interior glow on with headlights?

I'm going to get two cold cathodes for under my dash, driver's side and passenger's side. I want to wire them so they come on when my parking lights are on.. how would I go about doing this? Also, is there anywhere to run wires from the driver's side to the passenger's side under the dash?... Like, going under the radio area near the floor?...

 

[shortstack]

on mine the parking lighter the wire was a brown wire. its on the driver sire under dash where they go threw the firewall

 

[storlied]

Could you provide a picture perhaps? And how would I wire it up to the lights? Would I have to use a relay?

 

[JCUZ]

You shouldn't need to run a relay as LEDs (I assume that's what you mean by cathodes) draw so little power that you should just be able to wire them into the existing circuit. But why would you want lights inside the vehicle on while you are driving at night? They will reduce your night vision and could be the difference between hitting a deer that jumps out in front of you because you didn't see it because of the light emanating from the cabin, and missing it because you saw it in time and stopped.

You could have them wired into the interior light circuit though, so that they come on when the doors are opened, and then go off once the vehicle is started.

 

[Sandy]

and/or... you can wire them to a separate switch and turn them on at any time you wanted.

 

[JCUZ]

and/or... you can wire them to a separate switch and turn them on at any time you wanted.

But that's the easy way.

 

[storlied]

They're not LED's, they're sort of like very small florescent lights.
http://www.oznium.com/ Read & Learn. =)

 

[JCUZ]

They're not LED's, they're sort of like very small florescent lights.
http://www.oznium.com/ Read & Learn. =)

Thanks for the link. Down here they're referred to as "Neons" - not the Chrysler, the light!

 

[IAmTodd]

If you remove the fuse panel on the drivers side of the dash, I believe 3 screws and it will pull out some, you'll have access to the headlight knob. If you tap into the Red/Yellow wire you'll be golden. This is the kick on for the headlights. It is also the one used for the autolamps if you have/use them. I don't think you need to remove the entire dash panel to access this group of wires.

 

[storlied]

Could I have that going to the red wire from the lights? Or do I need to wire up a different power source with a relay?

 

[IAmTodd]

If you were just using LEDs, you could use any signal wire. I don't know how much power the cathodes require, so I can't say if you need a relay or not. Its probably best to use one however.

 

[storlied]

Would any relay work? Anything I need to specifically look for?

 

[storlied]

This is how much power they use:

Question
How many watts does the cathode draw? - by Steve (Silver Spring, MD)
Answer
Read the description. It says "Each cathode transformer draws about 0.7 amps of power at 12 volts."

So, Watts = Amps x Volts
So, 0.7 x 12 = 8.4 watts at 12 volts

 

[rustysurfer]

I ran some red l.e.d. bars that have 9 l.e.d's on it on both sides under the dash. It doesnt hinder my vision. You cant really see it when your looking at the road. And i ran it to the 4 wheel drive switch that really isnt there. My car is only 2wd but the switch along with the wires are on there. I knew the switches on the bezel light up when you turn the parking brakes on so thats why i did it. There is a red wire thats positive on the clip and then black thats the ground. The clip is above the cigarette lighter on the driver side of bezel.

 

[storlied]

This is how much power they use:

Question
How many watts does the cathode draw? - by Steve (Silver Spring, MD)
Answer
Read the description. It says "Each cathode transformer draws about 0.7 amps of power at 12 volts."

So, Watts = Amps x Volts
So, 0.7 x 12 = 8.4 watts at 12 volts

 

[MustangP51]

IMO i see no need to add a relay, just wire them off the feed.

 

[storlied]

It's said that if the transformer doesn't get enough power, it can mean decreased life of the cathodes. From the information provided up there about the power requirements, is there anything you could tell me about the electrical system with the headlight switch and all that? And which wire is for the parking lights? I want the lights to come on while the parking lights are on, not just the headlights.

 

[storlied]

Anyone know which wire is to the parking lights?..

 

[JCUZ]

This is how much power they use:

Question
How many watts does the cathode draw? - by Steve (Silver Spring, MD)
Answer
Read the description. It says "Each cathode transformer draws about 0.7 amps of power at 12 volts."

So, Watts = Amps x Volts
So, 0.7 x 12 = 8.4 watts at 12 volts

The problem with that is it's the amps that are important, not the watts. Fuses are rated in Amps, so if you hook it into a circuit that runs a 15 amp fuse, and the thing it's powering uses 10Amps, then you only have 5 amps to play with, which is 7 cathodes at 0.7 amps each (4.9, actually).

If you are wiring in one or two, I wouldn't run a relay, but any more, it would be worth running the relay.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

For my interior lights i took the center consol out and then cut out a bulb that was in the center consol, i couldnt see it anyway. So i just ran four interior lights off of that source.