Converting cig lighter plug to normal power source

[El Gato]

I was in AutoZone this morning looking for primer when I encountered these accent lights young punks like to add to their cars. These are perfect for my TOS Galactica restoration since I only need a couple of lights for the landing bays and a few lights to light up the engines and fiberopticts. The problem is that I now have to convert the 12-volt cigarette lighter plug into something less dependent on cars. Any thoughts?

BTW, I posted this question on HobbyTalk too, so if you already answered there, I appreciate the help!

Sorry about the picture quality, but this was taken with a 2 mp phone camera... but I think you get the idea.

<A href="http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j25/m ... to0039.jpg" target="_blank">photo</A>

[Pat Amaral]

Can you find out what the current requirements of those lights are? If you can, you should be able to use a standard 12 volt wall wart with the same or higher current rating (higher would be better).

[El Gato]

You're talking to a truly electrically ignorant person Rating? You mean there's more to it that both of the thingies are 12 volt? Would I be able to use the same power source (by wall wart I'm assuming you mean plug) for both?

[jwrjr]

Figure as a basic rule of thumb that if there is a red wire and a black wire, then the red wire is positive and the black wire is negative/ground. (If you knew this already, well, no insult was intended.)

[Pat Amaral]

The lights you have there should have some information somewhere (perhaps on the back of the packaging) that lists the voltage and current (Amps or A) required to make them work. Wall wart is another term for the common type of power supply (sometimes also called a transformer) that comes with many electrical gadgets (it's usually a cord with a small plastic box with a plug on one end and a connector on the other that plugs into the gadget to charge its batteries or provide power to it.

There will be information printed on the little box that indicates the input and output voltages. You'll also find an amperage rating there (it typically looks like: output 12v, .500 A or something similar). The idea is to find a wall wart that outputs 12v and has an amp rating that is the same or higher than the amp rating listed for the lights.

Cut off the cig lighter plug from the lights and cut off the little plug on the end of the wall wart. Next strip back a little of the plastic jacket around the wall wart's cord exposing the wires (these should be red and black as stated above).

You'll then need to strip back a little of the insulation on the wires to expose the conductors in the middle (do this for both the wall wart cord and the wiring to the lights). Last, attach the two red wires together and then the two black wires together (it's a really good idea to cover all the exposed metal conductors with electrical tape or similar after making the connections and be sure to keep the red connection from touching the black connection).

This all sounds more complicated than it really is. You should be able to find the info you need pretty easily.

Hope that helps,

[El Gato]

Figure as a basic rule of thumb that if there is a red wire and a black wire, then the red wire is positive and the black wire is negative/ground. (If you knew this already, well, no insult was intended.)

Yup, I knew that, but that's about the extent of my knowledge.

Pat - That sounds like a plan. I'll post here if that works.

[Jonas Calhoun]

Not to be the wet blanket here, but inline images and that large of an avatar are not allowed. Please edit both.

But Pat's right--it's not a difficult operation.

Dan