Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Electrical Basics

Hey gang:

I'm ready to venture into beginner's custom electronics. I suppose neons, radar hardwire, cellphone car kit all meet this description. Could someone post a primer on wiring, which covers the basics (the install guides assume knowledge of general wiring principles, IMHO.) Here's what I'd like decent explanations on:

1) Gauge / type wires to use. Is speaker wire ok?

2) Whats the typical current flow from battery / switch / light?

3) What type of switch (2 post, 3 post, grounded) do we need?

4) What is an inverted, why do we need one, and where does it go? What other components are necessary?

5) What should be wired to the cig lighter vs. to the battery?

6) When / where / how to ground.

7) Special tools that make things easier

8) Best places to get all this stuff.

Any and all answers are greatly appreciated! Thanks for the help.

Andy
'02 DS Spectra Blue GTS

Speaker wire is fine, just get the thinner kind with the double wire (ground and power). Current flow i think depends on the type of switch you buy, they differ in how much power they can handle. I personally liek the 3 post switches, keep it neater when you run a bunch of wires to it. Theres a ground post, power post, and like an input one. I run the power from the fuse (or battery) to the power post, power wires from the appliance to the input, and the grounds to the ground post, then run a wire from the grouind post and actualy ground it. To ground it just find any type of metal (i.e. Screws; work well cause you can screw the wire around for a tight fit). The cig lighter can only handle 12V, so you cant run a bunch of things to it. You can buy an inline fuse from bestbuy and run it through ur firewall and comes out behind ur pedal (it'll be power). wire cutters and strippers work well, or you can just use ur teeth. radioshack has speaker wires and switches, neons you can get at autozone.
sry that was kinda long but hope it helps

wouldn't recommend that - please use a wire stripper...

lol i use my teeth all the time (as long as its not plugged in) for gauge of wire ... bigger is always better for just neons and little stuff like that i would do like 12g

get proper connectors don't just twist the wires togeather that just adds proplems after awhile

i would recomend hardwiring it all looks much cleaner if you drill a hole in firewall make sure to get a lil rubber gromet don't want wires to rub on metal

and for godsakes run a fuse like right next to your battery for your shizzel (either add up all the fuse amounts your using or look at the wattage on the componets and devide by 12 i.e. normaly neons are like 60 watts 60/12=5 amps)