Tapping into power source.

[iApex]

Well i searched with the following phrases...
Interior lighting
tapping into power source
Neons
LED's
Holders

Sorry if i accidentally looked over it.

And couldn't find what I needed.
Basically I am a complete noob when it comes to electrical stuff.


I need to know how to tap into the cigarette lighter so i can power LED's for my cup holders and neon floor lighting. Basically just the LED's in the cup holders for now. I plan on buying the lights from oznium and the switches but idk what all i exactly need or how to wire them into the power source so i can just turn them on with the switches.

I know im going to use these
http://www.oznium.com/prewired-superflux
and these
http://www.oznium.com/switches

I have all the ideas planned out for mounting


Can someone help me out please?

[Jake]

Use an add-a-fuse, can be bought at any autozone, kragens, etc etc. I ran mine off the 20A radio fuse in the fuse panel on the driveside. Easiest in my opinion. And for the ground I used the screw at the top left of the fuse panel. To wire Led's and such it is very easy. Hook the switch to a ground, and a power source. ANd the Led's will have 2 wires, (1 positive and 1 negative obviously), hook the ground from the led to your ground on the switch, and hook the power one to the "acc" little tab on the switch, that will make it to where the led's will come on only when the switch is flipped.

[iApex]

Originally Posted by Jake

Use an add-a-fuse, can be bought at any autozone, kragens, etc etc. I ran mine off the 20A radio fuse in the fuse panel on the driveside. Easiest in my opinion. And for the ground I used the screw at the top left of the fuse panel. To wire Led's and such it is very easy. Hook the switch to a ground, and a power source. ANd the Led's will have 2 wires, (1 positive and 1 negative obviously), hook the ground from the led to your ground on the switch, and hook the power one to the "acc" little tab on the switch, that will make it to where the led's will come on only when the switch is flipped.

Too complicated for me , you gotta dumb it down a little. First of all... how do you get power off a fuse i thought it just plugs in and thats it. TBH ive never really taken a good look at the fuse panel before. Ill look at it tomorrow.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by iApex

Too complicated for me , you gotta dumb it down a little. First of all... how do you get power off a fuse i thought it just plugs in and thats it. TBH ive never really taken a good look at the fuse panel before. Ill look at it tomorrow.

It's an add-a-fuse, looks like this.

http://www.amazon.com/Littelfuse-FHA.../dp/B0002BGELQ

Plugs into the place of a fuse, and has 2 smaller fuses on it, and has a power wire coming off, so you dont have to make it ghetto (Wrapping a wire around the fuse and jamming it back in)

[iApex]

Originally Posted by Jake

It's an add-a-fuse, looks like this.

http://www.amazon.com/Littelfuse-FHA.../dp/B0002BGELQ

Plugs into the place of a fuse, and has 2 smaller fuses on it, and has a power wire coming off, so you dont have to make it ghetto (Wrapping a wire around the fuse and jamming it back in)

Ahh that makes more since now. So with power there is what a + a - and a ground right? that looks like it only has a positive. where does the negative one go? I'm guessing the ground can go onto anything metal on the car basically.

[Jake]

Originally Posted by iApex

Ahh that makes more since now. So with power there is what a + a - and a ground right? that looks like it only has a positive. where does the negative one go? I'm guessing the ground can go onto anything metal on the car basically.

Yes the ground for the switch just goes from a nut or screw somewhere on the car that is touching bare metal.

I drew a little picture for you, I cant make it much more clear than this

[iApex]

you know Jake, I <3 you, no homo.

For the little superflux LED's can i wire two lights into 1 switch? just want to make sure im not ordering too much stuff

And you think 10ft or 18 gauge wire should be enough right. or too much?

[cardude007617]

yeah you can wire a ton of stuff onto 1 switch. and yeah, 10 feet should be enough. order a little more if you wish.
do you have a wire cutter/crimper/stripper? definetly comes in handy when doing wiring stuff

[Jake]

Originally Posted by iApex

you know Jake, I <3 you, no homo.

For the little superflux LED's can i wire two lights into 1 switch? just want to make sure im not ordering too much stuff

And you think 10ft or 18 gauge wire should be enough right. or too much?

Not a problem

10 feet will be plenty. You can wire up multiple LED's to 1 switch. Idk exactly how many but a lot.

