Neon Light Write-up

[Glowin97x]

Well if had a few questions regarding neon accent lighting product choices so here we go.

There are four basic types of neon accent lighting each at different leves in quality, price, and light output.

1) Streetglow: To many streetglow is the top of the line, the best of the best. It produces (arguably) more light output and is of a higher quality. However, streetglow is expensive. I would suggest using streetglow for Underbody lights. Always go for Gold Series which has a lifetime warrenty as long as the Lexan (outer shell isnt cracked). Never buy direct from the Streetglow site EVER! A GS underbody kit can be had for $137 SHIPPED if you know where to go.
Streetglow also has a more moderatly priced brand named OPTX, they are as bright as streetglow, but look like a liteglow (no black endcaps). Their UB kit is similar to a SG Blue series.

2)Liteglow/LowGlow: Same company. I dont like their UB Kits, stick with streetglow. However, they make decent accent tubes for inside the car. They are moderatly prices and their big upside is they make mini tubes (streetglow does too but they are expensive). My footwells are Liteglow 9in mini tubes. $20 for two 9in tubes w/ a good light output. (Wire lenght CANT be increased between tube and transformer.)

A liteglow 10in tube


Glow from one of the 9in mini neons (of a pair of two)


3)Studio54 aka wallmart: The cheapest of all wally world neon costs around $10 for a 15in tube. Light output is identical to liteglow. Quality is questionable, but i have had one for about a year now. If youre looking for cheap neon with out selling your kidneys, i would suggest this. (Unless you need minis etc.)

A Studio 54 15in tube


4) Cold Cathodes: I recently just ordered my first set of cathodes, so i dont have first hand knowledge. However, here is the skinny on cathodes. VERY VERY bright, perhaps the brightest. They are also skinnier than regular neon tubes. However, there is a lack of richness in color, e.g. Red looks pink. If you want cathodes at a good price check out. www.oznium.com.

A pair of cold cathodes (linked from Oznium.com)


Very bright, but pale (these are purple, but appear blue due to the camera)


Suggestions:
If youre looking for neon in the driver and pasenger side footwells go for a STREETGLOW Liscense Plate frame. They put out lots of light, in all four directions, you get light in the front, in the rear and to the sides. This works only on seats not resting on the floor (i.e. explorer passenger front seats)

Underbody: Street Glow gold series ALWAYS. Use sound domains pricematching feature and shop around. Lowest ive seen is $137 shipped.

Small Accents: LEDS

New Products on the Market:
Everything seems to be about LEDS these days.
Here are two 10in leds installed under the dash (notice the difference between them and neons the glow is much more focused) The amount of focus depends on angle and brand.

courtsey of '96explorereddiebauer


Plasmaglow LED color changing kit=evil, stay away the control box has serious bugs, and led kits are very directional with their glow (looks like a line on the street) usually sells for $225

Optix Led Kit= Better and cheaper than Plasmaglow, you dont get to change colors at all but it produces a better glow.

Optix Color Changing Led Kit Better than Plasma glow kit but the white looks horrible its good if youre looking for the primary colors red, blue, green etc, but white is weak as it attempts to make it by mixing the others. Looks pink

ICE LED KIT=A neon addicts wet dream. 256million color possibilities. Crazy functions, and pretty decent light spreading. The downside the $800 PRICETAG. Only place, other than the UK, ive seen carry them is www.oznium.com
heres an icled kit in action (Please right click save as to save the guy some bandwith)http://bengal.missouri.edu/~bkd27/ice-walk.mpg

feel free to ask questions of leave comments

[bates]

Nice Writeup! That should help some people make the decision.

[draft]

btt, great thread.

BTW, where did you purchase your liteglow mini 9inchers?

thanks

[Glowin97x]

i bought mine from frys electronics but some targets have them, and i know bestbuy carries optix as well as circuit city

[Nate1]

Excellent usage of the imagepass script, and a great writeup.

[Superswamper44]

I Just installed a set of the 9" OPTX tubes on the front of my seats. to where they light up the floor board. and for 20$ they do great. but i'v found out if you hard wire them to a switch. They are brighter than the normal 12v plug in thing.


But like i said they light up the in side of my Ranger great.

[Glowin97x]

it shouldnt make a difference if you hard wire them to a switch or not, but i just think its tacky if you use the cigarette lighter

[tommy96XLT]

Nice writeup... Where do you hardwire them and what do you hardwire them from

[Glowin97x]

off the battery with a fuse at least 18" in line from the battery. Heres a wiring diagram.

each neon is generally .5amps

[Afboy143]

very very nice write up, very useful, thanks man

[tommy96XLT]

Umm I dont think the picture is working

[Rick]

That was an excellent writeup. Thanks for the tech info for the site.

[Glowin97x]

updated 3/22/03, maybe a sticky or useful thread?

['96explorereddiebauer]

Good explainations on the lights!! I really like it. Glad I can help you with pictures. But you should give a little credit to whomever supplied you the pictures. I'm not trying to be an a-hole but heh...if you do this in college, you can get kicked out for plagiarism.

[Glowin97x]

your aboslutly correct i was going to give you the credit for the pics when i asked but embarrasingly enough i forgot your name, consider it fixed. I have given all other people thier credit as well as secured their permissions. Most were taken by me of my car too

[Glowin97x]

***Update***
I wanted to make this a little heavier on the install side so here it goes

This is a picture on the Engine bay and my battery

the wire to power the neons is attached with a ring connector to the positive side of the battery lower left of the picture



the neon wire is 10 gauge and run inside the loom next to the wire for my system.

the fuse should be within 18in of the battery for saftey. In this picture the small black fuse holder can be seen with a 10amp blade style fuse in it (red) remember each neon draws about .5 amps so dont put in a fuse too high or your not really protecting anything.




the wire then enters the car through a grommet in the firewall and inside the car



here is the inside of the firewall by the gas pedal



then wire the positive power to a positive prong on the switch and run the wire from the switch to the positive wire on the neon.

Ground the neon on a unpainted metal surface connected to the chassis and youre done!

P.S. For lighted switches ground the 3rd prong on the switch marked earth

[Glowin97x]

moved the pictures to a new server

[NT Barf]

JUst to add my 2cents about this, I think walmart brand is the best way to go for neon lights. I have many people askn in they are street glow and lite glow. The price is unbeatable $10 for a 15in tube. Also lite glow and i think street glow measure the whole unit and the whole thing is 10 or 15in and so on leaving the neon part only 10in when you buy a 15in tube. Yet walmart says 15in and the how big the neon part is and the whole length of it is 19 or 20in. In all they are cheaper bigger the last and people cant tell the differece. Iv spent $70-tax on studio 54 light (8 lights) and I would have to spend well on $100 to get half of what i bought. Go WAlmart

[Glowin97x]

hate to tell you but Cold Cathodes are even better if your looking for cheap glow. 2 12in cold cathodes are $6.49. So if cheap is what you want thats the best way to go.

(man I havent seen this thread in forever)

[MaxxDC]

is it posible to rig it to, the dome light or b/c of the power does it have to be standalone???