Wiring Neons into my car door, need wiring help?

Question

I recently purchased neon tubes to put around my speakers in my door panels. I have run wires from inside the cockpit into the doors.

So far, my wiring looks like this:

12V power supply (tapped into cig. lighter) runs to a toggle switch in my dash, from there it splits into two where it runs into both of the doors. From there it splits to the lights, and the ground wires follow the same path back and are tapped into the ground for the cig. lighter.

As of now the circuit doesn't work, the lights don't come on. I heard I may need a relay in the circuit? I don't really understand the purpose of a relay or what it does, and I don't see why I would seeing as how it's all a low voltage circuit, and it's fairly short as well.

Could anyone provide some insight as to why it might not be working and if/why/where I need a relay? I have checked all connections and wires and everything else is ok.

Answer 1

What kind of lights are they actually? They can't be neon because they would need a high-voltage transformer that puts out around 5,000 volts. Neon won't run on 12 volts.

Answer 2

You don't need a relay. Is your cig lighter constant or does it come on with the key. Some cig lighters are wired to the ignition and some are wired directly to battery. Check the fuse also to the lighter. The way you have it wired should work assuming all connections are solid.

Answer 3

if it was my car, i wouldnt have wired them to the cigarette lighter. you can wire it from a fuse (one that's always on, or one that's only on when the car is, up to you) or wire it straight to the battery. wire in the switch. if it's a non lighted switch, it's just one wire to one side, one then connect the rest of it to the other side (of the power wire). if it's a lighted switch, you'll need to ground the switch itself. put the lights where you want and mount the switch.



no matter what you do, take the ground off the cigarette lighter ground. screw the ground wires to their own spot on the body of the car somewhere out of sight.

Answer 4

does the toggle switch have 2 or 3 prongs?? if it has 3 you need a ground to it. if it has too then it just needs power. on the 3 prongs usally the top is ground bottom is power and the one in the middle is acc. or in your case neons. also make sure the ground is good for the lights.

Answer 5

ok your lights probably dont work im sure they are 12v so try this take them out and plug them directly to your battery negative w/ negative positive w/ positive just to make sure they work they shood light up if so then what you do is this run a wire from the battery to the switch and from the switch to the lights as far as the ground wire bolt it to the chassis or anywere there is metal and you shood be able to light it up with the switch

Answer 6

yes you can you just need a relay and hook a fuse to it n then search for your car wiring diagram . its using under car alarm diagram which tells u where all ur wires are