Hey guys. Someone PMed me tonight and asked me how to wire interior neons, and I spent like half an hour writing out the guide to wiring interior neons, and then I figured there must be other people out there that also want to know how to do this, so rather than letting all my long hard typing go to waste, i figured I would make a thread out of it:

Here is wiring interior neons 101

What you will need: the neon tubes (2 or 4, if using 2 place 2 in the footwells. If using 4, as I am, I placed my additional 2 behind my seats at the very bottom of the mesh behind the seats on the little flap.) Also, a simple rocker switch(no light- if you want one with a light on it let me know, but there is an extra step involved), a fuse and a fuse holder, and a roll of 16 gauge double band(red/black) wire.
You will also need some tools: crimpers, snippers, strippers, blue connectors, 2 female connectors, 2 ring connectors, a metal coat hanger, electrical tape, drill , (a dremel if you have one)

Okay. I will teach you how to do the two front footwells for simplicity sake. If you also plan on doing the additional two behind the seats, PM me and I will give you the additional info required for those. Same thing for the rocker switch with a light on it, if you plan on using one of those PM me and I will tell you the additional steps.


Okay-- I'll start with the power line because its probably the most difficult to run. You need to find a gromit in the firewall. Look underneath the steering column for a big rubber piece that goes into the engine bay (that is a gromit), or a thick band of wires wrapped in electrical tape and follow those wires to a gromit(there is a gromit in the passenger footwell that opens up right behind the battery). When you find a gromit, use a straightened metal coat hanger and push it through around the edge of the gromit until it is in the engine bay. When the coat hanger is through, split a decent length piece of the double band red/black wire and snip it off of the roll, and tape the red piece to the end of the coat hanger. when it is secure on there, snake the other end of the coat hanger until the wire is in the engine bay. Attach the fuse holder to the end of the red wire (with blue connectors and crimp) so that it is within 18 inches of the battery, and use a ring connector wrap around the bolt on the positive terminal of the battery, and then tighten the bolt down. DO NOT PUT THE FUSE IN THE FUSE HOLDER YET THOUGH. Now you need to drill the hole for the rocker switch so that you can connect the other end of the power wire to the switch. This is the part no one likes. You have to drill into your dash. Find where you want to mount the switch and drill a hole into your dash with a good sized bit, probably the biggest you can find. Then you can use a dremel to widen the hole until it fits the switch, or just keep using the drill until the hole is big enough (but not too big, so be careful) to fit the rocker switch in it nice and snug. You dont want to put the switch in it just yet though, just make sure it fits. On the opposite end of the power wire now, attach a female connector and attach that to the back end of the rocker switch. Now you are done with the power wire.

First of all, you should be using 12" or 15" neons for your footwells. 20" are too big and will not fit, and 10" will fit, and are decent, but 12" or 15" provide better lighting. You want to find a place where these can illuminate the entire footwell wihtout anything infront of them, cannot be seen from the seats or outside of the car unless youre really TRYING to see them, and cant be kicked easily. Sounds impossible, but it can be done. One you have found your spot, the best way to mount these up there is by using wire ties. Just stick them through the end, wrap them around something secure in the footwell, and lock them, and snip the excess. Once you have them mounted, you will notice that the wires on both of the neons lead to a cigarette lighter plug in. You have to snip that off on both of them to get access to the wires(there are two of them per neon- power and ground.) The power wire will be a solid color, and the ground wire will be a color with a stripe in it. Usually its black for power, and black with a white stripe for ground. Run the wires from the passenger side one through the center console so it pops out on the driver side, and the join the two solid colorwires together in a blue connector. If they dont fit well, use a yellow connector, it is larger. On the other end of the blue/yellow connector, strip a black wire (the one that you snipped from the roll and use the red half of for the power line up top) and run the other end back up to the switch and attach a female connector to it. That is the remote switch. It sends the current from the switch to the neons when you turn it on so they are not always on.

Now you just have to ground the neons and you are finished. The remaining wires from each neon, probably black with a white stripe, join them together and crimp them into either a ring connector or a fork connector. Then you have to look in the footwell for something metal that you can use as a ground. Bolts that are already in the car work great. Take the bolt out, put the ring around it, and screw it back in, or if its a fork you only have to take it part of the way out and then back in. If there are no bolts, sand down an inconspicuous place deep in the footwell so there is no paint over the metal and drill a self-tapping screw into the metal, and then place the ring or fork connector around that screw, and that will be your ground. Oh yeah, and when youre all done go back and put the fuse back in, and make sure that the power wire is out of the way and not somewhere will it will get melted by something in the engine, like the headers or something.


