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Very good point, I totally forgot to mention that!

 
Rep Power: 228

lol I am so stumped, is anyone available to talk real-time on the phone? I'll call.

Correct me if I'm wrong, the wires with a white stripe are the power and the all-black wires are ground, I mean, I'm noob, but I thought that was standard...

I bought an add-a-circuit kit from PartSource and hooked it up to a 7.5A fuse, and connected my in-line power to that with a 3A fuse for the lights, and it still didn't work.

I'm SERIOUSLY considering taking it to BestBuy, I've souldered the wires into the doors, but now I heard maybe the doors aren't properly grounded? That's the last thing I'll try is souldering wires from the doors to the frame and if that doesn't work then hello Best Buy because I am too frustrated after 4 days of troubleshooting and researching.

 
Rep Power: 328

I will talk to you on the phone.
PM me again when you need to talk.

(This is not a global invite nor is it for therapy, just trying to help out a new guy.)

 
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If all you got was heavy breathing, I swear it wasn't me, Matt...

 
Rep Power: 328

Well Clint if I see 011- 44-1480-8422070 in the caller ID. I will know not to answer.
:moo n:

 
Rep Power: 291

not always. the wire markings don't mean anything sometimes. we stated that earlier in the thread. do what was suggested before and try it directly on the battery. this will also determine what is + and - for you. if it doesn't work either way on the battery, then the neons are dead.

i definetly would not have soldered anything to the car. did you do it to the door or the door frame of the car? if you did it on the door, i doubt you have a good ground. there's a reason why the door locks and power windows have seperate ground wires running to them in the doors.

try it on your battery first. then report back.

 
Rep Power: 228

OH!!!

One last idea: You mentioned something about ballasts, I disregarded it because I couldn't see any evident external ballast BUT, the lights came with a small circuit board hidden inside a control box including intesity, on/off and a sensor to detect music to make the lights "dance" should you choose that setting.

HOWEVER, I cut this box off, because I figured if I put that in the door and water got in there (which it does) it could short the circuit if it got into that box. That's why I connected the two leading power wires to the main power wire and same with the ground. MAYBE that box contains some vital components such as a ballast or a power inverter??? Hopefully I haven't fried the lights somehow, but even switching the wires and hooking it directly to the battery didn't light them up.

I cut the wires far enough away so I would still have room to reconnect the circuit board if I wanted/needed. Maybe when I get home from work today I'll try reconnecting it and hooking it directly to the battery.

Any thoughts? I got myself a bit worked up, maybe this is the noob solution to my noob problem, if it is, I'm going to feel very nubish. Maybe I could just wrap the box in a few layers of electrical tape and hide it in the door if this is the solution?

 
Rep Power: 291

neons are just like any other fluorescent light. they need a ballast to operate. i'd be willing to bet that box contained the ballast (especially considering it had intensity controls, you'd only be able to control that on the ballast). if it did, you may have damaged the tubes. fluorescent lights run off AC, not DC. if you cut the ballast off and hooked them straight to DC, you may have burned them up. only way to tell is to reconnect the box and try it. try it on the battery first so we can rule out your grounding questions.

 
Rep Power: 812

yup mine also have a lil box that they have to plug into, its just to make them work and not any kind of flashing thing or whatever. some neon ive seen have control circuitry inside the tube, but thats usually for the big ones and you should be able to see the circuit board and stuff inside.

 
Rep Power: 328

Well now that we have that figured out.......

 
Rep Power: 291

yeah......

 
Rep Power: 228

Hmm yeah I get off in 3 hours I'll go home and try that ASAP guys, thanks so much for all your input thus far. If I reconnect the box and still no light up then I have whole new issues to deal with...

I suppose the upside of this possible $60 waste is that it was a very big learning experience lol, I have to give you guys reps after all this is over!

 
Rep Power: 328

You have had an hour to fix it. Where is the update?

 
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Thanks for the rep MMKennedy, I hit you back..

 
Rep Power: 228

Haha I fixed it then played xbox for 5 hours straight! Geez! lol. Halo 2 and pizza, mmm nothing better.

Here's the update:

HOLY **** lmfao.

On one set, the power was the striped wire, on the other, the power was the black wire, go figure, same company, two different locations of the same store. I re-attached the control units and voila, they worked when hooked up to the battery!!! I felt a huge sense of relief. I wired them back into my car, grounded them on the Cig. Lighter ground for conveniece and put my car back together.

I cannot stress how much I appreciated all the help, hence the reps . This has definitely been a lesson learned, I was hasty to chop those off without questioning the purpose, thank you for the patience and understanding. I'll get some pics up tomorrow night, too exhausted from kickin' *** tonight!