Just put some in the yesterday. I had one blue neon sitting in the garage that I put under the driver side a few days ago but was having serious trouble finding another neon. All the stores that usually have it for some reason don't anymore. Anyway I found one at Bestbuy finally. BUT...it's brighter than the one I already had!

So, here is the list of everything I bought/will need.

1) 2 neons-$20 each from Bestbuy
Radioshack parts
2) 55' spool of automotive wire-$5
3) Rocker switch-$3
4) Inline fuse holder- $2
5) 20amp fuses-$2
6) Spade connectors-$2

Total cost--about $55
Cost varies most according to the cost of your neon.

You'll also need zip ties and electrical tape if you don't already have these things.

 

why can't you just tap into the the fuse block! I use a "add a circuit" fuse adaptor for my passport 8500. Simple no cutting of wires needed, you could also pick a fuse to tap into that is switched or not switched by the ignition switch!

If you need a picture of the adaptor set-up let me know.

Dirk

 

Thanks for the great write-up --Srivero. I just wanted, for any of you out there that might know, I couldn't find a fues holder to match up with the 16awg red/black wire, could only find 12awg 30-A fuse holder at radioshack. Can I just crimp the 16 to the 12awg? Will this be ok? Or can I just go with 12awg wire for the neons? Thanks.

 

Did the same thing...but I had to go from 18 awg to the 12 awg.

It should work just fine....has for me. The hardest part was crimping the wire to the leads coming off the neon. That is some SMALL wire.

 

Great, thanks!

 

I'd just like to respond with a few suggestions regarding the neons as alternatives for a few things just in case it would be easier for some people.

#1 If you're having a hard time finding the neons, use ebay. I got 4 12" black lights for $20 a long time ago and they lasted forever.

#2 Regarding drilling into the dash. Some models do not have seat heaters and the most convenient place to mount the switches are on the center console on the little plastic "pop-out" peice where the normal seat heater switches are. Could be even easier if you bought the seat heater peice and used those stock buttons as your light buttons.

#3 guys with sound systems that are running power to an amp - you can split the power off a channel of your amp as your power for the lights without sacrificing much power to the subs youre powering. This way you also have a remote to your lights.
-OR, you can run your large power wire to your amp to a distribution block, and run one of the distribution holes as your light power source.

#4 A lot of the neons you purchase will come with a car lighter adapter for power, make sure to not panic and simply cut off the end of with the car lighter thing and the wires from the light will be labeled usually by some sort of white line/white dots up the side with power.

#5 As an alternative to footwells (can be a problem if you are constantly moving the seats back and forth with the wires getting snagged or something) you can zip tie the lights under the dashboard above your feet. With the 12" lights i ran zip ties through the holes on the lights that were made to stick screws through and then ran it through that hole around peices hanging down under the dash. Wires hide stealthly by running them toward the center console and tucking them all underneath the center console plastic.

#5 Another good light location is on the rear strut bar. If you have 4 lights and you are going with 2 in the footwells, you can put 2 lights facing the front of the car on both sides of the strut bar so that the wires run right into those removable plastic kickplate type things by the small rear side windows.

Again i am not saying anything in Srivero's post was wrong, it was actually one of the best write ups i have read, but i am just giving more options and alternatives for my Z bros (and hos haha) out there that wanna lighten up the interior.

 

Just re-wired my footwell neons because I am putting a white underbody on too. I saw something really kool at Advanced Auto Parts. It's a keychain remote that is meant to be wired up to your fog lights but can be used for just about any accessory. I am going to install it tomorrow or the next day. It will be a great way to help find the car at night. Hit a button and the ground lights my way! LOL
I know everyone thinks neon is "rice" but the white under a blue Z looks sooo good.
It's not like a civic with green or pink under it. It's a very subtle white glow that makes tha car appear to float.
That and with all the Ferarri, Lambroghini, Bentley's, Rolls Royce's and Aston Martin's in this friggin town it's the only way to get attention. Yes, I'm an attention *****...i guess it comes with being an only child. :-)

 

what are yall thinking??? We have NICE cars not RICED cars and that's what you're doing to them. NEON LIGHTS ARE GAY. Go trade in the Z for a Civic or a Focus if you want to do this gay ****. This thread should be destroyed!!

