Neon-Newbie- Questions!!!

[2_2COOL]

Ok, I said "no neon on MY PT " & now I'm looking at neon.( I know, what can I say??)

My objective is to light up the grille area & maybe some of the engine bay , without having a bunch of obvious tubes/wires show.I'd like them to be left in place all the time & possible remotely activated, or at least on a seperate switch so that I don't have them on all the time.
Can EL wire be used w/the heat underhood? Are LEDs better? How does one hook up LEDs?
I know NOTHING about neon/accent lighting, so, be gentle.

Also- who's a good source for what I might need at a good price & quality? (I like the purple hues...).
Any brands to avoid? Anything you've done that you regret/would do differently a second time around?
Thanks all! I appreciate the info very much.

[PTCruzr]

Rachael,



INSTALLING NEONS BEHIND THE GRILL: The trick to installing neons behind the grill is to mount them somewhere where the neons cannot be seen and only the glow from the neons is visable. I used (5) 10" neons behind my grill to produce a nice, bright glow.



Above is a picture of where I installed the 5 neons behind my PT's grill. For the 3 horizontal neons I used 10" neons from Wal-Mart. Just make sure you seal them real good with silicone RTV so water doesn't destroy them. For the 2 diagonal neons I had to use 10" neons from Target. The 10" ones from Wal-Mart are actually around 12" in length and won't fit diagonally. The ones from Target are a true 9" long and the neon bulb section is around 6" or 7". When installing the diagonal ones all you have to do is zip tie the bottoms of the neons to holes that are already there. The tops of the neons are held in place by the grill and do not need any zip ties at all. I also put some black electrical tape on the sides of the diagonal neons (the side facing the headlights) so the glow doesn't show through the cracks between the grill and the fenders. I mounted 2 of the horizontal neons directly behind the bumper; one closer to the top of the bumper and one closer to the bottom. These I just zip tied to existing wiring harnesses. The 3rd horizontal neon I mounted at the very bottom of the lower grill. Since there's nothing there to secure it to all I did was super glue it down to the bottom. It's been there for almost 3 years so far and hasn't come lose yet. Wiring them was simple. I just connected all of the positive wires together and then connected all the negative wires together. Then I connected the positive ones to a fuse. The other side of the fuse I ran to one side of a toggle switch. The other side of the switch I connected to power (In my case, I connected them to the same power that runs my underbody neons). All of the negative wires I just grounded to the chassis.



Above is a pic showing one of the diagonal neons. Notice only the bottom is zip tied. The top is held in place by the grill.

If you want to have them remote activated you can buy a universal fog light remote control kit. The cheapest that I have found is HERE

[PTCruzr]

For inside the engine bay area you might want to use LED's since they are small and can be placed just about anywhere.

A real good place to get VERY bright LED's is www.oznium.com
Phil is a great guy to do business with and his stuff is pretty reasonably priced.

You can go HERE to see my wiring diagrams that I made for various neon, LED, and Electroluminescent products.

[2_2COOL]

Thanks, Jer! GREAT pics.... I KNEW you'd be one of the people I'd get great detailed info from!! Guess I'll have to make my rounds today & check out what everyone has....

I hope having the stainless grille won't hamper my install on the verticals behind it too much!

[Mark1]

Go her for the LED option... www.radiantz.com

They have a bunch of colors. and kits that can be cut to custom lengths. They also have flexable ones that can curve with a bend if you want. THey are kind of expensive but thae are the best you can find. They build them in house, not reselling someones elses products. I have used them for work. I needed a 1 foot diamater circle run on 24 volts with 1 inch spacing. and be chemical resistant. They actualy made several 2 1/2 inch 2 led units and sodered them togather as they incerted them into the protectave tube. The company paid for them but even then. for somthing that pushed thier manufacturing proces to the limit they did not over charge us.

[PT_Sean]

One thing to remember with LEDs, if you are using them RAW, is to add a CURRENT LIMITED resistor, and to be aware of what is the Anode and what is the Cathode (+ and -). An LED with NO resistor, will POP. An LED wired reverse polarity, will NOT light, unless they are bi-polar. (different color for different current locations)

To determine the resistor size that you need, find out the current required for the LED, example 20mA, or 50mA. At 12V, use 13 to be safe, the R value is 13/0.05 = 260, or a 250 Ohm resistor.

Raw LEDs can be wired in series, after the resistor, otherwise each LED needs an R. Technically, in series, each LED drops 0.7-1.1V, so determining the proper R value gets tricky. (for example, 4 LEDS, 12V source, R = (12 - 4*0.7)/0.05 = 185 Ohm.

The R value can also be lowered to produce a brighter LED, or raised to decrease the intensity.



Most LED products, washer nozzles, under body, .. have the R values built in. This is only when you use LEDs off the shelf and want to wire them into vents or such.

[ptcruiser363]

This is where I installed my 4 neons in the grill

[PTCruzr]

Originally posted by PT_Sean
One thing to remember with LEDs, if you are using them RAW, is to add a CURRENT LIMITED resistor, and to be aware of what is the Anode and what is the Cathode (+ and -). An LED with NO resistor, will POP. An LED wired reverse polarity, will NOT light, unless they are bi-polar. (different color for different current locations)

To determine the resistor size that you need, find out the current required for the LED, example 20mA, or 50mA. At 12V, use 13 to be safe, the R value is 13/0.05 = 260, or a 250 Ohm resistor.

Raw LEDs can be wired in series, after the resistor, otherwise each LED needs an R. Technically, in series, each LED drops 0.7-1.1V, so determining the proper R value gets tricky. (for example, 4 LEDS, 12V source, R = (12 - 4*0.7)/0.05 = 185 Ohm.

The R value can also be lowered to produce a brighter LED, or raised to decrease the intensity.



Most LED products, washer nozzles, under body, .. have the R values built in. This is only when you use LEDs off the shelf and want to wire them into vents or such.

Sean, what are you trying to do, scare her away?

Rach, this might be easier. For LED/load resistor information check out THIS SITE.

[2_2COOL]

Um, yea...a little technical there. Guess that's where Hubby's electronics background will come in handy.
I went to wall mart & found NOTHING therew & Target had a couple of LED tubes & that was it. I guess I'll hit websites & other local stores for prices before deciding how/wich to use.

Thanks again for more info.

[outlaw8]

Come on Rach....
If you'd visit the PTCSV on the third Saturday of each month you'd see NEONS galore!!
Ask Bugdude he's got a good setup.....
Good Luck and I hope you get it all worked out!!!!!!