Cold Cathodes in Sedan!

[MacMaster761]

Just finished wiring my cold cathodes from oznium.com. Bright as hell. I tapped into the 12v Cig lighter for them. Theres a ton of room under the dash to store multiple cathode transformers. I have 1 set of 2 under each seat in the car. I'll take night pictures when it gets dark tonight... heres some for now!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1702.jpg
green lighted switch ^^^^
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1701.jpg
under drivers seat^^^
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1700.jpg
view from the back passenger side seat^^^
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1699.jpg
view from pasenger front seat
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1690.jpg
my extremely clean install^!!!!!!

[MacMaster761]

no-one?

[Kr0n1k]

take more pics at night!:thumbsup: clean install.

*EDIT* I didn't read your post at first lol. Can't wait for the pics, I'm a lil :drinking:

[MacMaster761]

holy crap it looks frickin amazing!!!!!!! check out these pics!!!! these cathodes are even more bright then i origignally expected!!!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1708.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1707.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1705.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y27/MacMAster761/yaris/HPIM1704.jpg

[MacMaster761]

wow, nobody paying attention!

[twixt]

woooopity freaking do, everyone can do a cheesy install like yours, id do it myself if i could find a good looking way to mount the tubes.

[johnnyfive]

i love how everyone has been so encouraging latley, dont know what is going on..

but i think your install looks pretty good. that second shot in your second post looks sweet :) nice work :)

[Kr0n1k]

Those are the pics I was waitin for, lookin good Mac! You could probably get away with one cathode under each seat though, next up, a green dome light to finish up that look. :thumbup: BTW don't mind the negativity.

[pennystocks]

I'd be scared of busting one when sliding the seat back.
BTW make sure you get a LED for the dome, they have perfect color. Those wal-mart blue bulbs look like shit.

[swng]

wow, nobody paying attention!
Actually I have been watching. Interesting mod, but like any others , may not be for everyone:smile:.

[twixt]

i wasnt being too negative! i was just criticising so he might figure out a better way to mount em thats not so ghetto. its so ricey the way it is, might as well breakout the cardboard and make a wing.

[El Jefe]

im not into lighting like that but i gotta say that looks a helluva lot better than the dumb toyota interior lights

[paultyler_82]

Ya know, I'm not a fan of lighting like this being on all the time, but I was spoiled on one of my first cars, a Park Avenue, having floor entry lighting that illuminated the driver and front passenger floor areas when the doors were open. I personally will be mounting white LED tubes (cold cathodes don't do well in the long run in a car environment) in the same fashon as Toyota's kit and will be hooking the power trigger into my door pins or the dome. As far as riceyness... I don't beleive in-car neon is inherently ricey, to each their own and all, now if he had the underglow Area 51 escapee thing going on... I'd drag the Rice Burner stamp out.

[MacMaster761]

the problem is there isnt really a great place to mount them under the seats... if you place them too far back, you lose light, thats why i zip tied it to existing wires under the front seat. Even toyota zip ties their cold cathodes.
I would label it rice if wires were flailing everywhere in my car.... but i wouldn't call it rice now because of the cleanness of the install. And since its hooked up to a switch i can kill it at any time.

[Kr0n1k]

If you wanted to take it a step further, you could find a way to wire them into the switch that turns the dome light on when you open the door.

[07WYarisRS]

looks great

I have blue neon under my dash

[ChinoCharles]

Cool. Install is a little crooked though.

[Chaad32]

I like......the night shot really makes it look good. Good job!!

[MacMaster761]

hey thats a pretty cool idea actually. This wiring took a while to do... so i'm keepin it the way it is. It would also take a lot of wire and me taking apart the headliner.

[Kr0n1k]

If you wanted to do it, you could probably get to the switch on the door jam.

[twixt]

there is a domelight wire under the dash to wire to the door switch would require a relay, and the domelight wire should be tested with a multimeter before you start splicing, im not sure if its 12v

[ChinoCharles]

Nice twixt

[Kr0n1k]

I may try my own idea when I get my Yaris (in October :thumbdown: ) thanks Twixit.

