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Hey. I am just getting into doing stuff to my car and I decided the first thing I want to do is put a neon light under my dash so there is blue light where your feet are. Yes, I understand some of you think this is stupid! Thankfully, this is my car and I get to decide what I think is cool or not.

I would appreciate it if anyone who has/knows how to do this mod would give me some pointers on doing it. Also, where can I buy the stuff for it?

Thanks.

O yea, its a 2005 Honda Civic 4-door automatic.

 
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I had really tiny blue neons that were like 8 inches long and they looked really cool but there isn't a good spot to mount them on the passenger side. The first time one of my friends got in my car he kicked it (not knowing it was there of course) and broke it. Anyways, I ran a positive and negative wire from the battery into the car and had them hooked them up to a distribution block for my lights and other things just so I had constant power even when the ignition is off. Then I just wired them up and mounted my switch and I was done. Its probably one of the easiest things to do to your car. Well maybe except for running wires through the firewall.

 
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I saw some neon lights on crutchfield that I wanted to use. When I looked under the dash it looked like it wouldnt be to difficult to find a place to mount them. How would I have to wire it so they turned on when the car turned on?

 
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i actually just did this with my car last week haha. i got 2 12" blue neon tubes off ebay, they come with a switch. your gonna need some extra wiring to get this done. run wiring from the battery (2 wire wiring. 1 wire connected to positive, 1 wire connected to negative of battery) up along the side of the engine compartment then behind the fender down in where the door connects to the car (passenger side) then down under your dash, then under back in there under neath where the head unit is in the middle over to the drivers side(i ran the wiring under the carpeting so u cant see it), then connect one of the sides of the 2wire wiring from the neon to one of the sides of the wiring u ran, the other to one of the sides of the switch, then connect the other side of the switch to one of the sides of the other neon stick back on the other side of the center console (passenger side footwell). then connect the final side of the 2nd neon stick back to the original wire u ran from the engine compartment. flip the switch to the on position and viola. 2 lit neon sticks. if it doesnt light up, flip the original wire on the battery from positive to negative and negative to positive. the polarity matters for the neon sticks (whether current is flowing positive to negative or negative to positive). i just used duct tape to tape the 2 ends of the neon sticks up under there by the pedals, then on the passenger side there is a little slot in the upper left hand corner of the passenger side footwell that you can jam the neon stick up into a little bit, then duct tape it to hold it in there. good luck man. if you got any questions about it, PM me. ill be glad to help. heres a drawing to help you out bro.

 
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that way uses a switch to turn them on and off. i dunno how to do it to turn on when the cars on, ude have to get into the ignition somewhere. ide just do the switch method. plus u might not ALWAYS want them on ya know?

oh... and rep me if u find the picture useful please

 
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Thanks for the help. Having the neon's connected to the battery 24/7 wont draing the battery right? Of course I will only turn them on at night, but when the car is off and the switch is off no power is being used?

 
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nooooooo. not necessary to tap off the ignition.
Tap into the positive and negative wires behind the cigarette lighter. You will only get power to the lights if you have the keys in the on or acc. position but if you want them to turn on when the car is turned on, just leave the switch in the on position. This way the lights will turn off when the car is off and they can be turned off or on when the car is on.
It's also much easier getting power from behind the cig. lighter than going through the firewall to the battery.

edit: it's a lot cheaper to get cold cathode lights from a computer store.
I got these 2 13" tubes with a switch and sound detector to bump to the bass for $8 shipped off a site that sells parts for computers. The switch has an off, on, and sound detect position. Can you believe scion charges $200+ for the SAME thing minus the sound detector?

 
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nevermind, do what he said. connect it to those wires behind the cig lighter plug. just do everything i said except use the wires that connect to the cig lighter plug as ur battery.

 
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born - I sent you a PM

 
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yeah tap the cig lighter plug that way they shut off when your out of the car. i mounted my 6" ones using zip ties under the dash and placed some on the seat frames which arent visible, only at night. zip ties own.

 
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Alright. I think I am going to go with neons. They are on ebay for cheap. My friend said I need a transistor? Do you guys know?

 
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Mor expensive is a blue led assambley. You need some work but will not crash for sure and last longer.

 
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You mean a transformer. It turns those 12 volts from your car into thousands of volts. Most of the time, neons come with one but the ebay stuff you're talking about...I don't know.

 
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another quick q on those neons since were on the subject..when you cut the 12v power source off the and splice the wires, how can you tell which one is + or - ? or does it matter ..

 
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Buy a simple digital multimeter ($20). Good to have one around. If not go in primitive way:
1. Take a bulb and two wires. Connect one end of the bulb to ground and the other end to the wire you test. If is + then the bulb will light.
2. If you have no bulbs then take table salt (1 tb) and put it in water (1/4 or 1/2 cap). Put the wires in. At the negative pole you will see bubles.

 
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wow thats interesting..thanks blackpearl but putting wires in water sounds kinda dangerous haha

 
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Yea...lol

I think I will figure it out. This mod doesn't seem that difficult.

 
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tap into the parking light wire so when u turn your parkin lights on they go on just use a relay and put a kill switch on it just incase you get stoped

 
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stopped? its not illegal to put neons IN ur car is it? scion does it from the factory if you chose that option.... i thought it was only under the car...

 
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I don't think so.... I didn't even know the neons under your car were illegal ^_^

 
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They aren't illegal under the car unless they are specific colors that are prohibited - for instance blue is definitely a no-no, thats what police use. Check the laws in your state, its okay to have red here in Arkansas, even though any friends of mine that have underglow often get pulled over by policemen who tell them it's just not a good idea and that they might get stopped for it in the future, and then of course let them go, with no warning or anything of course since it isn't illegal.

 
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Does anyone know the maximum amount of neon bulbs u can connect to the cig lighter??

 
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run it dirrect its better wont blow a fuse but i imagine what if u didnt have any thing pluged in to it would be alot cuz a pair of 2 street glows dont even use 1 amp so u do the math