Celica Forums Install Guides and Technical Articles Interior Guides Lighting, Footwell Neons with CCFL - How To

Footwell Cold Cath Florescent Lighting (CCFL) install
By dkchin




You can get a CCFL lighting kit for about $13 shipped. $6.50+shipping fee. You can buy multiple items and the shipping only increases by a few bucks. They shipped me on time and I am satisfy with the products. I am not associate with them in anyway. Please post links if you find anywhere cheaper.

http://www.svc.com/su12twoccdui.html






Here is a picture of the inverter with cables





You want to take out the Yellow and Black wire next to it. Here is a picture of it when the cable is inside Molex connector. Use a paper clip or toothpick to push the two sides and the wire will come slide out.





This is the picture of the sides pushed in with paper clip. The wire can easily come out of Molex connector.





Here is how it looks like when both Molex connectors are removed





It is important to shield the middle exposed yellow and black wires as shown in the picture. Otherwise, it might short out by accident.





Take out the gearbox cover





Pull the parking brake and put the gear into Neutral. This will enable you to take out the cover easily.





Here is the back of the Cig Lighter. I already have the CCFL Inverter in the back and cabling are all done according to the first diagram.





Insert the Yellow wire as shown in the picture.





Using an electric tape, secure the connection.





Connect the black wire as shown and tape it. And then put back the gearbox cover back in.





This is how I have CCFL attached under the dash.





Another pic of CCLF





This is where I have the switch to the CCFL Inverter. The cable wouldn't reach the dash switch. You can extend it and make it really neat.





Result in daylight.







Night pics. This mod is cheaper than S2000 radio anntena mod. Enjoy and don't get a ticket because of it. I will feel guilty if you do. Turn the light off when you see a cop. It is also possible to add a sound sensative controller so, the lights flashes to the music beat.

hey where did you secure ur CCFL neons, and what did you use to stick the neon on?

The kit came with those velcro stickers. It look like that as in the pic.

Looks nice!! What is the difference between "neons" (what you would normally find at stores) and the CCFL kits??

The CCFL lights are hella brighter than neons. They run at a more low temperature and has a longer lifespan.

I was wondering which wire is negative and positive on the CCFL and the cigarette lighter because you said to shield the yellow and black wires, but i noticed that the black wire you connected to the cigarette lighter is two wires?

red usually means HOT/POSITIVE
black usually means GROUND/NEGATIVE

what about on the yellow and black wire connecting to the back of the cigarette lighter, which is negative and positive? Is yellow the positive and the black is negative?

ground is the outside of the cig lighter... and positive is the furthest point (tip) of the lighter

I did what the instructions said, but for some reason the light won't work, tell me what am I doing wrong?

did you test the light to see if it worked before cutting it up

not really, i just assumed that the light would work

Make sure the switch is turned on! Before you put back the cig ligher back in, test if the lights work by having the key in the ignition.

ok, the thing is that the company sent me the package with one of the lights broken, but I tried to install the one that is not broken to see if it still works, do I need that other bulb in order for it to work cause I got a replacement package on the way.

Yes, if you have only one lamp in the CCFL inverter, only one will light up.

Just making sure, you did shield the middle exposed part of yellow and black wires SEPERATELY right? The idea is to prevent them from touching each other.

hi,
i finally installed the lights, and i mounted the switch where the cigarette lighter is, looks really good, if anyone needs a picture of what i'm talking about, i can post one up, also my friend really liked the lights, so he ordered some and i just installed it on his Toyota Tercel today

Hey, i installed mine but they don't seem to be nearly as bright as yours, i mean they are bright but yours seem to be bigger or brighter somehow.

Where on the drivers side dash did you stick the lights i found a spot under the dash but its all cluttered.

I got my lights at comp usa, for 19 bucks.

I installed mine today... I put two red ones on each side. Mine aren't really all that red colored tho... they're more white and it gives it sort of a pinkish look...
Is there anything I could do to make them look more red? Like maybe some red film of some sort to cover the cathodes?

just ordered mine.. gonna have lots to do when i get back from vegas.
-exhaust
-slotted rotors
-turn signal mod
-footwell neons

NICE! oh i used eceli @ a "how'd you hear from us" maybe they'll start giving us some deals.

thats awesome man, hey do you know if that is the Blue or the UV color, because they kinda look the same on the site

red celefane wrap (did i spell that right?) you can buy that from a 'party city' type of store.

