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 Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 10:02 am |
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Joined: Apr 18, 2013
Posts: 186
Trade Rating: 0
Location: Ashington, Northumberland
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I've seen this stuff come with a cigarette lighter adapter. When the cig lighter plug is removed does the neon string rely on polarity like LED lights or just straight connect?
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| I ain't nuts, I'm condiments, I've been promoted | |
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 10:38 am |
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Joined: Feb 07, 2010
Posts: 2949
Trade Rating: +6
Location: Athens, Greece
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Y?
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| 1.4i, 2001, 3-door, China Blue
Repair safely - Drive safely | |
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 10:49 am |
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Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 713
Trade Rating: +2
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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| HowlingMadMurdock wrote: |
| I've seen this stuff come with a cigarette lighter adapter. When the cig lighter plug is removed does the neon string rely on polarity like LED lights or just straight connect? |
AFAIK yes it's polarized - there's a reasonably complex driver circuit that pumps up the voltage that actually lights the string.
It is possible that there is protection/rectification diode(s) on the input, but IME all such extras are cut in order to make 'em as cheap as possible, even if it means you might burn it up if you feed it reverse voltage...
As you cut the lighter plug - note which lead goes to the centre post/pin, that's your + lead.
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| Silvermetallic 2004 206 RC | |
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 10:50 am |
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Joined: Apr 18, 2013
Posts: 186
Trade Rating: 0
Location: Ashington, Northumberland
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Just an idea for something subtle in the back near the floor. These things aren't bright enough to attract police attention but enough to give a nice glow in the rear
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| I ain't nuts, I'm condiments, I've been promoted | |
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 11:50 am |
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Joined: Apr 18, 2013
Posts: 186
Trade Rating: 0
Location: Ashington, Northumberland
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Cheers mtempsch, I'll get the guys in the test dept at work to sort that if I go down that road. It's just an idea I have at the moment, I'm playing around with things that could be unique for the back but staying within the realms of legality. It's easy to get stuff that's too bright and break the law. It's all about that nice very subtle glow in certain areas that looks tasteful. How to achieve it is the hard part
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| I ain't nuts, I'm condiments, I've been promoted | |
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Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 12:04 pm |
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Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 713
Trade Rating: +2
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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| HowlingMadMurdock wrote: |
| Cheers mtempsch, I'll get the guys in the test dept at work to sort that if I go down that road. It's just an idea I have at the moment, I'm playing around with things that could be unique for the back but staying within the realms of legality. It's easy to get stuff that's too bright and break the law. It's all about that nice very subtle glow in certain areas that looks tasteful. How to achieve it is the hard part |
Don't know what kit you've got, but the ones I've seen and played with didn't have a cig plug, just a 2-wire lead to a box with the driver circuitry, a short piece of wire between the other side of the box and the actual neon rope.
If your kit doesn't have a separate box between cig plug and neon rope, then the driver circuitry is within the cig plug (or they've come up with some other form of neon rope than what I've seen) and cutting it off won't be a good idea...
Other way of getting a dim glow would be to go with LED's and higher value series resistors than normal, so that they are dimmer - still gives a more 'pointy' source of light than neon rope though.
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| Silvermetallic 2004 206 RC | |
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 6:32 am |
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Joined: Apr 18, 2013
Posts: 186
Trade Rating: 0
Location: Ashington, Northumberland
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I've just had another look and yeah it's got a driver box on it. I'm assuming it works in the same way as the cathode tubes in my PC. So in theory I could remove the cig lighter plug and just hook it up to a live circuit? I'm thinking run it off the illumination for the electric window switches and maybe up the fuse rating a touch.
The idea is with the black and red trim theme in the car a very subtle warm red glow in the back at floor level that looks nice but subtle enough not to attract police attention. As I'm cracking on with the rest of the car this isn't urgent but when it comes to the details at the end I want to have all the little niggles well worked out so I can just throw the stuff in without any headaches.
I already have an idea for that little area in front of the ash tray. There's a small panel right in front of it that pops off. I'm looing for some red flush fit LED's so I can drill 3 or 4 holes, wire them together (easy done at work, I do a lot of soldering for a living) and hook them up to the stereo illumination. It may not be to everyone's taste but I like to be different.
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| I ain't nuts, I'm condiments, I've been promoted | |
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 9:04 am |
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Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 713
Trade Rating: +2
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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| HowlingMadMurdock wrote: |
| I've just had another look and yeah it's got a driver box on it. I'm assuming it works in the same way as the cathode tubes in my PC. So in theory I could remove the cig lighter plug and just hook it up to a live circuit? I'm thinking run it off the illumination for the electric window switches and maybe up the fuse rating a touch. |
Yep, the cig plug is merely for ease of use and possibly contains a fuse.
You might want to check the current draw of the kit just to be sure, shouldn't be much...
Looks like the same wire that feeds the illumination in the power window switches also provides power to the window motors - what little the neon driver uses should be insignificant compared to using both windows at once on a cold day.
I've got a CL Cathode tube under the dash in each footwell - took power from the ashtray light (which I replaced with a LED, so total draw of LED + Cathodes is less than the stock ashtray bulb) via a switch mounted in the removable side plate of the dashboard (where it butts up against the door)
| HowlingMadMurdock wrote: |
I already have an idea for that little area in front of the ash tray. There's a small panel right in front of it that pops off. I'm looing for some red flush fit LED's so I can drill 3 or 4 holes, wire them together (easy done at work, I do a lot of soldering for a living) and hook them up to the stereo illumination. It may not be to everyone's taste but I like to be different. |
I'd try mounting them from above, shooting down, so that the area is illuminated but the LED's themselves aren't visible.
Standard round 3 or 5 mm LED's would probably do just fine, just file/grind them down to flat and a length suitable to the wall thickness of the panel you mount them in. If very thin then you probably won't be able to grind 'em down enough and still work - instead I'd grind them flat, drill the holes, tape a 'backstop' over the holes on the outside, insert LED's and apply generous amounts of hot melt glue/epoxi/silicone/etc depending on how removable I'd want it all... Once cured, remove the backing plate and the fronts of the LED's should all be flush with the panel.
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| Silvermetallic 2004 206 RC | |
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 10:10 am |
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Joined: Jan 29, 2011
Posts: 6526
Trade Rating: +10
Location: Westhoughton, Lancashire
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If you use something like this, it is only thin. I have it under the doors, although may be too bright for what you need. They come in white, red, blue and amber from what I remember, but you may be able to get other colours. You can get it cut to any length which may be easier for you.
It would be a straight forward two wires into the existing lighting loom in the boot using solder and heatshrink.
To dim the brightness a bit, you could possibly fit a resistor, but you would need to work out the correct value first.
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Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 10:59 am |
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Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 713
Trade Rating: +2
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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In addition, the LED strips above can be shortened - the LED's are typically in groups of 3 + 1 resistor (all connected in series) and all such groups connected in parallel.
If split, you can scrape away the plastic material and solder new wires to the 'side rails' of the cut off piece.
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| Silvermetallic 2004 206 RC | |
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