Right, the plan is to run 2 red leds tubes, hidden away under the dash in each front footwell. I want to rig it up on the same system as the interior light runs on, so when the doors open, you get a nice red glow at night.

The LED tubes themselves are PC tubes, meaning its a molex connector, but i'm assuming i can just butcher that down to a red and black wire. Is it a simple case of joining it up to the interior light, or will running 2 lights from this simply dim all 3 lights? And would i have to change the fuse so to compensate for the extra power being used by the light?

Obviously, just sticking the wires straight on the battery and rigged up with a switch would be the easist route, but then i want it to light up as the doors open. Any suggestions?

Not too electronically minded but a relay? So that when the doors open the relay swithches on and the lights (wired fom the battery) switch on? That wouldnt dim any lights I think.

Just remeber fuses so you dont return to a smoldering wreck.

Matt
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Crystal CMP 8 :: Like some members on this forum, thinks its 4 inches bigger than it is

Possibly! I'm gonna rip off the interior light tomorow and have a poke about.

it won't dim them at all. If these lights are supposed to be for the inside of a PC case, They'll be fine without a relay as they won't draw much current from the electrics, that is unless the tubes need a transformer to run them in which case, put in a relay




Speedbumps are my arch enemys!!!

Its just an LED tube with a molex connector, which i WILL butcher down to positive and negative wires. I'm just about to go outside and have a look underneath the light cover and see whats what.

I had a spare blue neon from an old sub box I sabotaged and that had the neon and then a transformer, it was basically just a negative and positive wire. Simple stuff.

Get a positive and negative and hook it up just to check before butchering it though....probably too latenow anyway!

Matt
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Crystal CMP 8 :: Like some members on this forum, thinks its 4 inches bigger than it is

I had a look at the interior light, no wires visible in the light itself, so i'm guessing the wires run into the roof and down the A-pillar.

But before i do anything i'll check some wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual.

LED tubes? I've never seen one of these.. do you mean a cold cathode tube?

Have you bought one yet, a cathode is likely to be brighter than a LED tube.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=42955

And at only £2.50 - they're a steal. They run off an invertor that is supplied but only draw a few mere mA so no need for a relay.

I have two white ones for my footwells, just not got round to fitting them yet!


Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!

Fook...I had two of those slung under each bumper until august when they fell off. Arc youre right..they ARE a steal, mine cost £10 each when I did mine in April. I might just do the internal thing myself.

Those are an absolute piece of (you get the picture) to fit. I had mine wired directly to the battery....

Arse

Ill think of something witty....just wait and see............wait I might not.

I fancy a bit of this lighting myself, if anyone manages to find out how to hack into the power cablin for the internal light give us a shout.

Does anyone know how many tubes we could feasibly run? i was hopin for 6 for the idea i've got in mind?

cheers
dave

Seicento Sportin... Maybe i'll get it off the drive... one day... maybe

well, if you all getting one, i might finally tidy up my boot install and put one or two in there!
think that would look right smart! [8D]

Funnly enough, the ones i'm getting are from ebuyer. Not the cold cathode tubes though, as they use inverters, so its more wires, plus the red one has been reported as looking orange.

I was thinking of two of these: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=44986

im looking for two blue cold cathodes. about 12 inches. then i could have one behind my amp, and one behind the sub. think that would look nice. but, ebuyer didnt have a normal blue one, just this:

Liquid Neon Tube 12 Inch Blue

When I was running those below my bumpers..I was using Cold Cathodes. Just cut the two wires from the PC connector, and cram the wiring for the inverter somewhere. It cant be that hard..theres a load of room behind the fascia!

As for the colour. I had red ones outside before they fell off. It is red, not orange. But it is fairly pale and nearly pink!!

Arse

Ill think of something witty....just wait and see............wait I might not.

ewww, pink! I think i'll go with the LEDs over the cathodes. So now its established what to get, but any ideas on running it in the same way as the interior light? I'm guessing find the 2 wires that run to the interior light, and join the new ones onto that circuit...

yes, and don't worry about power draw. leds use even less than cathode inverters.

dawozere - each invertor can power 2 tubes. An invertor draws 1.2W i think ive seen written somewhere. so 3 invertors, 3.6W.. at 12v thats.. 300mA

Thats nothing to worry about power wise

edit: remeber people if you are running anything straight off the battery make sure you put a fuse in the circuit. You do not want to short your battery out, they kick out a fair bit of current.

Cinq Sporting - and yes, its broom yellow!