Think of it as red plastic wrap...

I use cold cathode lights in computers i mod. never really thought of putting them in my car.hmmmmmmmmmm i may have to switch out my neons. i also noticed that the kits are from sunbeam. their the same thing i use in puter mods.

uhm, i just bought this kit. I'm not sure if it came w\ the inverter becuz there is no on\off switch. It came w\ the wires and a the lil box but not the switch to activate em

Errrr... can we just cut the wires and attach it to the car battery like regular neons?

Can CCFL lights be used under the car? or are they too fragile? Cause the look like they are a lot brighter than neons, and a lot cheaper. Thnx
Carlos Sanchez

check this site out: http://www.elwirecheap.com/neonwircarki.html

This look nice but arent 12" too small for undercar?it might need 2 just for the front. or maybe if they are bright enough maybe they are fine.

I just bought a set of red ones from this site: http://www.svc.com/su12twoccdui.html

I let ya know how it comes out.

Yeah thats great. If you can check how much bright do they look if they are used Under the car. If you can check that out that would be great. Thnx
Carlos Sanchez

Can you hook up the yellow and black wires anywhere else and still have the same effect?

All your trying to do is splice the hot wire into something that is set up to turn on/off with the ignition. You can splice into any wire that's hot. This seems a simple place to do it. I think there are also some issues with extending the wire on CCFL's, something about the brightness being lessened if you run more wire. I think they are using this connection to keep it all close together so the wires don't have to be extended.

yeah i just got mine in today...like 15 bucks at frys...taking the black n yellow wires wire a bit saucey to take out but i got em in and working, but i noticed not too long ago the right one wasnt working...the bulb on the inside of the housing broke, so im just gonna return, but hey, im the only one driving it, why does an empty seat need light?

cuz then it looks weird.

Just installed mine. They look great, but not as bright as I thought they would be.

I just installed mine using the neon light from my PC. Not as much brightness as CCL but it worked great. Especially when I was able to create a housing for the switch. I'm love it...

I did this a while ago in my friends Nissan NX. I also put a pair of CCFLs under each seat. Makes for a really neat effect when the entire floor is glowing blue.

Hey buddy. I was wondergin in ur install of ur cold cathodes, where is the inverter mounted. Also how did you run all the wires behind the dash? did you take it all apart or can you jsut feed it through somewhere? Do you have any picutes of either of this?? Thanks got all your help. Also for the guy that put the swich in his cig lighter do you have a pic of how that tunred out??

-dan

I am glad you guys got it nicely done. I played around with EL wires during the time I installed CCFL. Here are a few pics I took.

Close up. You can see temp tapes on the wire.

If i wanted to do this with my trunk, you think it would be possible to connect these lights to the stock trunk light wiring ?

that's very possible and has been done before

Think im gonna have to try that out

here's an old picture - these neons have been replaced by a RED set since...

everything is hardwired into that light switch so here is full control over it being OFF or ON

Just did mine the other day still have some bugs to work out but should have pics up soon

Velcro stickers are terrible. They fall very easily when one of your passengers who's unaware of them kicks it (trust me I've already replaced mine once). Also, they are constantly falling because of the changes in temperatures all the time. They heat up from the foot heating or just the warm weather outside, which loosens the glue constantly and eventually makes the neons fall. The best bet is to zip tie the neons. There are two holes on each side of the footwall plastics where you can run the zip tie through.

theres some guy on ebay selling these kits for 99cents. got mine today will install tomorrow. oh and it was like $7.00 for shipping so they were uber cheap.

Mine should be in this week. I can't decide were to hook them up to. I would like to hook them to the map light and just take the bulb out. This way the lights come on with the alarm on/off or I want to try and connect it to the lighter BULB (the one that lights up the little ring around the lighter) that way they come on with the dash lights automatically. Of course I'll prob hide a switch in the ashtray incase i get pulled over. What do you guys think?
Wally

Ohh and does anyone know what wire is + on that bulb?

Hey Try this website out its got some crazy stuff i would show ya mine but its a video just go to www.oznium.com [oznium.com] and from there to iceled ufo kit and go to the video from there. they also got interior lights that plug in and will match the outside lights.

When you try to extend the damn wires it makes the lights weaker so i guess you need some type of special wire

ok if you extend the wires make sure that the wires you use are thin also and dont make them too long if not it would make the lights a bit dimmer