Interior LED wiring help

[Vella's Alero]

I bought these Led strips that are 4 2 foot strips that are connected together and plug in through the cigarette lighter. I plan on connecting 2 together and hardwiring them into the car.

My question is what wires would I use to tap into to do this? I would like them to just go on when I flick a switch I plan to install.

Also I bought another set to go into the trunk. These I want to install so they only turn on when the trunk light would go on. To do this I would just tap into the trunk light wires right?

Here is a pic of the lights:

[colonel6632]

i used leds when i did mine, and i took out the cubby light and tapped into that.

another way that you could do it is find some sort of keyed power, and run a relay off it, so whenever the key is on the lights are on, but still install a switch so if you want them off you can. it's pretty simple to do. and that way you can't forget them on when you turn your car off.


and you are correct about the trunk one, just make sure you have 12v from that light, and it'll turn on whenever you open your trunk.

[cherrington17]

If your going to use a switch, use any 12V constant.

If you want to avoid the switch, use the cubby power wires. (they'll turn on when your DRL kicks off and Headlights kick on) This is any gray wire in the dash. Then obviously ground them too.

For the trunk, look under where the bulb is, then yank the back panel and find the wires that connect to it. tap those, and your all set.

[Vella's Alero]

Cool. Once I put them in (maybe 2 weeks from now) I will let you know how they work and what I ended up doing switch wise.

An off hand question. Has anyone every heard of City Lites brand? That's what these are and I figured they are a cheap brand but for the price worth it. I might buy more as replacement before the store runs out.

[Vella's Alero]

Ok. So I tried putting the ones into the trunk and they wouldn't turn on. I made sure that I had the right wires and they still wouldnt turn on. When I put the original light back in it turned on no problem.

I did notice that there was a fuse in the lighter part that I had cut off. Would that be needed?

Any help would be awesome. Thanks.

[itsbmw]

what is the output of the cigarette lighter? it could be a totally different voltage than 12v.

[Vella's Alero]

How would I find that out?

[colonel6632]

put in an inline fuse. just to be safe. and i'm pretty sure (99.9% sure) that the outlet is 12v. but you could always use a multimeter to test