Hope this helps some of you out there.

By the way, if you dont feel up to doing it yourself, I can do this for anyone local in New Jersey for cheap-- like $20 plus parts.

 

holy crap. good writeup

 

Thanks for the detailed write up man!

 

Where can I get the interior neon?

Thanks

 

circuit city always carrys street glows. Also, almost any place that sells car parts (like clear turns and that kind of stuff) will also sell interior neons. You will see them up on the shelf. if not, you can always buy them offline-- except be careful buying them offline because they have to be shipped and they are very fragile.

There is something weird going on with street glow right now. I dont know exactly what it is, maybe they are going out of business or something, i dont know. Dont quote me on anything. but whatever it is, all i know is that all of their products were half price at circuit city last week (and still are). When I bought my neons I paid apprx $25 each for 15" neons, but they are carrying them now for like $12 a piece.

 

nice write up!! ive been meaning to install my neons...

 

Srivero, thanks for the heads up, I'll check that out tomorrow.

Are your neons blue? I know you and I have db's, so just wondering.

peace

 

Yep. I went with the blue theme on my DB. Looks really nice at night, I got a lot of compliments on it.

 

picture?

 

let me know if you are coming to chicago anytime soon, id love to get this done for 20!

 

its hard to get a good picture, because I dont have a good quality digital camera, so I can really only take daytime pictures. And to get a good picture of the neon effects, it would have to be a nighttime shot. I might be able to borrow my GF's digital and take one though. Buuut, for all you southerners that dont know, New Jersey is in the middle of a blizzard right now so I dunno how soon I will be able to take a pic

 

Just came back from Circuit. Unfortunately they were out of stock of both blue and white so I am looking for a different source. I dont know where I'm going to get that good a price though.


ravi

 

moved...and stuck.

 

I'm not sure, but it sounds like your install would allow someone to turn the lights on and leave them on, evenwhen they leave the car. This might kill the battery. I hope I didn't miss something in your write up, but wouldn't it be better if you could find a hook up to something that was on - only when the car was on, as a security to avoid running the battery down inadvertantly. Just a thought. But that might require a relay. Now things are getting complicated.

I would like the neons in the footwells too, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to deal with all of that. Especially tapping into some accessory wire...I thought about tapping into the lights. So when my lights are on,and it's usually dark outside, I might want the footwell lights on as well. Obviously in the daytime I won't need them...Can't see them anyway.

What do you think...?

 

what a nice thing to do for your z/g brothers and sisters. thank you kind sir

 

got pics, anyone?

 

some pix of all the parts and the process would be ultra helpful. also, is there any difference in the lighting effect btwn neon and led lights? the power draw would prolly be lots less with the leds, no?

 

Sorry for not answering this sooner- I havent checked this thread in a while.

Yes, the setup does allow for the neons to be left on even when the car is off, but it is not a problem. They draw very minimal power. Even if left on overnight they will not drain a battery. I have left mine on overnight and into the next day without any battery problems.

There is definately a way you could wire them to turn off w/ the car or something like that, or however else you would personally want it (I recently installed foglights on a car for someone who wanted them wired to turn on and off with his headlights, and that could be done), but for me, I wanted them to stay on after the car is off. I like how the neons glow within the car even while it is off at night. I just shut them off when I pull into my driveway for the last time at night.

 

I can get some pics up of the basic stuff needed...
I may be able to get some pics up on an install too. A guy is coming to me this weekend with a Scion tC that wants me install them in his footwells and behind his seats. I could snap some shots if I can get my hands on a digital camera (i dont have one of my own ) Right now I am using my camera phone, lol.

In response to the second part, the led lights are definately harder to break, which is a plus. I had one friend who has gone through 2 sets of tubes in his footwells. I, personally, have never even kicked mine, but he is goofy I guess and snapped his right down the middle w/ his foot, so I installed the led's in there for him so he wouldn't break them, haha. As far as power draw goes, there is not much of a difference because of the very small power draw the neons have in the first place.

 

Thanx for the info...may have to make a little project tomorrow. I've been wanting to do this for a while but didn't know how to wire them. All I need to do is find a good switch. Maybe a safety switch with the little cover over it.