Connecting Neons To Swiches

[goldensaint]

Yeah i got neons hooked up in my car but i want to connect switches to them for easy access. I have already tried it on some strobes but i burned those out along with the switch cuz i have no idea what i am doing. I thought i did but i think the wire may be to big or something, please help. Thanx <_<

[theirishgonzo]

get a single throw switch wire all grounds to a single ground and atach all neons to switch and run other side to 12 volt sorce. if you get a dual throw switch run neons to center and run power to each side like a switched sorce and a constant.

[goldensaint]

Sorry i may sound stupid but i didn't understand a lot of that

[Silentalero]

Ok easy stuff


you connected it to power i assume?

Take the positive wire (red normally) and cut it in half. now those 2 wires go to the on/off switch....the switch will be labeled ACC and PWR.

ACC = Accessory, meaning this wire is coming from your neon/strobe or whatever your hooking it up to

PWR = Power, this wire goes to the other half of the wire that goes to the battery or power source.

[goldensaint]

Thanx but what about the ground wires, and do i just go buy some regular power wire or does it matter the size

[Silentalero]

YES size matters.

ground, you can strip the wire and connect it to any metal bolt thats in the car basicly and it should ground it out.

Wire size YES it matters big time becase if you change the siez of it, there is a change of overloading the wire and starting a fire. Most likely the neon wires are 18-22awg (awg = gauge of wire aka thickness of the wire inside)

Now when you get into gauges (awg) of wire the higher the number, the smaller the wire so remember that. If you want thicker wire youd go down in numbers. But for your project you wanna keep it about 18 awg the thickest. Thats what I run throughout my car and it works fine with no risk of fire.

Now the few things to remember, ALWAYS wire correctly, now you can either connect the wires a few ways

Solder the wires (solder kits are about $5-$10) and its basicly a needle point metal pen that heats up and you get a thing of lead that you melt onto the 2 wires to make sure they are secured (takes some getting use to)

Crimp the wires (crimpers can range from $10 on up) and this is basicly a lug/terminal concept where you take some male and female terminals and strip the wire and you crimp the wire into the terminal and its secured. This is my preferred method seing as you can disconnect it if you ever need to for any reason.

Ghetto way (twist & electric tape) I dunno why im telling you this but some people will twist the wires together and electrical tape them or "cap" them, which this is the absolute WORST thing you can do so I wouldnt recommend it incase you were thinking to do this. Its very unsafe becasue you have to remember that the wire your using is a power wire and that wire must be covered and if the electric tape comes off for any reason or those wires split up and the power wire touches a ground your gonna blow a fuse and/or your car may become a fireball.

MAKE SURE YOU FUSE THE POWER!!!!!!! no matter what I cant stress this enough. goto autozone and tell them to give youa fuse holder and fuse for the neons and they should be able to give ya what you need. The fuse goes on the power wire about 12" or less away from the batter or power your tapping off of.

[goldensaint]

Thank u a lot man, i think i am getting the picture now

[goldensaint]

Alright, just one more question, does the wire on the in-line fuse need to be the same size as the wire going to and from it. If its not then will anything burn out. thanx :D

[Silentalero]

yes

[gxryan]

accually it doesn't matter TO much if the inline fuse wire is a bit small or larger so long as it isn't a big jump in wire size. But yeah for less complications keep wire sizes same.

[goldensaint]

Bad Ass. i got my neons hooked up as well as my screen thanx. Is it possible to do the same thing to my inverter u know so that my dvd player will work off a switch.

[Silentalero]

yes but you need bigger gauge wiring and make sure the switch can handle the power, most can

[goldensaint]

how much power exactly would the switch need

[theirishgonzo]

actuley you should run all grounds to the same place so you dont get a ground loop it can make your raido sound funny i would say some 14 or 12 would work well each neon draws about 1/4 of a amp

[Silentalero]

Originally posted by theirishgonzo@Aug 1 2004, 01:57 AM
actuley you should run all grounds to the same place so you dont get a ground loop it can make your raido sound funny i would say some 14 or 12 would work well each neon draws about 1/4 of a amp
actually to be exact no you dont. You want to run your grounds to the closest grounding point from the neon or accessory so there is no interference. [/technical crap]