negative wire in the hood...where?

[marshmallow15]

hey i'm trying to hook up a switch to my battery through the fuse. i found the positive in the box no problem...but where do i hook up my negative to?

[Sonicxtacy02]

are you talking about an accessory fuse?(for lights, etc). If so you dont need to connect the ground cause normally thats just for the switch to light up. However should you need to ground something... just wire it to the frame of the car anywhere.

[marshmallow15]

no actually it's not one of those switches that light up. it just has a negative and positive terminal. i hooked up the +, but now i need to hook up the - somewhere and don't know where.

[Da_Wiggy]

he didn't mean the small light in the switch, he meant fog lights or neon lights...accesories. Most of the metal sub frame of the dash will ground out. To test if it does ground, clip one end of a test light around a METAL area you think will ground. Then with the pointy end of the test light probe your 12 volt source at the fuse box. If it lights up the circuit is complete and you know you can ground there. use an eye loop and crimp it to the end of the ground wire use a self tapping screw to screw into the metal.

[marshmallow15]

ok. so positive to the fuse battery and negative to a ground on the metal frame. then i connect that to the switch. then i can just wire the neon into the switch wiring and i'm done?

[Skiddy]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> ok. so positive to the fuse battery and negative to a ground on the metal frame. then i connect that to the switch. then i can just wire the neon into the switch wiring and i'm done? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Yes it is that simple, + battery to power the switch and accessory, negative to any metal part on the frame. accessory negative connects to ground on switch and the power wire on the accessory is connected to i think what is called supply volts on the switch, or the middle prong. So all in all ou should have 4 wires going to the switch. <BR>Does that help?

[marshmallow15]

yes it does. thanks guys for the help. can't wait til tomorrow to finish this job.

[marshmallow15]

ok so i tried what you guys told me. well when i connected the positive and the negative and hooked everything up to a 5" neon for my speaker grills, i pushed the switch and i heard like a pop or crack sound from the electrical current. i'm not sure what happened. everything in my fuse box seems to be ok. hopefully i didn't burn out the neon tube?

[marshmallow15]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Skiddy:<BR><STRONG><P>Yes it is that simple, + battery to power the switch and accessory, negative to any metal part on the frame. accessory negative connects to ground on switch and the power wire on the accessory is connected to i think what is called supply volts on the switch, or the middle prong. So all in all ou should have 4 wires going to the switch. <BR>Does that help?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>wait a minute. my switch simply has two prongs only...it's not an illuminated one.

[Skiddy]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> wait a minute. my switch simply has two prongs only...it's not an illuminated one. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>If your switch has only 2 prongs, then the two positive wires go to the supply volts prong, and the two negative wires go to the groung prong. It should be the same philosphy as the 3 prong switch but in fact easier. As far as the "pop" noise, do you have a fuse connected to the wires comming from the battery? Most likely you blew a fuse.

[marshmallow15]

ahh ic. tnx skiddy. it won't matter if the + from the wire is in contact and touching with the power wire on the same prong?<P>hopefully i didn't blow a fuse...but i checked and everything seemed like the fuse was still intact.

[Skiddy]

Yea the + wire and the + wire from the accessory should be on the same prong, just make sure the negative and +'s don't touch as well. Think of the swich as acting like a intermediary for the accessory and the power. If you didn't have the switch, you would connect the power wire of the accessory to the power itself. Now you are just connecting them to the switch to control when the accessory will be on. If you have any other question, feel free to ask.

[marshmallow15]

ok. i think that method burnt out one of my neon tubes.<P>i have this cigarette adapter extension where it adds 4 other cigarette lighter sockets...is there any way i can just hook up my neons to this and hook up the adapter to a switch? if so, how? same procedure? i'm too afraid to burn my neons by testing the switch on them.

[Wheelz]

I'm not exactly sure here, but if Skiddy is telling you to wire the positive wire from the battery and then the positive wire from the neons to the same prong, that's totally wrong, if you do that, you might as well not even use a switch.<P>If the switch has two prongs, you will need to run the constant power supply from the battery to one prong, and the positive wire from the neon to the other prong. The negative wire from the neon will go straight to ground. The switch, when ON, will connect the 2 positive wires and VOILA! light will turn on.<P>Hope this eliminates any confusion,<P>By the way, if it's a 3 prong, you do basically the same thing, the extra prong is the ground for the light in the illuminated switch, that's the only difference.

[Skiddy]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> I'm not exactly sure here, but if Skiddy is telling you to wire the positive wire from the battery and then the positive wire from the neons to the same prong, that's totally wrong, if you do that, you might as well not even use a switch. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>My fault, Wheels you are right on the two prong, i am used to using the 3 prong switches. That makes more sense, i havn't used a two prong switch in forever. Sorry for any confusion, originally i thought you were using a 3 prong switch and there is a difference in hooking up the two switches, i should of remembered that.