Custom Cubby Hole and 12v Adapter

[dizzle]

Hey guys, so I decided to do a little customization of my cubby hole because ive got a couple wires running through and it doesn't look too clean to me. So what I plan on doing is using some mirror pieces to cover up some of the wires, and Im going to add some LED lights inside the cubby so I can see in it at night. Also because I may possibly use multiple 12v adapters, i bought a multi-port 12v adapter and try to integrate it where the "not an ash tray" holder is.

[cna]

sounds cool keeps us updated and take alot of pics

[mnkyman]

not feeling the multiple 12 volt adapter thing (it will probably look like wires galore), but if you really need it...maybe putting it in the center arm rest..


I had plans to add led lights to the inside of my cubby a while ago, but never went through with it after adding some other "mods" to the cubby...my idea was to through a button switch somewhere around the door mechanism so that when the cubby door is opened, the light automatically goes on and when closed it goes off...you should try that out

[v6sicksspeed]

id def try to integrate it into either the armrest or some sort of false floor in the cubby just to hide the wires.  i dont know what you have in mind or what your current set up looks like but having 4 plugs coming out of your "ashtray" doesnt sound like a huge improvement.  

maybe give a little more depth about what you are running and what are your ultimate goals?  can you hardwire anything that is requiring these 12v's?

[ROLO]

sounds cool keeps us updated and take alot of pics

^^^ + 1 ^^^

[rich]

how about instead of doing that you just hardwire all your plugs and keep everything looking factory?

just a thought......

[timot_one]

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do here.  What are these wires going to?  If it's something that's installed in your car, why don't you just hard wire them instead?  I'm not all that crazy about the idea of hiding wires with mirrors or adding a multi-port 12v splitter.  I'm sure there is a more elegant and reliable solution to what you're trying to do.

Why don't you spill the beans and tell us what you're wiring up and maybe we can provide a better solution.

[dizzle]

so i took your guy's opinion and i'll be scrapping this project. i'll be doing the arm rest idea since i found out my 12v socket works inside (good thing i cleaned out the mess of papers and cds in there.) the idea of the cubby was to hide the neon light wires i had running through as well as the cable from the USA Spec adapter. i could hardwire the neon lights in but i'd want to still be able to turn them on/off if i want through the 12v adapter. i gave the mirrors inside the cubby a shot and boy was that a pain in the ass, and a waste of 5 bucks lol. i hadn't worked with glass/mirrors in awhile so it did happen to break in places where i didn't want it to.

i still do want to light up my cubby with the LED adapter i got, but I want to wire them into my neon lights also (1 plug for the LED and neon lights.) the thing was I couldnt get the LED's to light up.

2 black wires, but theres another 2 in each (total of 4 wires.) a blue wire and copper wire in one, a red and copper wire in the other. I assumed the red and blue were my positives and my copper wires were the ground. so with that mindset, i wired them to my neons lights and the neons worked fine, but the LED's didnt. Any suggestions would be great.

**NOTE im not scrapping the project because of the opinions lol. infact i appreciated them. and the patience and time it would take to do what I wanted would have taken a couple hours which I didnt want to waste too much time on. (dont you hate when you have an elaborate vision in your mind and when you try it, it sucks? lol) thanks again tho.

[mnkyman]

...sounds like you bought a bunch of those autozone special neons that work off the cigarette lighter...

You should just have bought cathodes or neons that you can wire in...and if you really needed to be able to turn it off, throw a switch in the middle. You can probably cut of the 12v adapter plug and wire them directly, but be cautious, most of those have resistors hidden inside the plug, so you need to check the rating of the noens

[rich]

buy a pack of 3mm or 5mm led's in any color you want from ebay. drill out a 3/16" hole and flushmount them in from behind. that's what i did on my door panels, door handles, door pockets, cupholder and underdash and you cant see the led's even when they aren't on

[dizzle]

buy a pack of 3mm or 5mm led's in any color you want from ebay. drill out a 3/16" hole and flushmount them in from behind. that's what i did on my door panels, door handles, door pockets, cupholder and underdash and you cant see the led's even when they aren't on

howd you wire them? and if you remember what colored wires, that would be great if you wired them directly.

[timot_one]

LED's are diodes, so current will only flow in one direction and will not flow in the other.  You probably wired them in reverse.  Wire color doesn't really matter because it's not exactly universal.  You should probably try and show us what you have.  Usually stuff comes with some sort of wiring diagram or schematic.  I would refer to that first.

[dizzle]

thanks for the crash course on how current flows with LED's tim. i dont have any electrical experience as far as LED's go.


LED wires (for 2 seperate LED's)

LED 12V adapter


neon light wires (wire on the left has the white stripe)

neon 12V adapter

what i tried to do was take the copper colored wires and wire them with the white striped wire. did the same with the remaining. if wiring the LED's aren't possible with the other wires, what would you suggest?

[timot_one]

What kind of LED's are these?

[dizzle]

theres 3 LEDs per "case." they're from autozone (dont care about the store, its just lights.)