almost electrical fire!!...help

[slimster]

ok, I tried to hardwire some neon lights today, and this is all pretty new to me. I have a rocker switch (it's got three "prongs" on the back side), and two neon lights. I tied both +12v neons together and attached them to the rocker switch, and the ground wires from each I tied into the ground from my radio. then I ran a wire from the rocker switch to the battery wire from the radio. I put the keys in, flip the switch, and instantly blew the fuse and the wires started melting. had flames and everything. I now feel like an idiot, and am wondering what I did wrong. help, before I set my car on fire! thanks fellas

 

[forum155pl]

simple... remove all neons.. problem solved ..

 

[forum155pl]

anyway, all grounds should go to the chassis... i would run a dedicaded line from the battery for the positive and put a inline fuse on it..

 

[007]

See what happens when you rice out a mustang. They dont like it!

 

[Streetstrip00]

Only hondas have the extra wiring for neons.

 

[slimster]

wow, some hard core neon bashing going on! yeah, I know it's considered "rice", but all my gauge lights, radio, and hvac lights are now custom blue, and I just wanted a couple neons to give a little blue glow to the floorboards. I'm really gonna sound dumb, but how to you go about doing a "inline fuse"?

 

[LaserRed01GT]

View attachment 408229

 

[COramprat]

anyway, all grounds should go to the chassis... i would run a dedicaded line from the battery for the positive and put a inline fuse on it..

This is the route to go.

An inline fuse is just a fuse link on the hot wire like what your stereo head unit has.

 

[forum155pl]

its just a fuse that you crimp onto your power wire.. if you go without the fuse expect another fire..

 

[thomas91169]

its time to unpimp ze auto!

 

[sgarlic]

You probably overheated the switch. You should run a dedicated and fused power wire to the switch, a dedicated ground wire to the switch, and then splice the neons together and run that one wire to the switch. My guess is you had something wired backwards.. perhaps you wired the power to where the neon lead is supposed to go on the switch.

 

[Dusstbuster]

also what gauge wiring are you using? If you're using some superthin wire that'll fry pretty easily too.

 

[DTNODYA]

Are they neon lights that you had to cut the cigarette lighter plug off and splice the wires? If so, you probably just wired it up backwards. I also agree with the above mentioned that too small wire will fry quick-like.

 

[COBRA90GT]

its time to unpimp ze auto!

Oh snap! LOL



The inline fuse is a good idea. Might want to also consult a wiring diagram as well.

 

[Jinx]

Don't go cheap on the switch either, buy a quality one. I've seen the cheap ones (usually the ones that are shipped with kits) melt on the back side because the plastic body can't handle the heat of the electrical load. Seen it happen on swithches that control neons, switches that control fogs, switches that control KC lights.