I have a problem I hope you guys can help me out with. I'd never put a neon in my Camaro, but I was putting one in my brother's Cavalier and I cut off the cigarette lighter adapter to wire it up, and it doesn't work. Shouldn't one wire be negative and one be positive? I know you have to be able to wire it somehow. Can somebody help me out? Thanks.

 

you need the cig adapter for it to work the end peice is + and the sides are -

 

Its not a real good idea to just cut it off.. The tubes made with the -/+ wires are made with power converters.. the cig adapter neons arent

 

That sucks. So basically the neon is useless now? Wish I had known that before. At least it's not my neon

 

you could try to wire it back up and run wires from the leads on the cig to a power source thats how mine is done and its been working for 2 years

 

ditto, and it looks a lot better that way too

 

its easy...but it won't be able to plug into your cigarette lighter. if its streetglow it should have a white and a black wire, the black is negative and the white is positive.
go buy a toggle switch, some 18 guage wire (black for negative, white/red for positive, whichever you prefer), some 18 guage connectors, and a few self-tapping screws (streetglow usual come with screws). put the neon where ever you want in the car, if you have more then one neon, connect the wires, positive to positive, negative to negative with the connectors. then, from that connector, run the positive wire to the switch, another wire from either your fuse box or your battory to your switch (i use my fuse box...i use my cigarette lighter fuse, so if it blows, it won't matter), then ground the negative to a piece of metal in your car. on the bottom of your toggle switch, there should be 3 connectors, one goes to the power source (fuse box/battory), another for the power to the neon, and another to ground.
OR, if you just want to be able to plug the neon in, just strip the wires on the plug and on the wire going to the neon, and go get 2 18 guage connectors, connect positive to positive, negative to negative, and put some electrical tape around the connectors...
if i didn't explain this very well, i'll try again, but in better detail.

 

The neon isn't one from Street Glow. It's one of those sound-activated bars from Autozone. The two wires are the same color and they're very thin. I tried hooking it up to another power source without the lighter adapter and it still won't work, so I don't understand how I could get it to work by hooking it up to a switch.

 

to check which is positive/negative, get a pair of those testers (look like two screwdrivers and a little box).

on the bottom of a toggle switch, there should be three male connectors. sometimes theres only two, but thats only incase the switch doens't light up.

IF YOU HAVE THREE MALE CONNECTORS ON THE BOTTOM OF YOUR SWITCH:
It will say "power", "accessory", and "ground." put a female connector on a piece of 18 guage wire (red) and run that to either your fuse box or your battory (its up to you if you want to straight wire it or not). accessory is for the neons, put another female connector on a wire (red) and run this to the first neon (and then make a curcuit if you have more then one neon). ground is the drain, put another female connector on a piece of wire (black) and attach the other end of the wire to a piece of metal somewhere in your car.
then, you have to ground the neons. the ground on the switch only grounds the switch, not the neons. the neons hvae a positive and a negative wire, take the negative and connect it to a piece of metal, and the positive to either your fuse box, or your battory.

IF YOU ONLY HAVE TWO MALE CONNECTORS ON YOUR SWITCH:
Do everything i said above, except don't ground the switch. if you only have two male connectors, your switch doens't have a light on it, so it doesn't need a ground.

its really late for me and i'm really tired, if i didn't explain this well, i'll try again tomorrow.