That wouldn't work, cas the headlights AND the switch would have to be on for it to light up. My way I don't have to have the headlights on.

 

o ok i get ya now.... ya just be sure to fuse em properly...
and if ya think ya have a short in the wire use the light tester again and wire it in inbetween the wires with the ground wire on what your powering disconected... then if the test light stays lite then its shorted out somewhere and youll have to track it down

 

On the fuse that made all the sparks I think I had the wire touching some metal cas the spot was in a small area with not much room to get the fuse back in, that was for the light on the switch. I don't have the plate on a fuse anymore, is there a real good reason to put one on it?

 

hell ya! put a fuse on that liscence plate right next to the power sourse......
cause if you dont and that wire does get shorted out on any other metal objects it will short out.... get red hot and melt off all the rubber insulat off THE WHOLE WIRE!!!! and then start melting your factory wires behind the fuse box... and then catch your car on fire and continue to burn unit either that wire is burned in two and stops shorting out... but highly unlikely! dont be cheap it could fry you r whole car to charcol!!!!!!!!!!!!

your electrical system is very important on your car!!!!!! it burns up more cars a year than gasoline does!

hell a guy i talk to on the internet had his whole truck ingolfed in flames afew weeks ago from his subwoofer somehow catching fire.... he couldnt put it out and he was in a remote area so no way he could put it out or even slow it down.... it destroyed his whole truck! complete fire damage! interior totaly GONE nothing but the bare steel frames of the seats left inside... and worst of all he didnt have full coverage insurance so his truck is a TOTAL LOSS!!!!!!!

a fuse only costs what a few cents... and it could save your whole car! DONT BE CHEAP AND LAZY!
ya alot of people may not use them BUT they have just been lucky that nothing bad has happened... and well even tho i do have full coverage insurance i definatly dont want to have to fight with the insurance company to get my car reimbersed and have to start all over again! not to mention if thats your only car ya wont have a ride...

 

Well I hooked it up to draw power off of the switch to my neon, so if my neon has a fuse does that mean that the plate does now too? And I thought that you are sopost to put the fuse as close to what is being powered as possible, thats wrong?

 

no its the fuse has to be closest to the power source.....

think about it this way.... ya got a 50ft wire... fused next to the neon instead of power source.... thats ruffly 49ft of wire that could posibly get shorted out on metal and be a direct short! and since thiers no fuse next to the power source its basicaly just a direct short... ya wana see a dirct short take a screw driver or wrench and put it across the battery terminals and be prepared for a light and spark show.LMFAO definatly NOT A GOOD THING!!!!!

or if ya wanna experiment alittle bit.. use a car battery or lawn mower battery and get a similar gauge wire afew feet long... hold it with some pliers with some rubber grips or gloves... just cause of posible heat... and again touch each wire to each battery terminal and just watch how long it takes for that wire to glow red hot and melt off the protective insulator layer and catch fire.... IT WONT TAKE LONG ill tell ya that! now imagine that flame going from your fuse box all the way to your trunk... and since it would still be hooked up it will continue to burn until thiers nothing left to burn... which is preaty much your whole car....
NOW try the direct short again with a few inbetween the two wires and touch each battery post... youll hear and see a POP/flash and then nothing... wires not damaged, no fire..... no problem.. if it was ran thru your car then youd know you have a short somewhere and youd have to inspect the whole wire... and dont put in a large fuse either... start off low.... for most small items a 5amp fuse is enough.... and it also depends on the wires size as well for the fuse ratting...
but as a rule of thumb always use the same size wire as the unit is... match the size wire from your neon and use that same size wire to extend it to where ya need to... and thier should also be a fuse ratting on the packaging or a inline fuse already wired up to some extras.


go try that experiment and i garente youll get off your @ss and go put in a fuse ASAP!
alls it takes is a minor cut or pinch in the wire that will cut thru the rubber and touch grounded bear metal for it to start a fire!
dont cheap out or your just taking stupid risks!!!!!!!!



