# Neons lights question...



## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

ok.. heres the deal.. i am looking to put some interior neons in my car.. under the seats and in the front under the glove and by the pedals.. you get my drift.. anyways i was wondering if it was possible to use Cold Cathode neon tubes used in custom PC cases.. they are alot cheaper than the ones made for "cars".. i think it should work.. they run off 12v power as well, and i can rig my own switch for them.. they also usually come with inverters if you buy them new.. ive been thinking about this for a while, but now have a few extra bucks and dont mind spending $10 for two 12" rods... just want to know if it is possible before i buy them.. if no one has tried it i guess i will buy them and be the guinea(sp?) pig..


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## Dustin (Dec 14, 2003)

UnkalledFor said:


> ok.. heres the deal.. i am looking to put some interior neons in my car.. under the seats and in the front under the glove and by the pedals.. you get my drift.. anyways i was wondering if it was possible to use Cold Cathode neon tubes used in custom PC cases.. they are alot cheaper than the ones made for "cars".. i think it should work.. they run off 12v power as well, and i can rig my own switch for them.. they also usually come with inverters if you buy them new.. ive been thinking about this for a while, but now have a few extra bucks and dont mind spending $10 for two 12" rods... just want to know if it is possible before i buy them.. if no one has tried it i guess i will buy them and be the guinea(sp?) pig..


i really dont see any reason for them not to work, but isnt the 12V in a car AC? and dont the lights need DC? but thats what the inverters are for. i dont know, i think too much, try it, because in theory, it should work.


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## ga16freak (Dec 31, 2004)

I took some out of my comp one day and tired it, worked fine.


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

before you get neon look into LED. the neons can burn out or start to flicker after time, LED's will likly last the lfe time of your car (no one leaves LED lights on while driving so you wont be useing them alot) they also wont get hot to the touch. i have no idea how hot neon gets but i do know it will atleast get worm. also LED tubes are encased in acrylic and unlike glass tubes they will not break or shatter if you kick it by accident or if you have something under your seat and someone kicks it.

just something to think about :thumbup:

p.s. make sure you hide those tubes super well. i like a good clean interior install. with that cool glow. BTW do they make white tubes? i want to get something like that and wire it to my dome light cuircit so people can see when they get into my car. with the tint on the windows my cars interior is pitch black.


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## Dustin (Dec 14, 2003)

1.6pete said:


> before you get neon look into LED. the neons can burn out or start to flicker after time, LED's will likly last the lfe time of your car (no one leaves LED lights on while driving so you wont be useing them alot) they also wont get hot to the touch. i have no idea how hot neon gets but i do know it will atleast get worm. also LED tubes are encased in acrylic and unlike glass tubes they will not break or shatter if you kick it by accident or if you have something under your seat and someone kicks it.
> 
> just something to think about :thumbup:


did you even read his post? he said cold cathodes, an led in a plastic fog filled tube. they dont shatter, dont get hot, hence the name COLD, and they give off a more indirect glow than LEDs from the fog.


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

yea.. i wouldnt get regular neons inside... thats why i was looking at the cold cathodes or LED lights... they are really cheap to buy and give off a nice glow.. here is where i am looking at them...

i am looking at these two types right now... 

12" Cold Cathode
http://www.xoxide.com/bluecathode.html
Pros:
Acrylic Casing
Give out intense even Lighting
30,000 hours lifespan

12" rod w/ 12 LED lights (on sale now)
http://www.xoxide.com/melib.html
Pros:
Last practically forever
8 different flashing speeds, or solid

Neither really have Cons... its just deciding which... they are both great and are practically the same price.. but i think the cold cathodes would be a more even light distribution... then again the LEDs are pretty bright and will probably last longer and survive more accidental kicks and/or road bumps etc...
what do you guys think?


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## LIUSPEED (May 29, 2002)

the leds ones arent that bright... it is better to get the cold cathode cuz those sucker are bright as hell.


