LED Wiring Q

[Yo_man_8]

Whats up everyone
I recently picked up some LED's from Autozone (Prewired w/ Capacitor) and i'm mid installation of putting them in my center air vents. I'm planning to tie both of the power cables into the power to the ciggarette lighter and both of the grounds into the ground from the ciggarette lighter seeing how there is no frame to ground them on...
Does this sound like an acceptable setup, i dont want to f'up anything in my car...
What else would be good to power the LED's from, i'd actually like them to be tied into the dimmer switch...

In the meantime, im gonna go and disable the fog light cut-off switch

Evan

 

[Bill Kemp]

Does your lighter work when the ignition switch is off?
I cant remember if mine does and I'm too lazy to go check it but I think it does. If so your lights would be on all the time.
Or find a wire to a light bulb in your console or dash and splice to that.

 

[DOZIER]

It probably will. Which means you need another power source or a switch somewhere. I would reccomend running your own switch somewhere you would like. You will come across times when even at night you don't want those lights on. Like when you get pulled over. If you get pulled over you are gonna wish you had a kill switch. But you are supposed to shut the vehicle off though. Hmmm. Use a switch.

 

[Yo_man_8]

Hmmm, in the case of a switch, could I tie the power lines together and link them to a switch and then to say, the fog light switchs power? Also, could i tie the grounds together and then extend it with one wire long enough to ground to the frame? Would I need the same gauge wire for this?

Sorry for all of the elementary questions, this is my first venture into wiring...

Evan

Edit: Also, can you guys give me a heads up if any of this is wrong...

 

[studd469]

if you have an after market deck, you can hook the positive (red wire) up to the remote wire of the aftermarket deck. The draw on LEDs are so low that it will not affect anything.
Then you can add a switch to the ground wire. To turn on and off.
What you will get is, your lights will be on only when your radio is.
the switch gives you the option to turn it off when ever you want.
Since your lights are connected to your radio you dont have to worry about them being left on. Just a heads up.... dont get your hopes up, those LEDs only give you a small "spot light" they do not spread the light, so it will not be very bright. You will just see a little dot about the size of a quarter if you shine the light agains a peice of paper or something.

 

[Yo_man_8]

Hmmm, no aftermarket HU...
I'm gonna drill them into the top of the vent that comes out with the middle piece of the dash. I'm hopeing to make the vents glow green.

Evan

 

[studd469]

No after market deck.... There is an ilumination wire, that turns the lights on in your radio. there is also a wire that turns the lights on in all those switches in the bezel. You will need a light tester or a multimeter to test the wires and figure out wich wire is for the lights.

 

[Yo_man_8]

Hmm, thats a bit more trouble than I anticipated...
Could i splice into the wire to my XM?
Also, while we are on the subject, how do you splice into a wire that is connected on both ends?

 

[TTG]

Is the XM hardwired? If so, yes. If no, tap into the switched power off your stock CD player.