Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics wiring neons with two switched sources

no i dont think so. when the switch is in position a(12v constant) position b(12v switche) is off, even though its and on on switch. only one "on" is on at each time.

Well, there goes those ideas!

The good news is I got it working though.

Turns out, the 12v source is NOT switched, its the ground that's switched! Now this does make things easier I guess, since now I can use a regular on/off switch to wire this all up.

Anyway, I pulled power from my cigerette lighter, and then use the switch to turn on the ground that's always on, and connected the lights all up to the switched ground full time. Now whenever I turn on the switch, a constant complete circuit is made, and when the switch is off, a circuit is only completed when the doors open.

So just remember now when you're wiring up stuff to the under-dash lights that the GROUND is switched, not the 12v source

u mean the ground on the switch/lights. if so then its a positive ground instead of the typical negative ground.

umm, i gave you two examples, not one.

Thought maybe you'd like to see the results (last pics are crappy, sorry):


Front passenger footwell:

Both front and rear passenger doors open, footwells lit:

Front drivers and passenger footwells from passenger side:


The neon tubes I bought (OptX by StreeGlow from Advance Auto or Best Buy) are really quite perfectly bright. The pics dont do it justice, it looks really really good in person.

To give you an idea of brightness, I had my lights on so the dash should have been lit up with the stock green backlighting and you cant see that in the pics. I'd like to say though that its not too bright by any means, its rather quite perfect for a really cool look

EDIT: I mounted 4 total 9" tubes. One under the drivers and passenger front seat (lights up the rear floor area nicely) and one under each side of the front dash. I fabricated a custom 90 degree bracket and used 3M double-sided super strong adhesive tape to secure the front two tubes up under the dash. The tubes are completely hidden unless you actually put your head under there and looked. I'm quite pleased!

Thats really sweet man. I know what you mean about the brightness of the optx since i have them under my dash as well. Also that switch is really nice . It is hard to tell that it isnt stock.

thats where i'm putting my master switch but even closer to the seat so its more hidden then adding several switches to the right of the cig lighter