect to??

Cheers

 

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

I would run a separate fused wire from the battery and put a switch somewhere, or if you don't want them on without the key then pick up off the acc wire from the ignition.

 

[kopper69]

What model commy do you have mate? Just take off another circuit, maybe even one that switches on with the lights if you want. Depending on how much power the leds draw, you may not need a fuse, the standard will protect it. If you are keen though, you can add an inline fuse easily, for extra safety.

 

[Changa]

Isnt there a light around the cigarette lighter that comes on when you turn the interior lights on? a little green circle around the perimetre? You could just connect your LEDS/Neons to that and hide the wires couldnt you? I was wanting to connect some LED tubes to my speaker wires in my commodore VS and put them in my door storage compartments so when the stereo turns on my LEDs would turn on, what you guys think?

 

[kopper69]

Hey Changa,

When you have a new question your best to start a new thread. This one is 2 years old and most people wont be bothered reading it all before getting to your question.

Yes there is power to that light when you have the lights on, but the wiring for that little light is very small as it doesnt require much power. If you have an aftermarket head unit? you will have a spare connector there. The connector has connections that you can tap into that come on with the accessories or the lighting circuit. Using a multimeter you can find them easily (get a multimeter if you dont have one - very handy tool - cheap is fine).

Connecting to the speaker wires is no good. The voltage to the speakers is all over the place depending on the music, so the light will probably flash a little but would probably soon die.

If you want the lights to come on when the head unit is on, use the remote wire out of the head unit. That will provide power out of the head unit whenever the head unit is on. It doesnt provide much power though, so you will need to use a relay.

 

[Changa]

Ok thanks, so basically it is better to find an accessory wire and a ground wire if I want them to turn on when the car turns on, or find an interior lighting wire and the ground wire so when i turn my lights on they turn.

 

[kopper69]

:thumbsup: Spot on

 

[Changa]

Have done the passenger side using the cigarette lighter illumination power cord and a ground wire from an unused loom. Having trouble with the drivers side still using same power source and have not been able to find a ground wire, I thought just hooking the negative wire up to the chasiss would be the same as a ground wire, but it doesnt work so I need to find a ground wire i guess?