CATHODE LIGHT TUBE DRIVER

CATHODE LIGHT TUBE DRIVER

On your Scion tC, remove the driver side kick panel and there is a 10mm bolt revealed.

Instead you can use an O-ring terminal and a crimp tool to crimp the wire. You could just strip a fairly long portion of the black wire (maybe 2 inches) and wrap it around a metal bolt or part. 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. Pretty much any metal part in the car which is connected to the chassis will work. You need to ground the black wire coming out of the cathode transformer. Better safe than sorry! Ground your cathodes. IMPORTANT: Now that you’ve determined what your positive power source is, you should remove any fuses or disconnect any power wires before proceeding. A loose power wire could surprise you at any moment if you are not careful. The ground wire goes to the outer metal “case” of the plug. If you can figure out which one goes to the inner “nipple” on the plug, you’ve found the positive. The polarity (which is positive/which is ground) is not readily apparent when looking at the 2 wires coming out of the cig plug. Or you could try using some T-tap connectors, although they are not too reliable. You could use a wire stripper to carefully strip part of the wire back, twist on your new wire, solder the connection, and then cover with electrical tape. You can easily tap power and ground there. It lets you tap into a slot which is already occupied by a fuse.įor some installations, it might be easier to tap into the back wires of your cig plug. You might have to try a few different stores until you can find it. It is about $10 at your local auto parts store. Method Two: Add-a-Circuit. You can buy something called an “Add-a-Circuit” which makes for a cleaner install.

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.

Put the power wire into the other side – the fused side, and push the fuse in. (We recommend getting one anyway because it’s a very handy, safe tool!) You can also use a multimeter if you have one available. And if the cathodes light up, you have found the powered side. Of course, you will need to ground the black wire. To figure out which is which, you could carefully touch the power wire to either side of an empty fuse holder slot. 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. There is the side that is powered, and then there is the side that is fused. There are 2 sides to the holder of a fuse box. 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. Hopefully there are some empty slots in the fuse box. Twist a stripped wire onto a fuse lead before pushing it into the holder. Method One: Ghetto-rig. While this method is not recommended, it will work. There are two methods of tapping into the fuse box. The cathodes plug into one side, and the red/black power wire plugs into the other side: You start with the 2 cathodes and transformer. All the photos are from my friends beautiful white TC which I installed some red cathodes on.Ĭlick on any of the images to view them fullsize! The following is geared towards Scions, but the concepts work in any car, boat, plane, etc. There are many important instructions and terms you should keep in mind. IMPORTANT: Please read through this entire article before starting your car install. So take some time to research and educate yourself, then give it a shot! Cold Cathode Installation If your specific question is not answered in this blog post, please take some time to search the blog for the answer. The topic of cathode installation has been covered many many times – chances are your question has already been answered.Īnd remember – it’s not as hard as it looks! Basic wiring and cathode/led/neon/glow installation is simple, and almost too easy once you’ve done it a couple times. I have edited it to make it a bit more broad. This is a post originally written by Phil. and rely on the excitation of gas molecules to produce light – you can also find them as part of the components for backlighting LCD screens.Īs a negatively charged component, be sure to take note of the installation process in its entirety, before you get started on your project. The cold cathode installation and general terms is considered fundamental knowledge for all lighting and vehicle enthusiasts.Ī cold cathode is not electrically heated by a filament and is used in neon lamps, vacuum tubes etc.

Cathode light tube