cold cathode lights on g35

[crna1]

planned to add lights to my car, in front powered from map lights, so they come on when door opens, and in trunk powered off trunk light.but...when i did this the cold cathodes are on all the time, no matter which side of bulb fixture i wire it to (and worse for my pulse, when i wired it to interior map light, the drivers window went down a bit, like i was opening the door)

am i missing something here?? i have read the posts on other topics here, you guys are all smart...Help me please!!

(see i even sucked up a little and said you were all smart, but we both know you, reading this, are way smarted than those others who arent)

oh, and thanks

[C-Kwik]

Can you be more specific as to how you wired it?

[crna1]

yes..in the front i have the light grounded to a random bolt i found under the carpet, the hot wire runs up to dome light (map light). My plan was to just stick the wire in on one side of bulb, so when bulb comes on (when doo opens) cold cathode light comes on.trunk light is similar..grounded to bolt i found next to spare tire, hot wire to bulb fixture, to plug in on one side of bulb insertion. (i did this exact same thing in an old saab, worked fine, door open, switch powers dome light bulb up, and cold cathode lights also off same line)

with the dome light, cold cathode is on all the time, door open or closed, but the dome light works fine, off with door closed, on with door open)I even took out the bulb, closed the door, and both sides of the bulb fixture lit up the cold cathode when i touched wire to it

thanks

[C-Kwik]

You should probably test the connection. It's possible the hot side is constantly on and the ground is switched on both your hotwires.

[crna1]

sorry..did not quite get the oart about ground being "switched on both hot wires..can you just elaborate what that meansthanks

[C-Kwik]

There are 2 ways of switching power to a device. You can either switch a device on or off by connecting/disconnecting power on the +12 volt side or the ground side. If the car's lights that you are using for power are switched on/off by connecting/disconnecting the ground, then if you ground the lights you are adding permanently and wiring the +12 volt lead to the +12 volt lead of the car's lights, then you would end up with a constant on circuit. The driver window might be going down if the light circuit is used to trigger it.

If you have a multimeter, test the +12 volt lead from the maplight so see if it is hot all the time. My thought is it would be since you can turn on the maplight with the door closed and the car off, so it would be easier for the OEM to have a hot lead constant to the maplight console. What you can do is wire the hot lead permanently, and then ground your light to the maplight's ground.

[confedup]

Yo, DUDE! Those cars are the BOMB!

Man, I like your style. My wife and I have similar cars too. They are our tribute mobiles for our favorite actors!

My car:

My wifes car:

DUDE!!! We should totally get together sometime and go frontin!

[crna1]

gonna try this, tested the light, the hot side is always powered, door open or closed.thanks, will do it this weekend, let you know what happens.

[crna1]

nice photoshop work (not as nice as mine, but my car is obviously nicer also ;>

[AZhitman]

Good-looking Coupe, crna!

Welcome aboard!

[crna1]

finally got around to this..you were right. lights hooked up and work with doorthanks

[C-Kwik]

Glad it's working for ya.