can anyone tell me how i can hook up LEDs or neons or fog lights in my car that will turn on and off with my headlights? 2003 civic lx coupe...thanks in advance

 

bump

 

look on ure interior fusebox map, find the circuit that is controlled by ure headlight switch, and wire the power wire right into that fuse slot(wrap the wire around the fuse post) and find nearby ground(the shorter the distance from the actual light the better)

 

+1 for wiring into the fuse box, get a manual and see which fuses get power when, or just use a voltmeter/multimeter to check which fuses are on

 

RELAY! Use a relay! Trace the wire from your headlights, actually I used my parking lights as a power actuator. Get a standard relay, probably from local auto store, should come with a schematic. Most SPST relays are simple to use, and can be the difference from a proper installation and a fire hazard.


If the relay you pick up has a pin marked 87a in the center, simply ignore it for this installation. Use at least 14ga wire, if not 12. I normally use 12ga when wiring up accessories. Pin 30 needs to be a 12v source, usually your battery. Utilizing existing 12v sources to power your new accessory, can lead to car fires, unless you use an hot blank in your fuse panel. Probably not, but I don't like to take chances like that. Pin 85 is simply a ground, nice and clean with no paint or crap on the metal. Pin 86 will draw minimal current from an actuator source, and you can safely use 14ga here. What I mean by actuator source, is something that needs to be on in order for the accessory to work. I normally use my parking circuit for fog/driving lights, as I don't care to branch off of the headlight circuit. Pin 87 will be the + for the fog/driving lights. Then povide a ground for the lights as well, preferably not the same ground as the relay.

 

wire them to a switch

 

lol my04civic. thats what i'd say. its easier that way. but i see where 03civiclxcoupe is coming from. its cool when people get in your car and things just happen to make everything look pretty. if you have to spend time flipping switches, then it takes away theeffect.

but i wanna say to 03civiclxcoupe. be careful if you're going to wire your interior lights to your head lights. check your state laws because lets say the 5-0 has his eye on you, and interior neon's are illegal in your state, theres no way you can turn them off without turning your headlights off. you COULD if you wanted to get technical, wire an incon****uous switch thats always on, and wire it to the headlights. that way you have the option of just turning the neons off if you need to, but as long as the switch is always on, the circuit will always be complete when you turn your headlights on so you get the same effect. but as far as the actual wiring to the headlights im not sure how that works. but im curious to find out.

 

I am bad about wiring up switches myself, without the use of relays, because they confuse me sometimes, plus its just boring trying to install them, but lets say you did throw a switch on this example you provided, for the sake of knowledge, how would you do that?

I am thinking you would just run the actuator + source to the grounded switch, then run another wire from the switch to the actuator + relay entry?

And what is the purpose of the relay anyway, do they have some sort of internal fuses? I know they are better suited to run higher power items. But wouldn't an inline fuse perform roughly the same?

And, lol I am full of questions on this subject.. If you do run the relay through a switch, wouldn't the switch still be getting the entire 12V flow (is that dangerous). I know you said the actuator input wouldn't use as much power..

Just trying to get some clarity, I need to throw a few in my car :-)

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

awesome, thanks for the clarification. I guess I should invest in a few relays to be on the safe side.