[iApex]

Originally Posted by cardude007617

yeah you can wire a ton of stuff onto 1 switch. and yeah, 10 feet should be enough. order a little more if you wish.
do you have a wire cutter/crimper/stripper? definitely comes in handy when doing wiring stuff

I believe i do, and if not ill go somewhere and get one. I'm use to doing like speaker wire, this electrical stuff is a whole new ball game to me with all these fuses and switches and what not, very confusing at first.

[tenspeed]

Originally Posted by Jake

Use an add-a-fuse

Why use a add-a-fuse when the cigarette lighter circuit is right there and it is fused? Pull the radio trim. Cut the wires to the cigarette lighter (one at a time!). Add another six inches of wire (so you can pull the trim out further next time) and a couple of quick disconnects. You can add your switch on the side behind the lighter socket.

[iApex]

Originally Posted by tenspeed

Why use a add-a-fuse when the cigarette lighter circuit is right there and it is fused? Pull the radio trim. Cut the wires to the cigarette lighter (one at a time!). Add another six inches of wire (so you can pull the trim out further next time) and a couple of quick disconnects. You can add your switch on the side behind the lighter socket.

That looks a lot harder than what i have to do, all i need is 2 lights and 1 switch. Jakes idea seems less complicated.

[notsoaveragej0e]

Originally Posted by tenspeed

Why use a add-a-fuse when the cigarette lighter circuit is right there and it is fused? Pull the radio trim. Cut the wires to the cigarette lighter (one at a time!). Add another six inches of wire (so you can pull the trim out further next time) and a couple of quick disconnects. You can add your switch on the side behind the lighter socket.

That's exactly what I was thinking- I hardwired mine to the fuse box under the hood and ran it through the firewall, then spidered off with smaller gauge wire to each switch for my LED's... but in retrospect, I should have just used the lighter socket which is right there.

[iApex]

someone want to make me a simple diagram like Jake did but with the wiring steps for wiring it from the cig lighter. I want to make sure i hook all my stuff up right, i bought some cathlodes from oznium along with my led's for the cup holders.

[tenspeed]

Originally Posted by iApex

someone want to make me a simple diagram like Jake did but with the wiring steps for wiring it from the cig lighter.

Take Jakes drawing - cross out "Add a fuse" and write in "cigarette lighter orange wire". The black wire with it is a ground,

The lighter is fed from a twenty amp fuse in the engine fuse box. It is yellow and on the lower left as you're looking down at it. Pull the fuse first so you don't blow it if you short something out.

[Sean]

U wont overload the switch or the fuse with LEDs.. i got 3 pairs of cathodes and 2 of those superflux leds on the cig lighter

The easiest way for u to do it would just be to splice the orange and black wires and then wire in ur switch.. just be sure to pull the fuse like tenspeed said

Once u get the wiring squared away u can make a nice little switch panel too..

[iApex]

Originally Posted by Sean

U wont overload the switch or the fuse with LEDs.. i got 3 pairs of cathodes and 2 of those superflux leds on the cig lighter

The easiest way for u to do it would just be to splice the orange and black wires and then wire in ur switch.. just be sure to pull the fuse like tenspeed said

Once u get the wiring squared away u can make a nice little switch panel too..

I was going to make a switch panel on the side of the center console, because i don't have that tape player slot like you do, but im having a hard time thinking of how i want to do it. Either im just going to drill holes the size of the switches in the side of the center console and just put the switches in there, or im going to cut a square out of the center console and either gluing or finding a smaller piece that works similar to the shifter surround to kinda clip in place, then putting the switches on it.

As far as the instructions go, i think i got it now guys, thanks for all your help.

[PhantomLover007]

The water bottle effect is cool man...

[iApex]

Just want to thank everyone that helped me out, i finally got it all wired up and installed today, i have been wiring every now and again while im watching tv and finally today i decided to put it all together.

I used a dermal tool to cut the holes in the side of the console put the switches in and wired everything up, i started at 8pm and finished at 1:05am got the 2 led's in the cup holders i put a piece of Styrofoam on the bottom to keep them held in place and i used a hot glue gun to make the Styrofoam stick to the underside of the cup holder, i also wired in two red cathlodes from oznium, their not as bright as i want them to be but their still pretty good. i used Velcro to stick them under the dash and stick the transformer under the middle in front of the center console

[rocketfast123]

Originally Posted by tenspeed

Why use a add-a-fuse when the cigarette lighter circuit is right there and it is fused? Pull the radio trim. Cut the wires to the cigarette lighter (one at a time!). Add another six inches of wire (so you can pull the trim out further next time) and a couple of quick disconnects. You can add your switch on the side behind the lighter socket.

Dang I like that ideal