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okie dokie noobie time...

alright after setting off my SRS light in my car after tapping a constant 12volt in the steering wheel shroud (yeah not a good idea), HOnda decided to let me go with my warantee intact but i dont wanna risk doin it again. soooooo ive decided to draw power directly from my battery for my neons.


lets see if i got this right:

take some hookup wire (using 18gauge hookup wire), loosen negative battery hookup terminal, stick stripped end of wire in, tighten, run a fuse inline (5 amp) close to battery terminal, thread wire into car through firewall, split power to two neons, ground both. done?

right???


any precautions? is the wire thickness good? enough fuse ampage? safe? thanks!!!!

oh yeah since im hookin it up to the battery itself, will the neons turn on when the car's accessories are on?


THANKS!!!

 
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if you hook it up to your battery, it will be on when your battery is on which is probably 24/7. If you do that, you would probably want a simple on off switch. If you want it to turn on when your car turns on, then i would hook it up to the cig lighter.

 
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and, you dont wanna stick stripped wire in, nor do you wanna do it off the negative terminal.

18 gauge is also too small
try 10

 
Rep Power: 812

Please don't wire anything. It's obvious you're a noob at electrical, which can be very dangerous. The next time you mess up, your car could be on fire or you in the hospital.

Now if you still must do it, here is the right way.

Disconnect and tape negative battery terminal so you don't cause a disaster.
Run a wire attached to the positive terminal clamp through the firewall and attach to a switch inside. Run another wire from the switch to the neon power. You should be able to connect both neons in series, and ground them separately to the chassis. Btw, the switch will have two prongs on it. Fuse the power wire near the battery. Reconnect negative terminal to battery when you're all done.

 
Rep Power: 786

Don't connect the power wire to the terminal until everything else is connected, just measure it and zap strap it in place

 
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If you want my .02, I would say use a Relay for this project so that you don't have 10 awg going directly to the switch. If you don't know how to do it, it's easy to learn and you have your choice of wiring options. No offense though, you do sound inexperienced and make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before you start in because I am sure you don't want to be sorry later

 
Rep Power: 330

and allow me to recommend a larger fuse. i dunno your lighting but i'd bet it draws more than 5 amps. and good luck with a fuse purchase that small. get the holder for $3 and pop in a 15A fuse. you could use 12 gauge wire if you want, it would be cheaper. hell even 14 gauge for less than 20 feet IMO.

after reading that bit about wiring this up to the negative terminal PLEASE be very careful. if you go back to honda w/ problems again, it's like getting a second DUI/DWI, i doubt you'll receive much forgiveness for being dumb

 
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ive used the 5amp fuse with my two neon tubes before, hasnt given me any problems. so wouldnt that be safe for the direct tap into the battery? yeah im kinda dumb, now i dont really want to do this just wanna learn if ya guys dont mind...

 
Rep Power: 786

even 5 amps is pretty big for a couple of neon tubes. If you have a few bucks, get like 5 fuses in incremental sizes starting at like 0.5 or 1 amp and if one blows put the next bigger one in until it stops blowing. Will cost you a few dollars in fuses but what's the big deal there?

 
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lol..why would you waste fuses to figure out how much current the neons will draw? cant he just look at the packaging for the specs? it'll probably tell him, right on the package, how much current each neon will draw.

also, i guess he could use an ammeter to measure current..hehe

 
Rep Power: 786

true but i don't see a guy with leet electronics skills liek him having an ammeter on hand

and I've never seen current draw specs on a package for any neon... not that I've done a lot of looking but when I have I haven't seen the specs.

turboslug, do you ever come out to any of the Vancouver area car audio shows or car shows in general? you seem to know your business, try coming out and competing sometime

 
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i've met quite a few VCC members but i dont attend meets too often...you might see me on occasion though


btw, if he's gonna do the fuse guess/test method, he might want to start with a larger fuse and work his way down til he blows one. hehe....he'll only blow one fuse instead of 5..

 
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that's no fun! am I the only one who enjoys popping fuses?

you should have been at Cartunes yesterday, you missed Team Shadow (very close friends) hit a 166.5 making them officially the second loudest overall in Canada, and unofficially the 3rd loudest in the world in dB Drag Extreme 3-4.

 
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Street Glow 10" Neon Tubes use a 2.5 amp fuse...just gotta take apart the cig lighter plug that comes with it and take the fuse out, get an inline fuse holder and wire away.

I would highly suggest the relay method.

 
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Yeah if you don't know how to hook up a relay, spend a few bucks on a case of beer to pay somebody who does.

 
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light emitting fuses are fun

 
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smoke emitting electronics are fun as well.... too bad they aren't built that way though