TooCooTL

ive decided to do a little customj work and install some LED lights in my car so i decided to just buy the bulb and the resistors. But it says that i must hook them up to a 12V source. Where on our cars is there a 12V source and how do i tap into it?...if anyone can help id greatly appreciate it. THNX

BobbY_BigitaL

ummm.....everything on the car runs off 12v power....ever heard of DC power...good luck

TooCooTL

obviously not if im askin!...what im askin is how do i tap into a 12v power source so that i can get my LED's wired through out my car... maybe im just a total n00b when it comes to electronics but i really wanna do this on my own...If there is anyone who has hooked something up by wiring it to a 12V power source (LED, Neon light, ect.) please post.l THNX

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

okay do u need it switched or not??? its much more complicated than asking where do i get 12v+... if u need switched power (with the car on) look in the fuse box... if u need constant power i would suggest under ur dash with the starter bundle or straight to the battery... if u gonna do eletrical work... get a meter...

LDH

run a fused wire off the battery or tap it off of a fuse...those are the 2 most obvious answers.

TooCooTL

i want the LED's to come on when i turn on my headlights...so does anyone know how to go about doing that?...sorry for allt he n00b questions.

vishnus11

jeez man...he's obviously not familiar with electrical stuff and neither am I for that matter. If u cant help him out then dont bother posting or making retarded comments.

TooCooTL

thanks vish...its shit like that that makes people scared to post questions that they might have

TooCooTL

and to top it all off its that guys first post...not a good way to enter the forum

LDH

just look for a fuse that controls the lighting on our cars and tap it to that. i'm not sure if it'll give you a full 12v but it will turn on when the lights are on. if your looking for something that gets 12v when the key is in the ignition the windshield wiper fuse is the best one to tap. I'm not sure if you can get enough power to run everything off of these because most of the time when i tap power from fuses its to be used as a remote or on/off switch.

BobbY_BigitaL

Sorry if my 1st post made you mad. just alittle constuctive Criticism.. but if you read the topic post there was no info on what he wanted to do. he said "i want to hook up a 12V powersource". i believe i answered it. any wire can be used to get power to your LED's and you can ground it to the door or some thing(anything metal, i.e. chasis). As others were talking about now you might want the LED's to come on when your head lights come on or dome light. this can be quite easy but does take a long time depending what you want to do. you will need about 75 foot of wiring for the LED's. the take power from either the head lights or the dome light (depending on what you want) and run the power to your LED's. But now you come into another problem, the Head lights would be able to power a couple of LED's but your Dome light might Suck to much power and blow a fuse. easy solution is to now by a Relay switch (you can get a 12V Relay from RadioShack) what this does is automaticly flip a switch for your LED's when your headlights come on or you Dome light and it also is able to be hooked up to a independent power source of your choosing. oh yeah I almost forget if you want a switch to be able to turn the LED's on/off then you have to wire that to the Relay. if you don't know how to wire these things then your going to have to ask someone to show you or you can even get a book on electrical wiring at the library. So If you (TooCooTL), as you said, aren't good with this stuff....please get some help. If it seems tricky, It is. and again Good Luck man! just tring to help with little info

impur

75 feet of wire?? I hope you are kidding again. I mean the car is only what 15 ft long? I donno how he would hide 75 feet of wiring for something that could essentially be done with a foot or 2.


As posted above i think your best bet is probably to splice into the fuse box. Its really pretty simple. The hardest part is just finding the right wire to splice. Figure out what wire goes to your headlights, or for that matter just hook into the power supply to your radio.

Cornflake

If you want to hook it up to run at the same time as the headlights then Bobby Digital is right, best way is with a relay which you can get at any automotive parts store. You will need a voltmeter to do this properly. Find a power source that is on when the headlights are on (ie from the dimmer switch) and conect that to the trigger pole of the relay. Then connect the 12V source side of the relay to the battery and the other side to the power connection for the lights. Gournd the relay and the lights and you are all set. You could also put an additional switch in betweeen the realy and the lights to allow you to turn off the lights even when the headlights are on. Hope this helps.

spooky3ce

Open your hood up on the front of the car... you see that box with two prongs on the top??? The one with cables running from it, one is red and the other is black... probably says "BATTERY" on it... that is the car's 12V source... Before you do anything make sure you run the wire from the battery to a fuse then to the wire that is going to go to your LED lights... Also, about the resister... if you bought the correct ones, the LED lights should already come with its own resister, so there's no need for it... and one last thing... depending on what you want the LED's to do... you'll need some timers and relays... have fun man... and good luck...

BobbY_BigitaL

well you need depending on what lights and where you want to put them and if you want to tuck them under carpet and how many lights yeah. 50-75 ft of wire is good

spooky3ce

man you are on a roll!!! Points... Again ...

It is better to have more then you need then have to drive back to the store and buy more later... besides you never know when you will have another little project that will need some wire...

TooCooTL

Man you guys are awesome...thanks alot for your help...i really appreciate it i allready ordered the LED lights off ebay and should be getting them pretty soon i allready marked all the place where the LED are gonna go...but once again you guys have come through...this guy at a custom shop wanted to charge me over 300 bucks for the LED instalation. THANKS ALOT!