Tools
Wire Stripper
Wire Crimper
Ring Terminal
18 Gauge Wire
Fuse Tap Adapter
6″ Zip Ties

Adding lights is the simplest way to jazz up any space. A car interior has heaps of spaces that could benefit from a little glow; under the dash, the seat, the vehicle’s ceiling, even on the door’s kick panel.

Mounting LED lights in any interior is relatively straightforward. Most light packs come with either mounting holes for screws on either side of the strip and/or double-sided adhesive tape for easy-stick on. Installers recommend using zip ties to secure any lighting. Whether that be underneath the dash panel or under the seat, there is most often a frame to secure it onto.

Plug-n-Play

Most LED lights for cars, boats and even UTVs are designed for any easy plug-n-play experience. Those light kits will wire in a cigarette (AC) adapter to immediately power the accessory. However, loose wires jutting out from the console is an eyesore and cause potentially electrical issues if they’re being constantly jostled during the drive. Or, damaged if you spill a drink.

Turn-On Power

Other kits may come with a fuse tap adapter. A fuse tap adapter looks like a miniature electrical plug with an extra slot on its base. Once you’ve chosen what accessory power you want to tap into on the fuse box, you remove the fuse and plug it into the extra slot on the adapter before – so both it and the lighting can be fed simultaneously. 

The most popular “tap” is any fuse that receives 12 volt ignition power – so the accessory is turned on and off with the car. The fuse also acts as an extra layer of electrical protection.

It’s also possible to still receive power from the cigarette lighter the back way. But this requires a multimeter to read which wire is receiving power, and needs to be spliced into. Not truly difficult, but takes more time than plug-n-play or fuse tapping.

Constant Power

Another method is to wire your lights directly to the car battery. This will provide your lights with a constant flow of power since the battery itself doesn’t turn on and off.

To wire your lights to the car battery, strip and crimp the LED lights and insert them into an inline fuse holder or distribution block to prevent electrical shorts. Then take a length of 18 gauge wire to the other side of the block.

With the end of the wire that will be connected to the battery, attach a ring terminal for a cleaner connection. This can be told via soldering or a butt connector.  As always, disconnect your battery terminals before touching anything that has to do with power. 

Connect the negative and the positive wires to the corresponding terminals on the car battery and secure it with a nut. Once those are secure, then you can reconnect the car battery. 

Final Touches

With your lights mounted and the wiring secured, run the wiring under the console trim. Any lights under your car seat should be given extra slack and carefully secured. The last thing you want is to run over your LED wires while you’re adjusting your position.