What’s the best way to install these? I notice there aren’t any fuses under the hood that lead to accessories that only run when the car is on. I only need these to work when car is running so they won’t kill my battery. My original plan was to use a fuse tap adapter til I discovered that “car on only” accessories like the lighter fuse etc is way under the dash. Thanks in advance.

 

Put a toggle switch?

 

need more info on this.

 

You're going to need to run wire(s) through the firewall to tap into a power source when you're either in ACC/ON. The best way to do this would be to use a 4-pin relay and the trigger would be one of the fuses in the interior panel that is powered when it's running. If you use a toggle switch, you're still going to need to run the wires for the switch through the firewall so you can access it inside.

Unless you want to install the toggle switch under the engine bay

In for pics after install...

 

once I looked at the fuse box near the battery, I discovered that there is a fuse there for the radio & seat heater. Since the radio & heated seats only work when the ignition is turned on, I’m going to try that route by using a fuse tap adapter, inserted into the radio fuse or seat heater port for the red wire, and the black wire ran to one of the ground bolts. However I think all the fuses under the hood provide constant power.


OR…can’t I just run wire from the under the hood to the interior fuse box and use a tap at the interior fuse box and go to a switched fuse port like the cig lighter or radio that doesn’t provide constant power?

 

The radio/head unit needs a constant supply of power in order to retain the user-defined settings. My guess is that, in the engine bay, you are looking at the fuse for the constant 12v+ for the radio. Use a test light or multimeter to confirm.

It sounds like for the LED strip, you are planning on just using a fuse tap for the power and then grounding the lights to the body. DO NOT DO THIS.

Best practice is to use a 4-pin relay. The fuse tap trigger wire will be connected to the relay signaling it to draw power from the battery (which will be connected to another pin on the relay). The relay will also be grounded. So, 4 connections to the relay: battery 12v+, body ground -, 12v+ trigger wire, and the accessory power source. The LED strip should have a separate ground and not grounded to the relay.

I would recommend installing a 4-pin relay somewhere discrete in the engine bay. Use a fuse tap from the interior fuse panel for a switched power source. Run that wire through the firewall to the trigger pin (86) on the relay. Connect a fused power wire from the battery to pin 30. Ground pin 85 to body. Connect pin 87 to the power wire for the LED. Ground the wire for the LED to a separate ground.

The above procedure is basically how you add DRLs or another accessory that you want powered on whenever the car is running.

 

You get a switch like this and wire it to a constant power.
Mount the switch somewhere under the hood

 

Using a relay with an "add a fuse" tap is the safest option. The trigger for the relay can be wired into the DRL/Headlamp light switch circuit so the LEDs only come on when you want them to. Anthony J350 covered this process when installing the iJDMtoy front bumper LED reflector kit. Different lights, but the wiring process is basically the same. You will need to look at some wiring diagrams to figure out which wires to tap at the IPDM for the steering column light switch circuit. This method is much cleaner vs. running a separate switch in the car somewhere.
Cheers!
-Icer