I am having some trouble figuring out how to tap power from the cigarette lighter.
What exactly do you mean by this? I see it in many DIY threads, mostly in interior LED mod threads.

From what i understand it means to cut the wire, split the interior copper/iron or whatever the wire is made of, and then attach one to one wire and the other half to the wire that was cut.

I have a few questions, is there an alternative way thats easier? I'd hate to fish a wire from the engine bay for some leds and cathodes.
Would doing this harm the cigarette lighter? I use it for my radar, so messing it up would leave me radarless :X.
Do i loose power when splitting the wire?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions.

 

buy a wire tap

 

or u can to it my ghetto way,
Strip the wire by tool or a razor blade,
twist the 3 wires together.
and cover it with some electrical tape.

I did that for my radar detector, and amp remote turn on wires.

 

Wire connectors are cheap, invest in some.

 

How to use them?
Will i loose power this way?
What wire size?
Sorry for all the questions :X

 

put the 2 wires you want to connect in the wire tap. And close the cover.

you should not lose any power,

get 18 to 22 gauge wire

 

I used pliers to connect them, much easier.

 

You can get insulated fork/spade terminals that can be crimped easily using pliers for a professional, safe, and reliable connection:



Or at least, please use a wire tap or wire nuts instead of electrical tape! After a year or two, the adhesive will wear off and could cause a short if it bumps into another uninsulated conductor.

 

Interesting, the easiest way i see is using the wire tap.

Anyone here use it? How reliable is it?

 

I'm sure it's reliable enough for use in a car. Wouldn't be broken down by heat or anything.

A crimp in a terminal would last longer, I would think, but a tap is simpler and cheaper probably.

 

I would avoid it if you're using it for high current wires.
I had one melt on me before.

 

What did you try to use it for? Maybe an amp would draw that much current, but it sounds like he would want to be using it for LED lighting, which draws very low current. It would be ok.

I can see how the melting could occur, many of these are probably made of very bad plastic.

 

Yes, thanks!
I want to put two cathodes under the dash and leds in the cupholder/airvents.

Where can i buy wire taps?

 

Radio Shack.
They're like $3-4 for 10.

 

btw, if you have any local alternatives to Radio Shack, I suggest checking those. Most decent sized cities have some sort of wholesale/just large electronics supply store around that are much cheaper than Radio Shack. The prices of Radio Shack are usually pretty high, but many times are the only local option, so check around

 

this thread is kinda half way died..
but i have a question if i use 1 cathrode kit and about 4 leds...and power em from cigar/12v output...would it be ok?

 

i'd just run power and ground from the battery and use a relay to turn it on

 

Yup, a lot of people do all their interior LED/cathode lights by tapping the cig 12v. No need to run another wire plus get another fuse blah blah blah.

 

I'm one of those other people who brought the wires in from the battery, put them to a circuit block, then distribute using spade connectors to switches and various other lighting knick knacks....

 

do u think i should get 5amp fuse and 16 gauge wire fuse holder from oznium?
or 3 amp.

(i will be doing a cathode kit, 2-6 led lights)

thanks..