What the hell do I do? I thoguht it would be similar to bulding a computer, the parts should have their own spot. But I cant find where anything goes!

I purchased 3 12" kits and 1 4" kit with 4 of their transformers.

I am intending on putting them under the dash, under the passenger seats and in the trunk. For the 4" I want them in the door pockets.

But first, how do I get it under the dash? >_> Once I can find the power and how it is supposed to get done, I can probably go from there.

 

tap power off from either 1) cig ligher, 2) open fuse slot on interior fuse block (w/new fuse) 3) run power straigth from battery thru firewall to inside..again w/fuse

as for getting under the dash.. you dont really need to open anything up... tho a good piece to use for hiding the transformrs is that blank curved peice between floor and ash try.. it just sorta pops off..

i think there is a DIY in the tech section here... my sig has a link to it

 

wheres the interior fuse box? i cant seem to find it

 

I did this with the oznium lights as well. I just took off the center dash and used the cig lighter wires to power all 4 of the lights. Be super careful with the lights and do NOT bend them at all. I broke 2 found replacements at frys though :D

 

interior fuse box near the hood release.... check manual ;)

 

I need a detailed DIY walkthrough, I cant seem to find one.

 

See if this one helps: https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29238

 

I found it easier to splice into the cig lighter becuase the little curved plastic peice on the floor under the ashtray is perfect for hiding the little transformer boxes the lights come with.

 

yeah, you have to wire these up your self. Or I can sell you my harness.

 

That would be my suggestion if you're not electrically inclined. Randode's kit makes it really easy!

 

What exactly does it come with? I already purchased the cathodes though, and I do want more than just the front dash.

If only I heard about this earlier.

 

PMed you.

 

And its like what 80 dollars more? come on people... Its just 2 wires.

 

All the photos are from my friends beautiful white TC which I installed some red cathodes on:

Click on any of the images to view them fullsize!

You start with the 2 cathodes and transformer. The cathodes plug into one side, and the red/black power wire plugs into the other side:



There are a few methods for getting power to the transformer:
1) Tap into the fuse box
2) Tap into the back of the cig lighter
3) Run a new wire from the car battery, through a rubber grommet in the firewall, and under the dash.

you must fuse!

Every electrical component in your car should be fused. A fuse protects valuable components as well as the wiring running to them. If a component malfunctions and tries to pull more current than the wire can handle, an un-fused wire would melt and possibly start a fire.

Each cathode kit draws about half an amp of current. It is recommend that you use a 2 to 3 amp fuse for 1 to a few kits. The fuse rating can be slightly higher than the combined amperage draw, but don't use a 10 or 20 amp fuse!

The fuse should be placed as close as possible to the power source. If you are running a new wire directly from the battery, try to put an inline fuse - in a waterproof fuse holder - within a few inches from the positive terminal.

There are likely 2 fuse boxes in your car: in the engine bay, and under the dash.

To install cathodes under the dash, it probably makes most sense to tap into the fuse box right there.

In the Scion TC, the fuse box is under the dash. You've gotta get on your back and stick your head under there to see it. This is what the cover panel looks like. It just pops right off:



and there are 2 methods of doing this!

Ghetto-rig it by twisting a stripped wire onto a fuse lead before pushing it into the holder. Hopefully there are some empty slots in the fuse box. And hopefully they are already powered. Some are probably powered when the key is in the ON or ACC position, while other may be powered even when the key is not in the ignition.

There are 2 sides to the holder of a fuse box. There is the side that is powered, and then there is the side that is fused. You must put the power wire into the fused side, otherwise the fuse does no good, for it is completely bypassed - connected directly to the powered side. To figure out which is which, you could carefully touch the power wire to either side of an empty fuse holder slot. Of course, you will need to ground the black wire. And if the cathodes light up, you have found the powered side.

Put the power wire into the other side - the fused side, and push the fuse in. The lights should then light up... Because power is flowing from the powered side, through the fuse, and to the power wire of the cathodes.