[paultyler_82]

there is a domelight wire under the dash to wire to the door switch would require a relay, and the domelight wire should be tested with a multimeter before you start splicing, im not sure if its 12v


should be ~12v., that's what the dome bulb is rated for, definately use a relay, you don't want to power the cathode transformer off the dome light's wire, that would probably draw too much current.

[paultyler_82]

I may try my own idea when I get my Yaris (in October :thumbdown: ) thanks Twixit.

This is what I'll be doing as well, using my own design of LED tube instead of cathodes, let me know if you need any help with the wiring or anything.

[mikeukrainetz]

I mounted my tubes to the silver cross brace under the seat with 3M tape the underdash tubes as well, more of a floor glow than anything else. I like somewhat dimmer lighting - is it actually as bright as the photos show?

[Kr0n1k]

Thanks Paul, will do. I'm gonna have a stack of parts and a long list of mods by the time I actually get the damn car.:rolleyes:

[MacMaster761]

its brighter than the photos show, i had to reduce the shutter speed so it wouldnt blur as much on the camera. I'll hook it up to a tripod tonight and take a real photo. I dont even wanna touch that relay stuff, that looks a little complicated.

[captainzerocool]

Nice mod.

[KSIbucky]

what did you use for power and did you have to buy a switch or did it come with

[ChinoCharles]

It really looks perfect. What I want to know is if there is way to wire them to the stock dome light so they will fade on when the door is opened, and concurrently wire them to a switch so you can turn them on if you're driving around and want to have them on to show off a bit... without of course having that switch also turn the dome light on. Sounds complicated. :iono:

[spkrman]

oznium 'thodes are the shyte... not the most durable, but they are really bright and cheap!

[Notthy[Yaris/S]07]

looks great

[nick1983]

looks good

[ChinoCharles]

Ordered a kit today in blue. :thumbsup:

[vodkalush]

What kit?
I picked-up a dual cold cath kit from compusa for just under $20. The kit came with a switch, but I swapped it for a lighted one from AutoZone.


I wish I had taken some pics of my install, it would be a crazy easy DIY write up, unless it involded hooking into the Dome Light wire and still having it "switchable"; if only i knew more about using relays....

[ChinoCharles]

What kit?

Dual cathode kit from oznium.com. 16 bucks and it will be on my doorstep by the weekend.

[paultyler_82]

It really looks perfect. What I want to know is if there is way to wire them to the stock dome light so they will fade on when the door is opened, and concurrently wire them to a switch so you can turn them on if you're driving around and want to have them on to show off a bit... without of course having that switch also turn the dome light on. Sounds complicated. :iono:

Theater lighting as it's called, cannot be acheived with cathodes, and with LED tubes the effect is hit and miss, it may work, or they may just go from on to off once the voltage fades to a certain point, they may even do something wierd like flickering or something.

[TrancosRt]

What kit?
I picked-up a dual cold cath kit from compusa for just under $20. The kit came with a switch, but I swapped it for a lighted one from AutoZone.


I wish I had taken some pics of my install, it would be a crazy easy DIY write up, unless it involded hooking into the Dome Light wire and still having it "switchable"; if only i knew more about using relays....

Not really complicated: Just connect the relay output in parallel to the siwtch ourput. The best way to do it is to connect a ground and the dome light 12V to the relay input (do not remember my signage right now. It's been a while since I've last dealt with relays). Then connect the output the the same place where you connect all your transformers together like this:
______Transformer 1
Switch Output__/ ________|
Dome signal-->Relay Input- |--------Transformer 2
|________Transformer 3

When I'm done with finals, I can do a better "graphic" if you want.

[ChinoCharles]

Got one cathode in tonight as a tester, and I've gotta say it looks awesome. The second cathode was damaged in shipment. I'm ordering a few more cathodes and drawing the diagram up tomorrow.