Neon installation

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EyezOnMei
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Neon installation

Post by EyezOnMei »

Hi all,
just wondering if anyone could answer another query for me. I was going to install some neons or some form of lighting in the car... as much as I would like to install that EL dial kits, I just can't justify the cost.
At the moment the car is waaay too dark at night for my liking!!!
Anyway, my question is whether I can just strip a part of my amp wiring and just power the neons through that way and then put the ground to any metal part of the car as usual?
You help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
thecook
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Location: Melbourne

Post by thecook »

hmmm i think for those basic in car neons
u juz cut off the thing that plugs into ciggy lighter

wire it up behind the lighter, n thats it

i havnt done it yet! but some of my friends have done it that way......

and yeh... u can get the negative from any metal part of the car...
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jc133480
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Post by jc133480 »

There are many places you can cut into the power in the FTO,

For just interior lighting the best bet is to remove the shifter panels and put and common wiring block in line with the cirgarette light wiring, try buying a small box from dicks smiths or jaycar as it will keep it neat and stop accidental shorts, plus if you use this point it is really easy to mount a small swich near the side of the stereo or gear leaver to turn the thing on and off.

For external wiring the best place to use either directly off a common block connected to the battery or via a looped wire connected to the fog light wiring in the dash.

To access the fog light wiring remove the speedo housing and locate the fog light switch, use a multimeter to test for 12V and install a wiring block to allow the existing circuit to work plus give access to the new stuff.

There is normally a spare switch block oppisite the Flog lamp switch this can be removed and drilled out to house an new switch very neatly, replace the housing with the new switch in place, use this to switch the voltage for the external lighting after the fog lamp cut-in. This will stop you from draining the battery by leaving the lighting on if the car is off & the keys are not in it, if you want it on all the time wire directly to the battery.

The best place to get wiring into and out of the firewall in the FTO is near the accelerator cable. Get on your back and look under the steering wheel, you'll see a cable connected to the firewall & the end of the accelerator pedal, ideally you want to drill a whole about 4 cms to the left of this. Before doing this look in the engine bay and make sure to have the right spot, use a nail punch and a hammer to make a small dint in the firewall to position the spot, you should see this dint on the other side if its clear of any other equipment then drill here. Use a 3-5 mm bit for steel. You might also want to put some rust proof spray around the edge, spray some on you finger and smeer the whole. When you have a whole get a gromet and put this in the whole. The wiring can just pass safely through the gromet now.

Use the wiring harnesses that the accelerator cable uses to secure a conduit for the wiring along the back of the engine bay, against the firewall, there are many wiring harnesses here, be carful not to cable tie a conduit to the radiator tubes as these can get very hot and melt the conduit/wiring. This should leed your conduit/wiring up to the battery and then work you magic here.

Hope this will help.
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EyezOnMei
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Post by EyezOnMei »

A big thankyou for the reply, I think I'll save that somewhere for as a reference for future purposes! Thanks very much that'll help me heaps!!!
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elmo
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power

Post by elmo »

I wouldn't recommend using the power from your amp as it may disrupt the supply and leave you with that horrible buzzing noise in your stereo.
EURO
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Location: Melbourne

Post by EURO »

with the neons in my footwell. Make sure you get the larger neons that have the switch inside the end of the neon.....otherwise some of the smaller neons have the switch in the plug (which you need to cut off!) makes things messy!!

We cable tied the neons to the footwells, ran the power up behind the cigarette lighter and then ran the wiring up to a switch i installed near the fog lights. we put a small fuse in to stop short circuiting etc.... there was a ground wire somewhere too?

My dads mate did most of the wiring, and i just followed orders, the hardest bit was taking the console apart! otherwise if you can get some help its not to hard.
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elmo
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home made neons

Post by elmo »

has anyone made any home made neons? well they're not really neons, just plastic rod with diodes in it.
I read the post somewhere on DIY angel eyes and started playing around with some plastic rod etc cause i wanna make some (soon as i get the car back and the lights out.)
Anyway, i found the rod lights up really effectively and wanna try to make some "shaped neons".
Has anyone tried this before? or know where there is more info on doing it?
It works good but i cant stop the rod from going frosty after it is heated, maybe there is another type of rod or a trick to it?
BTW i am not doin this to be cheap, (cause i know how cheap neons are now anyway), i just want a custom effect for the theme of the car, so if there is a better rod, long as it doesn't cost a million dollars, i'm prepared to pay for it.
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