aftermarket Gauge Wiring question....

[Deathseeker31]

I have two automoter sport-comp guages ones an EGT and the other is a boost guage. When i bought my car the guages were already installed but the cig litter had been removed to accomodate a narrowband A/f guage whihc is useless. Now i want to put my cig littler back on but i noticed that the guages are being ran off the cig littler connector in order for them to light at night. My question is, is there any other way to run the lights on the guages???? or would that be the only source?. any help would be appreciated. thank you. I don't have any pictures on me because i am at work but i will post some up when i get home.

 

[SevenMKIII]

I used a relay for my gauges, power and ground to battery and since I wanted my gauges to come on when the car turned on (not the lights) I used a tester light to find a wire behind the center counsel the came on when the keys were on ACC but the motor was not actually on. I can't remember which wire it was, but I could only find a couple. Otherwise you can tap into the dash light wire for them to come on when you have your lights on. Lemme find a link that might help you quick...

-Chris

 

[SevenMKIII]

Here ya go, awesome writeup:

http://82.110.105.76/mkiiisupra.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=13889&highlight=guide+gauges

-Chris

 

[jetjock]

Awesome? The relay is unneeded and a connection directly to the battery was used without any kind of overcurrent protection at all. Another example of someone who knows just enough about electricity to be dangerous. It'll work though.

 

[Deathseeker31]

Thanks a lot i think that is going to help.

 

[SevenMKIII]

Sorry, I forgot to add while doing my gauges I hooked them all up to a distribution block (mini fuse box) and each wire is going through its own 15 amp fuse.

JJ - I'm no electrician but I thought this out a little bit while looking over the writeup and figured adding in fuses to each wire would work just fine. Maybe a little overkill but I'd rather be safe than sorry. The fuse box is mounted to the left side of the glovebox and has a cover over the fuses as well.

-Chris

 

[jetjock]

You did good Chris. I was referring to the write up.

I'll give him credit for one thing: It's good to see someone use a relay when many people don't. In this case though it's not needed, as was adding a completely new branch circuit for such a small load. I'm not impressed by his use of what appears to be lamp cord in the engine compartment either, especially unfused lamp cord connected directly to the battery.

He should've simply tapped into the car's wiring under the dash where needed using a non-critical circuit. Say the CIG lighter. That way he could've used the overcurrent protection provided by an existing circuit. Not that he shouldn't have added more at the source but at least he'd have some. What he has now is akin to a fuse and I'm not referring to the electrical kind. People need to understand there's a big difference between something that works and something that's reliable and safe.

 

[Idealsupra]

just go to advance or the such and get an "add a circuit fuse block" its the simplest and easiest way to add gauges.... just run it to the wire coming off of it and add two fuses to it...then plug it into the kick panel fuse box into like the IGN or CIG or the such fuses.

theres other ways but this is the simplest and the easiest to change/remove if you change your mind on something and still have the circuit be protected.