An Overview on how to install LED under car lights.

An Overview on How to install Neon & LED Interior car lights.

So you've got your LED or Neon interior car lights, but you're now a bit confused as to where all the car interior neon lights and wires go?" Well fear not, we'll show all the "in's & out's" of this type of installation and the easiest way of doing it.
It's a good idea to disconnect the battery before installing any car light accessories. You can do this by disconnecting the negative battery cable and placing it to one side of the battery where it won't touch any part of the vehicles body. It's also wise to have your vehicles service manual handy for information about the specifics of the electrical system on your vehicle. For interior car lights, the best places to mount the LED or neon tubes are under the dash on both sides just above where your feet go, but high enough so as not to kick the tubes or damage them. There are also many other places you can fit them and their location is only limited by your imagination. To operate the lights manually, your going to need a switch located near you, so you'll need to buy a simple "2way toggle" switch (or use the switch that may have came with your neon/led tube kit) from your nearest custom car accessories store. This switch will be inserted into (in-line with) the main power wire that supplies the kit with 12Volt power. Choose if you want your interior car lights to turn on automatically when the headlights are turned on, or if you want to control the lights separately with a "toggle" switch. If you want the neon or LED tubes to light up automatically when the headlights are turned on, then you will need to find a wire under the dash near the steering column. This wire you are looking for is normally Red or Yellow, and it's supplying the "headlight control switch" with 12V power - you're going to have to "tap" into this wire to light-up your neon lights when the headlights are turned on. If you want to be able to control the interior car lights separately from the headlights, (best option) then there's two ways you can do this... 1) The power wire can be connected directly to the Positive side of the car battery, or... 2) It can be connected to any 12V power wire from under the dashboard.

If you choose to tap into a power wire from behind the dash to power your interior car lights you'll also need to buy a "Circuit Tester" from your nearest custom car accessory store - they only cost about $10 dollars. To use this tester is simple, it looks like a pen with an earth wire hanging out the top of it and a clamp attached to the end of the wire, and it has a globe inside the middle of the pen, or on its end, which lights up when you have found power somewhere. To complete the interior car lighting circuit - you'll now just need to attach the earth wire coming out from the from your led or neon tubes to the chassis of the vehicle. You can do this in the same way as described above for the earth wire on the tester - anywhere where there is bare steel under the dash is always a good earth connection for your interior car lights, even if you find a screw under the dash that is screwed into bare steel and it is holding another wire in place as an earth, you can use this too as an earth location. The control panel earth wire will need to be securely screwed to the chassis of the vehicle or to any "Earth wire" to complete the power circuit. After your "power" & "earth" connections are complete, your car interior neon lights should now work. If they appear dull and not real bright, then be sure to check that you have made GOOD earth and POWER connections. That's it, you're all done - now all you have to do is put any plastic panels back into place that you may have removed, pack your tools up, and then head off to show your friends what a great look you've just created on your car - Enjoy! Please see our "More-In-depth" and step-by-step picture illustrated instructions on How to install LED or Neon interior car lights onto your vehicle.


How to: A Car Stereo Installation Guide


How to: A Car Stereo Installation Guide

Want to save some money? Ever wonder if you could do a car stereo installation yourself? Yes, you can do it yourself! Go ahead, spend that money on your hardware! Don’t spend it on labor. Besides, doing a car stereo installation yourself can be a very rewarding experience, not to mention you can learn a lot from it too. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing your “creation” in action, running smoothly and perfectly.

But be very careful, you really won’t want to damage your expensive hardware. Well, most car audio hardware are no-brainers to install, you’d find that most of the time the parts have specially shaped sockets and slots etc. and would only fit where it’s supposed to be installed. Still, it’s best to proceed methodically.

In a car stereo installation, you have to determine what kind of rig you’re going to put into your vehicle. If you’re a beginner, it’s best you do a car stereo installation if it’s just a simple system. You may want to leave the complicated stuff to the professionals, like installing delicate equipment like LCD panels, motorized parts etc. especially if it requires the creation of custom panels and such.

Head units are one of the easiest to do in a car stereo installation. Fortunately, most units follow the same size standards (DIN). In many cars, once the factory radio is removed the aftermarket radio will fit in the hole. In many other cars, a kit is needed if the factory hole is too big, or not deep enough. In some cases the dash has to be cut. Any car stereo store should have kits required for installation.

There are two types of mounting in a car stereo installation. ISO mounting is when the radio can be screwed to existing factory radio brackets, such as in most Japanese cars. Ring mounting is when an aftermarket radio comes with a metal ring that gets mounted to the factory radio hole or aftermarket kit via bendable tabs. In many cars, dash and trim rings have to be filed to enlarge the radio hole. Once the ring is installed, the radio slides in and is held by snaps. In most cases, special tools are required to remove the radio.

Speakers are very critical in a car stereo installation. No matter how expensive your speakers are, if they are not properly installed, the sound will not be up to par.

In a simple car stereo installation, you’ll probably be using speakers that fit into a factory location. Just make sure there are no gaps or holes. Sometimes building a wood or fiberglass baffle helps reduce holes and gives you much better sound. But always be careful when using power tools around speakers. Car stereo installation warranties usually don't cover holes in speakers.

For unconventional speaker locations, sometimes metal has to be cut. You might want to leave this to the professionals, tools like plasma cutters and pneumatics drills are required. But if you’re going to insist, a pair of metal snips (left and right cut) will do.

A car stereo installation has to put up with vibrations and other noise sources in its environment. Even though it is impossible to eliminate these completely, there are products that will greatly decrease the noise and rattling, particularly on non-luxury cars. Liners, sprays and adhesive strips and even carpeting applied onto the panels can make a world of difference