I need to mount at least two toggle switches somewhere in my 05 cobalt 4dr. I am a firefighter and I need to install my super discrete emergency LED's without taking up my cigarette outlets. Has anyone done this? Or installed fighter jet style switches anywhere in particular. I'm trying to keep them discrete and almost hidden, but easily accessible. If you've got links or pictures to your own switch placements, then please post!


Also if anyone has any suggestions for wiring let me know. I was thinking for my interior LED light bar I could avoid wiring directly to the battery by tapping into the cigarette lighter wiring. The other LED's are two small small ones that are for the grille (where on the grill, I have no idea)

Signal Mini Phantom blue LED (will be hardwired and mirror mounted.)


And these are the outside grille lights

 

I put all of mine right here. They look like they should be there.

 

thats what i was thinking. i have some flip top switches left over from my other car. But i like yours alot. I might have to go out and grab some of those

 

are you trying to tell me that as a fire fighter you have to install LED emergency lights on your car...yourself...made from some cheap off the shelf lordco place. I'm calling bullshit on this. First off...Does the government pay for your car..NO..So when not at work why molest your own personal vehicle at your cost, your car? Get them professionally installed and give them the bill!

 

hahah chillllllllllllll out dude! Blue lights are not required for firefighters. Therefore its not the responsibility of the department nor the government to supply them to us. Second, it's a volunteer only department. Third, I dont HAVE to install these lights on my car. The Signal Mini Phantom is a 100% legit USA made emergency light made with a cigarette plug so you dont have to hardwire it in. But I use my cigarette plug for my radar and ipod....on top of that, switches look so much cleaner..

The APC lights are just extras, when you see them all installed you'll understand. As for installing them myself, I've done it before. But never on a Cobalt, I just wanted to see if anyone out there has any easy tips so I can avoid trouble down the road...

I appreciate your concern man, but everythings gonna be alright, I enjoy doing this ****

 

i wanna c pics of this wen ur done, bud

 

Most firefighters I know actually do have these lights or some equivalant of. Being a volunteer orginization, they dont usually hang out at the station, they are on call. When a call chimes in, they rush over to the station, put on their gear, and hop in the trucks, (or somtimes go directly to the call).
Either way, having lights makes people get out of the way, allowing them to get to the code quicker. You may have to appreciate the lights on his car one day when he is able to make it to a structure fire of something of yours.

If you dont have anything nice to say, just shut the heck up and dont post. He didnt ask what you thought about putting lights, he was asking about wiring switches and placement.

 

i second that, or maybe even a small video!!!

 

Video = better than pictures...

 

vids when your done!!

 

pics or ban!

 

no worries guys. I got half way through the install then we got a pretty decent MVA (motor vehicle accident...duh) So that took up the rest of the time I set away to get everything installed. So far: 2 switches all wired, 2 LED strobes mounted inside top corners of windshield (You cant see them unless they are on. Next up, complete the circuit and wait for the Mini Phantom LED light bar to come in. So far everythings gone EXTREMELY smooth.

Oh and also, I'll get a vid and some pics to hold you guys over until the shipment is received

 

This sounds like it is going to be a really clean install. Cant wait to see the outcome.

 

on top of your glovebox there is a panel you can take off and attach switches to it like i did.

 

Oh look at that. thats a good idea, but its too late. Did you wire directly to the battery or did you tap into another 12v source?


So far so good. My buddy was surprised I was able to hide the wiring so well, and the blue corner strobes are pretty sexy. The only thing im not happy with is the switch alignment....I'm an idiot and drilled one hole, installed the switch and then drilled another hole, without lining them up perfectly, so now one switch sits lower than the other... But I think I've got an idea how to fix that.

 

switched 12v source. you never really want to run anything directly to the battery... not to mention most switches and wire will not take the Amperage.

 

What did you use for that 12v source?

 

there are a bunch of empty switched sources in the fuse box inside the car. use a fuse tap and use one of those.

 

Nice. Definetly going to hook everything up when I get back from class today. Just one more question while I can think of it... Do I need to run a positive and a negative to the fuse box from the switch? I'm in class right now thinking about it so I dont have anything to screw around with.

I imagine there would be a total of 4 wires per switch, two to the lights and two to the fuse? Correct me if I'm wrong

 

i wired my interior neons to the fusebox with a fuse tap, its only 2 wires...One wire fromt he Fuse Tap to the Switch and one wire from the Switch to the ground.

I also put my switch in my little cubby hole where the trunk pop button is at.

 

thats where I put my B&M box. Im goin out to work on hooking up the LED's right now.

ran into another problem. I used the cigarrette lighter wires and hooked everything up, plugged the battery back in, the lights came on, everything lookin great....then I flipped the switch to off and the fuse blew.... I am going out right now to get two fuse taps but I dont know why the hell the fuse blew...any ideas?

I couldnt find fuse taps anywhere. I'm thinking of using a resister and tryin it again. god this is turning into a mess

 

its hard to see, but mine are below my steering wheel sorta.









sry about the shitty cell phone pics. i got my switch console from pep boys for like 15-20 bucks. looks cool, and hidden. u hafta dremel out an area to install it though. do u get what i mean?

like, i removed the panel under the steering wheel, and measure the back of the switch panel and i had to dremel the area out where i was installing the switches so they would sit flush. ya know?

 

yea, ive got one of those too, but I didnt feel like putting a gaping hole in my dash.

12v Wiring and Fuse Tapping

Great "How To" that will help people who attempt this after me. Everythings hooked up, but I'm still blowing fuses. I'm gonna try and find a resister somewhere.

 

i sblue legal for a voluntere fire fighter. not to bash but in MA your only allowed red and white as lights, no blue

 

blue is the only color a volunteer fire fighter in NY is allowed to have. Unless your a first responder or in the ranks (Lieutenant, Captain, Chief) Then you can display red and blue.