Hello,

I need to ask a few questions about DIY footwell lights in a car. I plan to wire some in soon.

Here’s the background first:
Many of the people on the car forum I’m a member of are tapping the wires of another already-existing light in the car. The already existing light illuminates a storage hole. So people are connecting the red LED wire to the red car wire, and the black LED wire to the black car wire.

Here is a diagram of what they are doing:
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu313/TSXual/tapCubby.jpg
(the wires labeled as 'cubby wires' are the wires that supply the storage hole light)


And here is the LED I plan to use from superbrightLEDs.com:
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/uu313/TSXual/led_wired.jpg


These are the specs on this bulb:
LW-x-12VDC Wired LED
LED with 3 foot long 30ga. stranded wired
Built-in resistor for 12 Volt DC operation (9~14.8 Volt range)
30 degree Viewing Angle LEDs, Black Nylon panel mounting bezel included

Now, consider,
1) I wire one on each side, so a total of 2 red wires are being tapped to the car's red wire, and the same with the black wires.
2) I tape the exposed copper up and ensure the red and black don't cross current.
3) My car is a 2006 Acura TSX if that is important.

I just wanted to inquire about the safety of this method of tapping a wire. People have done it on my car forum, but I am gathering as much info as possible before doing this to avoid electrical damage. Also, if there are problems that can arise, what are they, and what are alternative ways to wire my footwell lights?

Some people on the car forum were saying that a safety precaution is to run an inline fuse, but I don't know what that means, or how to implement it in wiring. So any info/advice on this would be a great help.

Thanks

you can tap the wires just fine, i recommend soldering the connection then wrapping them with electrical tape to protect them. good lck

you can tap the wires just fine, i recommend soldering the connection then wrapping them with electrical tape to protect them. good lck

Thanks green,

By the way, is that^ your Mazda RX8 in the pic? I like it. Looks good.

yeah, that would be my baby. i did some custom footwell lights myself, but i have courtesy lights so i just tapped into them

woo, looks great!

Here's a question. Lets say the cubby wire is 30 gauge. Now lets say the wired LED is 24 gauge. Do I have to match the gauge, or does it not matter? I figured that maybe using a thicker wire to tap a thinner wire might be harmful. So let me know what you think.

Thanks

that should be fine as long as its not a HUGE amount bigger

Why not try these out available on ebay fits any car and very easy to fit item number
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