 

Maybe you should be destroyed. You have your opinions but nobody in this thread cares about them. If you don't like them...don't buy them or voice your opinions in this thread. This thread was created for people that want to put some lights in their footwells. Not for people like you to use a term "rice" when you don't even know the definition of it. If you want to be immature go start your own thread but stop bashing other people.

These are the kind of people this forum could do without.

 

SilverZ, you have no say here, look at your measly 16 posts, every one of them was probably a bash friggin negative nancy. Go change your screen name, sweetsilverZ sounds like a pansy's screen name.

 

Can we get a mod to put that, "Negative Nancy" under his name! LMAO

 

I know the original post said to use red/black double bonded wire for the neons.. but I can't seem to find any of the stuff at the stores. Can I just go ahead and use regular power wire instead? I mean is that red/black stuff specific or something for wiring up neons?

 

I just got automotive wire from Radio Shack. It wasn't the double bonded stuff but since I was only using a few feet of it, it wasn't a big deal. The double bonded stuff is different in the way that the positive and ground wires are like...fused together and it is easier to run most of the time. With this project however my wires did not need to run parallel so...

BTW...this is to everyone. If you do this it helps to get a small power distribution block. That way you can run the positive line from the battery to the switch, and the switch to the block. The block also has a ground so the wires from your neons (both positive and ground) go to the block. I found this not only makes it easier to run wires but if you want to add a few more 12v lights off the same switch you just plug them in.

 

No, nothing special about the red/black wire. Santacruzslick was correct that is does make it easier to run when you need to run the power and ground together to a common location, and another trait of the red/black wire that I like is that it makes it very easy to remember which is your power wire and which is the ground.

If you just use regular power wire though, a good way to tell the power and ground apart is to just wrap the ground up in black electrical tape.

 

Alright, I'm strugglin'. I tried setting up the neons in my Z this past weekend only to end up at square 1 again after putting all this time into it. I'm pretty sure I have all the connections straight and right on, but no light came out when I tried the power switch. I know it's not a grounding problem, too, since I tested the connection running wire from the neon grounds to the (-) battery terminal, and of course, still no light. I bought a pair of sound-activated neons from streetglow and can only come up with the following for why I'm having such a hard time doing this: First, when initially setting everything up, I connected the lights without a fuse and then tried powering the lights. When doing this, I noticed this "tick, tick, tick" sound coming from what sounded like the lights...I think I may have burnt 'em out. Second, I think it might be possible soldering the thin wires for the lights could've actually burnt the wires out themselves. (I used 18 gauge connected to the 12awg fuse holder). I don't know. I really don't know why I can't get this thing up and running but it's starting to get discouraging.

 

If you have the sound activated ones look for the switch to turn them to always on. It should be at the end of the tube. I tried mine on sound activate mode and it was too hard to get them to stay in tune as the music volume raised or lowered. I gave up on that and have them on always on. Make sure you don't have faulty neon by attaching them directly to the battery.

 

Yeah, guess I should give that a try, too, + AND -, thanks. Let you know how it all turns out.

 

Man, I don't know what it is with these neons, but I tried once again to hook up a set I bought today from pep boys, since I blew the ones I got last week (I think), and now these are'nt even working! I think I'm gonna have a stroke or something, seriously. I mean this is getting ridiculous. Tell me if I'm going about this wrong...first I unpack the $50 neons I just bought and go about cutting off the cigarette adapters for both. I then run a wire from the (+) battery terminal -->in-line fuse holder w/30 amp fuse in it--> rocker switch. Connect the two powers from the neons to the rocker switch as well, and the grounds from the neons to the chassis. Why isn't this working? My only conclusion is this..all this time I've been taking the black (from the neons) and using it as power, and the black w/white stripe (from the neons) to be used as negative. Is this right? What would happen if I switched these two wires accidentally? What if black w/white stripe is actually + and black is -? Would this blow the light? Need some help asap.

 

My neons were like this. Solid wire=negative and striped wire=positive. That's how everything I've ever seen for cars has been also. I don't think it would blow the light though as I have accidently reversed neon wires before with no problems except the light wouldn't work until I turned it on. Did you put the fuse in the holder already? You shouldn't put the fuse in until everything is hooked up. Did you try them direct to the battery? You may have a bad connection to your battery.

 

The lights are in and working great! Took me some time, but the wires did in fact end up just as SantaCruz said, black/white--> (+), black--> (-). Don't know why they made them this way, but couldn't care less now! Thanks again for your help.