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

dosnt the power supply in a PC pump out AC power? i could have sworn it did.

edit: never mind, i just opend up a box and its DC (hehe, it was a 100 watt max PS lol)

i really like those cold cathod tubes. im going to get 2 for my trunk for more light. :thumbup:


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

i just did the calculations for the lifespan of the cold cathodes...

lets say i use the lights every night for 2 hours

30000/2 = 15,000

and i use them everyday of the year..
15,000 /365 = 41.09589041095890410958904109589 years

so it will pretty much last about 40 years if i use them every night for 2 hours... :thumbup: i was bored lol


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

just ordered my set ... it came out to $10.84 shipped for 2 Cold Cathode tubes... it includes the power inverter... all i need now is a switch or button from radioshack or somewhere...


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## imoloq (Jan 27, 2005)

I've installed these underseat lights on my car and two of my friends cars'. I used ultra small diameter florescent tubes that runs of an inverter that is connected to the battery with a switch and fuse. The setup worked very well and is very reliable...only about almost half a year one of the inverters started to fail but that was it. The glow was even and impressive.



If you want to rig it up to the stock interior lights you can. This will make sure that the lights come on when the door is opened provided the switch is set to "door". Just bypass the bulb, get the power from the fuse box (get it from the fuse terminal that correspond to the interior lights). The downside is that your stock interior lights cease to work


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## pete? (Jul 6, 2004)

imoloq said:


> The downside is that your stock interior lights cease to work


not if you power the neons from a differant source and use a relay connected to the dome light power to control the neons


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

imoloq said:


>


looks good dude.. is that picture during the day? because they still light up pretty well..im impressed...


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## imoloq (Jan 27, 2005)

Self Fornicator said:


> not if you power the neons from a differant source and use a relay connected to the dome light power to control the neons


That's a very good idea....i never thought of that before. Thanks Self Fornicator, Ill try it out when I have the chance.


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## imoloq (Jan 27, 2005)

UnkalledFor said:


> looks good dude.. is that picture during the day? because they still light up pretty well..im impressed...


yes it is a picture taken during the day....the floor mats are red so the glow may seem bright...but it's really bright at night and this is achieved using only 1 florescent tube under each seat. Usually I add another one under the dash board.


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## Ninety-Nine SE-L (May 5, 2002)

here's my input.

Cold Cathode tubes do work fine in cars. BMW uses cold cathode for their halos. Neons and CC are actually quite different. Think of cold cathode as florescent 2.0, they don't flicker like older florescent and they're much more compact. The thing about using a cc from a PC in a car is that it may not have tolerence for voltage changes that cars experience. A PC typically runs at 12V DV ±0.5V, a car typically runs at 13.2V DC ±1.2V.

Neons are very nice to use in cars because they're bright and come in MANY different sizes. They're made to easily be mounted anywhere in the car and have wider voltage tolerences. The problem? Way overpriced. They've gone down slightly, I mean, when I first bought a set back in the day, we're talking $55 for a set of 2, now you can get them for half that price, but it's still a lot. Why? very marketable, same reason a piece of plastic and an LED can cost over $20 and be sold as "cobra eyes"

LED bars...don't use them, they're very dim, they're not anything they claim, also way inflated in price, they don't actually last 100,000hours like they claim, LEDs dim over time.

Hooking up Neon tubes to go on with the dome light actually isn't a bad idea. I considered doing that with some white neons back in the day. Here's the thing to note. The dimmer switch is activated by grounding. You have to run a constant 12+V lead to the neons, then wire up the ground directly to the correct lead on the dome. I suggest it goes right to the negative side of the bulb, that way, you can turn on and off the lights the same way you control the dome.


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## UnkalledFor (Sep 21, 2004)

just got them today.. only had time to turn them on and see if they were as bright as i expected... and let me tell you, I am impressed...now i just have to see how i will rig it in the car.. i will probably do it tommorow... :thumbup: and of course i will take pictures... 

here are some pics of when i tested them out..

out of the box:









Neons on with lights on...









Neons on with lights off...


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