Help with my new car

[setfree]

I finally got my first car today. Its a 1991 Dodge spirit with the 3.0 v6 Mitsubishi engine. I got it for $500 from some girl who just got a new car and she said she was the original owner. She had all the original documentation including all the invoices from the work thats been done on it. She had it painted about a year ago and had the brakes replaced ($500 worth) and as far as I can tell its in good condition. I drove it around some today and didn't really have any problems and its a lot better than riding the bus around town. Anyway I've got some neons that I want to hook up. I've got two 15's that are going under the dash, a mini neon thats going in the slot above the radio and like a 20'' going in the back seat. My question is what is the best way to wire them. Before I moved out I was driving my grandmas 96 saturn sl1 and I had my friend install them in their so I really don't know how to do it. I know the best way is to wire them to the battery but how exactly do I go about it?

[crjdriver]

I am assuming you want these on just when the ignition is on. I would not wire it to the battery since it will be hot all of the time unless you wire in a separate switch. Look on the fuse panel; there are often male leads that can be plugged into. Some are always hot and some are hot with the key in the run position. Use a test light to find what is what. Go to the local auto parts store and buy the necessary connectors; run wires where they will not be in the way. I do not know how much current these lights draw; you will need to find out to use the proper gage wire.

Good luck with the car, I still remember my first car. A 1961 Olds 88 that needed an O/H.

[HAL9000]

Its been a while since I've done some auto wiring... and I don't have a clue what kinda power those lights draw.. but if they draw anything significant.. you don't want to wire them just to an ignition on source of power. You will want to use a direct line of power with appropriate guage of wire and a relay to your ignition on source. You can then put a switch between the ignition on source and the relay allowing you to turn the on and off when the car is running, but with the relay on the ignition on source of power, as soon as you turn the car off, the lights go out without draining the battery.

[mattg2k4]

This should be useful, it has some information on fusing and the right guage of wire to use for a certain current draw. It's actually a car audio tutorial, but a certain amount of it carries over into your application.