hell im not trying to cus ya out or scold ya im trying to help ya out! when i started adding toys i didnt add fuses... hell my 66impala i had a 8gaueg amplifier wiring kit conected and i never had a fuse on it... luckely i never had any problems with it shorting out. BUT it was definatly a stupid mistake that i have corrected!
with my old friends 95grand am i put in a amplifier wiring kit and was just testing out the radio with the wire just ran thru the door jams quickly.. i hooked it all up to test out the equipment and she closed the door which the door hinges sliced right thru the insulator layer and shorted out the main power wire so quick that in a matter of seconds it was smoking a 8ft long wire which then caught on fire... which inturn also fried all the other stock ground wires making them catch fire also... LUCKELY we had a garden hose by the car from washing it alittle before and i poped the hood quickly and riped off the glowing red/fire ground wires off the battery and was spraying it with water to put the fires out....
well needless to say that all hapened in about 30seconds and the car wouldnt restart after i replaced and covered all the ground wires... would turn over but wouldnt run... ended up having to tow the car into a special electrical place and pay them about 1,600bucks to fix the problem..... fried quite a few computer parts and wires which all had to be repaired or replaced.
but a 1,600repair bill... without a car for about a month could have never happened if i just instaled the few dollar fuse next to the battery....

do it right or dont take the risk! or please ask how to do properly... and dont believe anyone that says it will be alright without a fuse... cause its not thier 5-50K dollar vehicle that can go up in flames! i dont care if ya got one of those fire extinquishers in your car or not it will put the fire out yes but but ignition source isnt beeing stoped by that wire being removed so its just gonna flame right back up and short out other wires which will continue to burn!
thats why when i changed my battery terminals and wires i took the safe route and added a fuse block to replace the factory fires since i had changed the routing of the factory wires.

from this mess with just changing my terminals


to this cleaned up and all properly fused


tho that right thier just terminals and fuse blocks still cost me about 100bucks not including wires.... which i still want to replace with matching color wires....
not only does it look alot nicer... its alot safer!

reminds me i still gotta buy a new main amplifier fuse holder... i keep forgeting... my old was is just ugly.LOL

 

OK how do I put a fuse on it, just cut the wire and hook a fuse to it then soder/tape the wire back together?

 

yes you can do that way...
several ways to do it....

like you said just solder the wire to the fuse BUT then its not changable and if it ever does blow youll have to cut the wires and resolder a new one on.

another way to do it is if ya have 2 female spade terminals... just crimp each female terminal onto each wire... tape up those terminals so they cannt touch eachother if they get pushed together.. and just slide them onto the fuses male spade terminals and again tape over the whole fuse to hold it firmly...

or to be alot simplier and cleaner... just go buy a addon fuse holder from autozone or walmart or most auto places will have them... just like a 6inch long wire with a actual molded spade fuse holder between the two wires... then ya just crimp the one end of the wire to the conection for the fuse box.. and the other just twist and tape or crimp the wire to your wire going to the light.
those definatly look alot beter and safer cause they are enclosed/molded/ and have a top cover.
only a few bucks i believe...

 

Alight don't laught at my diagram but would this work?
(I'm using 18 guage for the whole application, it worked with the licence plate so I don't think it will be a problem here. Also I'm runing 2 neon lights on one wire, so I have two [2] positive wires and two [2] ground wires, all running to the front of the car)




[IMG]local://upfiles/12015/CCD8DA72A3A74D4CACC77A5958D7AFD0.jpg[/IMG]

 

well not sure.... look slike your fuse is righ toff the switch.... you want the fuse right off the fuse box or the battery if your conecting it thier... BUT heres another idea instead of runnen 4runs or wires you have major overkill......

just get some decent size single wire and run it back to the trunk and then conect that wire to all your other wires...

for the ground just get a selftaping screw or find a rear brace in the trunk and screw it to it and clean the paint off that spot around the hole.
hope ya dont mind i raped your drawing making it even worse.LMFAO



but with a lighted switch they have a power INPUT wire, power OUTPUT wire, and a ground wire.

fuse the wire closest to the fuse box.... within a few inches!
if you REALY want to run the ground wire from the front to the rear just use some decent size speaker wire.... they are two wires together.... just makes it easier to run BUT a complete waste of all that wire used!

i sugest runnen some 12gauge wire... 18 is preaty small!
you want it ast least twice the size as the wire used with those items. that way they can flow more power and just have to run one wire to the rear instead of two or 4 wires like you where gonna do.LOL

do ya get what im saying? i know its confusing to read... but its easy to do.LOL