Well, for a while now I've had a few bits of neon laying around the house that are destined to go inside the car. I had toyed with the notion of putting them under the front seats so that there was a glow there. Not to flashy I guess, and I figured it's a waste to just have them laying around. So I picked up some basic stock looking switches yesterday, and now on to my next couple of questions. I only want the switch to be active when the dash lights (ie parking or driving lights) are on. Then I can either turn the neon off or on if I want, doing this so I don't inadvertently leave the neon on under the seat, and then have the battery be dead when I come back...since I'm in the habit of always turning off the lights if they are on, or the car beeps like a bezerk pager on crack, this will make certain I can't do this. How would I go about doing this? From the light switch is there only one power wire to the dash lights or one for each seperate position? How should I best cut in to this? And how will I know which one is + and which one is - off that switch? Thanks for any insight...oh and easiest way to get to those wires? take off the dash?
Tap into your headlamp, taillamp, or sidemarker fuse. Directly on the fuse panel itself. Use that tap as a positive for your switch (which will just cut the positive power to the neon when off). Ground the neon to a seat bolt of whatever, it doesn"t really matter, as long as it's a good ground. If you do it like this, you are basically stopping the power from getting to the neon with the switch. If you don't understand what I'm saying, just tell me and I'll try to explain it a little better. Oh ya, I think it would take a while for the neons to kill the batery if you left them on (if you weren't wiring them like you are) because I've heard that neons use very little power.
____________________ "Men and boys alike love burnouts because they involve machinery, loud noises, and destruction."
I have two purple neons under my dash and three blacklights under the back seat. I don't have it mounted to the headlights but just to two switches that work independently. One day I must've bumped the one for the blacklights and they were on for over 8 hours while I was at work. Must've freaked some customers out. LOL!!! Btw, my car started as normal. I was worried myself that it would kill my battery.
Figured it out...I'll post some pictures later, but simply put I took off the lower dash panel and removed the headlight switch. I then located the ground (easy since it's the only black wire in the whole terminal, and using a multimeter I checked which wires were delivering 12V power when the switch was in the parking light position as well as the headlight position, pretty easy to do. I then spliced into that and ran the wire behind the dash and under the carpet to where I wanted it, found a great ground just below the door sill that I grounded the wire to. The switch I installed in the fuse box cover inside the car (just a thin piece of plastic, but it looks good, post picture in a bit). All in all this wasn't too hard. It does act a bit funny, I think because of the length of wire required to get to the light, it takes a few seconds the first time I turn the switch on for it to light the neon, however, once it's been on, it will come right back on when turned off then on. I thought it was a bit odd, but I'm fairly certain it has to do with the length of the wire used to the DC (+)
alright here is a picture of the switch in the fuse box cover...looks pretty clean if you ask me. The Red LED lights up when there is power to the switch and the neon only in the ON position, otherwise it's off. I spliced into the DC (+) behind the headlight switch, and then ran it down the dash and behind the center console where I ran it under the carpet up under the passenger side through the pre existing hole for what I'm assuming is the seat belt warning indicator for the passenger side. The neon is for right now just kind of hanging from a bracket under the seat. I'm trying to determine if I want to have it point down mounted to the seat, or point up mounted to the floor. Either way I don't know. When I get some more money, I'll have one under the driver's side as well...and then further down the road there will be a neon rod in each door, that will make the grills glow red when turned on.
well, to be honest, it was supposed to be more left...but...I was holding the damn cover upside down, so when I took it in to put it back in the car...it was on the other side ( I had to pop the switch out and turn it back over). However, I have plans for two more switches, so they'll even each other out eventually. For now though, at least it looks clean. And the switch looks very stock. Good part is, even if I hit it accidentally, it doesn't come on unless the headlight switch is in one of the one positions.
Chelly02 wrote: I like that placement! I probably would have gone a bit more to the left side (knowing me I'd hit the damn thing with my knee constantly) lol.
if my knee was down where the fuse box cover is,
i'd have way bigger problems
than accidentally turning off my neon,
yikes you must be -short-!
____________________ it is smarter to be lucky
than
it is lucky to be smart.
yeah I don't think I could hit it unless I was trying, it sits real low, and I'd probably dislocate a joint trying to do it. I do have to finish taking care of the wiring though, the damn stuff still shows and that means crappy install
jhimm wrote: Chelly02 wrote: I like that placement! I probably would have gone a bit more to the left side (knowing me I'd hit the damn thing with my knee constantly) lol.
if my knee was down where the fuse box cover is,
i'd have way bigger problems
than accidentally turning off my neon,
yikes you must be -short-!
Hey easy on us short people, even though I'm like the shortest one I think O well, what can ya do right? Looks real clean Joe..
____________________
It's not about what you have under the hood, it's about who you have behind the wheel...
03ChromeChica wrote: jhimm wrote: Chelly02 wrote: I like that placement! I probably would have gone a bit more to the left side (knowing me I'd hit the damn thing with my knee constantly) lol.
if my knee was down where the fuse box cover is,
i'd have way bigger problems
than accidentally turning off my neon,
yikes you must be -short-!
Hey easy on us short people, even though I'm like the shortest one I think
i've got nothing against short people...
it just never even occured to me that was a part of the car you could bump into.
____________________ it is smarter to be lucky
than
it is lucky to be smart.
nah, I don't have to worry about bumping it...like I said, after trying to bump it with my knee it seems near impossible, I'd have to break my thigh to have my leg bend in a way to bump it while driving. So I think I'm safe...for now.
The Red LED lights up when there is power to the switch and the neon only in the ON position, otherwise it's off. I spliced into the DC (+) behind the headlight switch, and then ran it down the dash and behind the center console where I ran it under the carpet up under the passenger side through the pre existing hole for what I'm assuming is the seat belt warning indicator for the passenger side. The neon is for right now just kind of hanging from a bracket under the seat. I'm trying to determine if I want to have it point down mounted to the seat, or point up mounted to the floor. Either way I don't know. When I get some more money, I'll have one under the driver's side as well...and then further down the road there will be a neon rod in each door, that will make the grills glow red when turned on.
Looks real clean Joe.. 
