Powering LED strip?

[mido]

I bought some LED strips what i want to hook up. I uses a 12v power source. Im not too sure of how i am going to wire it.. I do not want to do any splicing unless i absolutly have to.

1) i was thinking of just powering it from the fuse box. Ill find a fuse that only has power when the car is on, then just stick both sides of the wire inside the slots and secure it with the fuse ontop of it. Or i can find an un used slot. But what amperage fuse should i use for that?

Lol im a noob so im not planning on taking removing the fuse box to find the wire under etc!

Let me know!

I was also thinking of wiring it straight from the batt with a switch but that would be a pain to get the switch into the car plus id always forget to turn it off.

[mido]

Ok so i just found a fuse tap on ebay where i can use the oringinal fuse, and add a second fuse for my LED's and it comes out with a positive lead wire. So basically i would connect the positive wire from the LED to the tap and the negative to a ground. What fuse rating should i use for my LED'S?

[Noisy Crow]

i was thinking of just powering it from the fuse box. Ill find a fuse that only has power when the car is on, then just stick both sides of the wire inside the slots and secure it with the fuse ontop of it. Or i can find an un used slot. But what amperage fuse should i use for that?


You can buy piggy-back add-a fuse adapters at Canadian Tire. They let you tap into the PJB safely. Use a 2A or 3A fuse. Don't just jam the wires in beside the fuse. It might work... or might let broken bits of wire fall inside of the "fuse box" which is really the car's computer.... having bits of wire floating around in there isn't likely to result in good things happening.



I was also thinking of wiring it straight from the batt with a switch but that would be a pain to get the switch into the car plus id always forget to turn it off.

You would also need a fuse... going directly to the battery without using a fuse is a fire hazard

[mido]

Great that makes sense!
One more question:

When im using the fuse tap, im going to connect the positive wire to the fuse tap and the negative to a ground. Will this actually work? The reason im asking is becuase say i were to take the postive wire and connect it to the positive on a 12v battery. If i take the negative and connect it to a ground, the LED wont power on, i have to connect it to the negative terminal on the battery. How is it different?

Thanks for ur help!:D

[JayJay18]

Ive got the LED strips on my card already. If you wanna take a look im at La Paloma meets every Wednesday. I pretty much did what Noisy Crow said and got a piggy back adapter where it allows you to have two fuses on one fuse holder.
I hooked it up to a switch on the inside and it also has a time delay on the LEDs so that when i arm my car it takes 5-10sec to turn off, or you can turn them off manually from the switch

[dave2010GT]

I had the same problem with mine I just tapped into the Acc power it depends if you want them on at certain times.

I wired mine up to be on all the time with the DRL's and HID's.

[Noisy Crow]

Great that makes sense!
One more question:

When im using the fuse tap, im going to connect the positive wire to the fuse tap and the negative to a ground. Will this actually work? The reason im asking is becuase say i were to take the postive wire and connect it to the positive on a 12v battery. If i take the negative and connect it to a ground, the LED wont power on, i have to connect it to the negative terminal on the battery. How is it different?

Thanks for ur help!:D

Negative terminal of the battery is connected to the car's body. So ground = negative terminal. (Discounting voltage drops, ground loops and other exciting topics!)

If I were you.... piggy-back off of the cigarette lighter fuse for the +ve and use the ground bolt under the passenger kick plate for ground. (I am assuming you have a 2004-2009 car... the ground bolt may be elsewhere on the 2010's.... but I doubt it). To get the ground bolt you need to remove the kick plate, and to remove the kick plate you need to remove the sill plate. Remove the plastic passenger sill plate off by pulling it straight up with your fingers (it may put up a fight... it's easier to do on a warm day). Use a small screw driver to pop up the center part of the push-in fastener that holds the kick plate in place. This will unlock the fastener. Then pull out the whole fastener. Finally, pull the kick plate off by pulling it straight back toward the rear of the car... there is a plastic clip that holds in in. Installation is the reverse.. make sure you line up the pins on the sill plate when you put it back.

[mido]

I want tto be powered when the car is on , is there are fuse in the hood where it is powered that way? I'm gonna piggy back from a fuse in there then put a switch in between just incase I ever want it off . I'm assuming most of the fuses in the hood are powder only when the car is powered am I wrong ?

[JayJay18]

ill take a look at the fuse number under my hood and let you noe

[Noisy Crow]

Check the threads on connecting up angel eyes and LED eyebrows for under-hood power source

[mido]

And our cars are mini fuses so this should work :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ADD-ON-ATM-MINI-AUTOMOTIVE-FUSE-TAP-QTY-1-/230501723438?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aaf92d2e

[mido]

?

[Noisy Crow]

?
Are you asking a question or making a statement?

In any case, yes that will work.

[mido]

Question . . . . i just forgot to add the question mark on the line so i added it later :bang (long day)