Or you can buy something called "Add-a-Circuit" which makes for a cleaner install. It is about $10 at your local auto part store. You might have to try a few different stores until you can find it. It lets you tap into a slot which is already occupied by a fuse.



For some installations, it might be easy to tap into the back wires of your cig plug. You can easily tap power and ground there. You could use a wire stripper to carefully strip part of the wire back, twist on your new wire, solder the connection, and then tape with electrical tape. Or you could try using some T-tap connectors, although they are not too reliable. The polarity (which is positive/which is ground) is not readily apparent when looking at the 2 wires coming out of the cig plug. If you can figure out which one goes to the inner "nipple" on the plug, you've found the positive. The ground wire goes to the outer metal "case" of the plug.

You need to ground the black wire coming out of the cathode transformer. Pretty much any metal part in the car which is connected to the chassis will work. You could use a factory grounding point, use another convenient bolt on BARE (non painted) metal, or you could drill your own hole somewhere and use a self-tapping screw.

You could just strip a fairly long portion of the black wire (maybe 2 inches) and wrap it around a metal bolt or part. But this isn't too reliable.

Instead you can use an O-ring terminal and a crimp tool to crimp the wire. Then secure this ring to a metal point.

Remove the driver side kick panel and there is a 10mm bolt revealed. Under the plastic is a nice metal grounding point.



To re-cap, you've connected the black wire to ground, and connected the red wire to your FUSED power source. By now, the cathodes should be lit.

Next you probably want to add a switch so you can turn them on/off.

A switch cuts/connects the circuit. The most common switch has 2 metal prongs. Cut your red power wire, strip back a bit on each end you just cut, and connect the 2 ends to your switch. When you flip the switch the cathodes should turn on/off.

You can either solder the wires to the switch prongs, or you can use female spade crimp terminals and a crimp tool.

Some switches are lighted switches, meaning they have a light that turns on when the switch is in the on position. If you want this feature, you must run a black ground wire from the GROUND terminal on the switch to your grounding point on the car. The other 2 terminals will be: constant power, and accessory power. Constant power goes to your fuse, and accessory power to your cathodes.

some basic skills you should be familiar with

Stripping wire: Most of the wire you deal with in the car has strands of copper wound together, and a fairly durable plastic insulation. Some crazy people claim they can strip wire with their teeth! Otherwise you can use a sharp knife, a pair of wire cutters (takes some practice so you don't end up just cutting the wire), or a pair of wire strippers made specifically for stripping different gauges (thicknesses) of wire.

Wire stripping tool:


Extending wires: Cut the wire. Strip about half an inch of the wire on each end that you just cut. Find some new wire, cut it to the length that you want you extension to be. Strip both ends of this new wire. You now have 4 stripped ends of wires. Twist the wires together to create your "splice". You can then solder the wires, and use heat shrink tubing or electrical tape to seal the connections. You could also use butt-connectors and a crimp tool.

Crimping wires: Strip the wire about a quarter to half of an inch. Insert into the terminal (ring, spade, butt, etc). Insert the terminal into the crimp tool, and crimp! You should be using a REAL crimping tool (rather than pliers) so that you get reliable crimps. After crimping, pull a bit on the wire to make sure it is snug. Connectors come in all different varieties and sizes. For safety, look for the insulated ones.

Crimping tool:


By now you should have your fuse power wire running to a switch. The other end of the switch runs to your positive wire on your cathode transformer. The black wire of the cathode transformer is grounded.



Mounting the transformer and cathode tubes is usually done with cable ties. There are plenty of things to "tie" them to under the dash. Play around with the placement and see which gives you the best lighting effect. Try to keep the tubes out of the way of feet and out of plain sight. Most of the time, it is better to see the diffused (while still BRIGHT) glow from the tubes, than the tubes themselves.



all lit up & beautiful