Can your regular generic christmas lights be wired into automotive wiring? Just a strand of about 30 lights. I'm putting a wreathe on my grille, and wouldn't mind throwing a few lights on it.
Sure, it sounds stupid, but...what the hell, it's christmas.
matt
Matt did pass the time by typing:
Shop around, they make 12V strings for RV's. I've seen battery powered ones at Walmart (6V I think) They take a couple of D batteries and you could run them with a simple plug-in car adapter.
You could use a 120V inverter. They either use the lighter or the bigger ones have alligator clamps for the battery posts.
You also can get 12V bulbs that size for some of the track lighting setups that have a transformer on them and pump out 12 volts. Any lighting store should have the bulbs.
You might have legal issues with colored lights up front though....
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT'sMatt wrote:
What about getting an inverter to plug into the cigarette lighter? Useful far beyond Christmas, without having to hardwire anything... =)
Tirya
-- TDC Inca Jeeper A dirty Jeep is a happy Jeep.
After posting this I checked out google and found instructions on how to convert a strand of 35 lights to 12 volt. Plus I can run some wiring through the firewall and have a switch inside. I don't feel like droping the coin on a converter when that's the only time I'll use it.
If anybody really cares, heres the link.
That sounds about right. I still wouldn't be surprised to get hassled by them about it though.
-- Matt '03 TJ Sport
Mike Romain did pass the time by typing:
A few years back I actually asked this question to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and to the local City Police. They told me as long as the lights could not be confused for emergency lights or were "unnecessarily bright" it would be fine.
Matt did pass the time by typing:
Best suggestion I can make is phone and ask. You might get a stock answer but they might also tell you it's fine. Nothing to lose.
You can buy 12v lights at an RV supply, but if you look at Target or Walmart you will probably find a short string that runs on 2 D cell batteries. That's what I used today for lights on my jeep for my club's annual Toys for Tots jeep run.
[The club collected over 2300 toys today, I won a Tuffy console at the raffle, and my girlfriend won a Uniden 510xl CB and an $800 ARB 12v/120v fridge. And like a true jeeping girlfriend, she decided that the fridge should live in my garage :-) ]Robert Bills KG6LMV Orange County CA
I wish I had a girlfriend like yours... On the other hand, my wife wouldn't like it a bit.
Mike
It may be Christmas, but if you are gonna use these lights at night on the road, please give a thought for oncoming traffic.. you could be mistaken for a static display..
-- History is only the past if we choose to do nothing about it..
Or a trucker with exhibitionist tendencies.
Yepper.. that too..
-- History is >
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