How do you hard wire indiglo to headlights

[Boss302]

for the guage cluster i don't want to have a switch to turn on my gauges lights i want to hard wire them to the head lights but i don't know where a good source would be for this also there's technically 4 wires one ground one hot and two more that are molded together that are suppose to conect to a switch to allow current. all of these wires are coming out of a little black box i just wanted to know if anybody was successful in doing it this way?:1zhelp:

 

[bensn8]

Set factory dimmer switch to full bright, probe back of this switch and verify that you have 12vdc. With the meter still attached set factory dimmer switch to full low setting, verify that voltage drops as switch is moved. Use this line and connect it to the Hot line of your indiglo set. Take the ground wire and connect to ground. Connect the remaining two wires to the switch provided with the kit. Now turn the switch provided with the kit fully CW. Secure this switch so that it won't turn (tape it up) and then secure it out of the way and away from view. You should now be able to control the brightness of your indiglo face plates with the factory dimmer switch.

 

[Boss302]

but see i lost that switch and was wondering if there was a way to hard wire it to the head lights so that they automatically come on with out pressing that switch to allow current to run through.

 

[bensn8]

O.k. since you lost the switch, could you post a picture of the little black box, I can help you more from there.

 

[bigal0043]

i ran into the same probelm on hard wiring my gauges as well... did you get yours off ebay? the wire that comes off the little black box really close together and look like jumpers on a computer motherboard? i tried everything and i couldnt get them to come on without hitting the switch..

i tried putting a jumper between the two wires and taht wouldnt work either... if you hold in the switch it wont turn on either.. it needs that push in and out to light them up...

cant wait to see what others come up with

 

[Boss302]

i ran into the same probelm on hard wiring my gauges as well... did you get yours off ebay? the wire that comes off the little black box really close together and look like jumpers on a computer motherboard? i tried everything and i couldnt get them to come on without hitting the switch..

i tried putting a jumper between the two wires and taht wouldnt work either... if you hold in the switch it wont turn on either.. it needs that push in and out to light them up...

cant wait to see what others come up with

your joking right cause yeah i got it off ebay $12. vs. $65 on supra store is it the same thing? does supra store also have the block box cause if so alasjdpu@&*&#
crud i tore that dash and gaugs and had a crash course on how to reassemble the boost guage for nothing....it won't work if you supply power to those two black wires? i'm not tearing that joker back apart there's gotta be a way.

 

[bigal0043]

all the switch does is complete the circuit.... but its one of those soft switches where it gives it a quick little jolt to light them up...

 

[bensn8]

Is this the type of switch that you bought?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2-Gl...43952QQitemZ8065108316QQrdZ1#ebayphotohosting

If so, then the little black box that you are talking about is an inverter that converts DC volts to AC volts. If you wanted to hard wire it in it could be done but it would be rather difficult to explain it and I would need to take voltage readings to get it to work. SInce you only paid $12.00 for it on ebay and Supra store sells it for $65.00 just buy another set from ebay. This way you will have the switch you need to take full advantage of the guage features as well as have spare guage face plates to boot, all for the low cost of $24.00 plus S/H. Still far less than $65.00

 

[bigal0043]

yea thats kinda what my switch looks like.. .but i dont think he is trying to replace the black box.. just when power on is to the box that is bypass the switch so basically just eliminating the part in the pic that looks like arrows.

 

[bensn8]

I understand that, I made reference to the box because it is an inverter unit with a built in IC chip. The output voltage of the box would be AC voltage that powers the face plates. The little arrows are used to change resistance values in the curcuit that change voltage output to the face plates. Now Boss said that he lost his switch and wants to hard wire it into the head lights. For the amount of time to convert it and make it work right IMHO is not worth the time but I understand the cool factor of it is all. It can be done like I said before but you would have to design a curcuit to do it. I just feel that he would be better off getting a new one.

 

[Boss302]

thats the one well similar at least mine doesn't have the voltage option but anyways how much of a pain are we talking?

 

[bensn8]

Alright, clarify this for me.

The switch that you lost for your set, is it a rotary switch that can be turned CW and CCW, or is it the exact type as the one on the link?

On the black box, in the place that you are to plug in your switch, how many wires are there?

If the switch that you lost is a rotary switch and can be turned CW and CCW and the number of wires that it connects to are two then you are in luck.

Jump (Short) the two wires that come from the black box that the switch would plug into. Then follow my first post to find the voltage on your dimmer switch. Connect your hot and ground as I posted before and you should be good. Now if your lost switch is like the one in the link... then it would be a real pain and like I said, I would have to be able to take voltage readings to design it to work right.

 

[mcpcola]

Its a little sticky pad that has a push button on it the inverter only uses this to get a start and stop signal. The swith does not keep them running. You can use any push button that you get at auto parts store but it is not a switch.

 

[bigal0043]

what do you mean by a push button? would you still need to hit it every time power comes to the lights to turn on the gauges?

 

[mcpcola]

yes you would. It is simple all it does is jump the circuit when pressed to turn them on and off. It is technically not a switch but a push jumper. the inverter sees the jump and turns on and same with turning them off.

 

[bigal0043]

is there anyway to bypass that? could you hook it up to the dimmer switch somehow?
or does it need that quick on and off that a soft switch provides

 

[mcpcola]

only soft switch I have tried for months now to do this you could use a relay to do it but that is the only way i could think to do it

 

[Boss302]

Alright, clarify this for me.

The switch that you lost for your set, is it a rotary switch that can be turned CW and CCW, or is it the exact type as the one on the link?

On the black box, in the place that you are to plug in your switch, how many wires are there?

If the switch that you lost is a rotary switch and can be turned CW and CCW and the number of wires that it connects to are two then you are in luck.

Jump (Short) the two wires that come from the black box that the switch would plug into. Then follow my first post to find the voltage on your dimmer switch. Connect your hot and ground as I posted before and you should be good. Now if your lost switch is like the one in the link... then it would be a real pain and like I said, I would have to be able to take voltage readings to design it to work right.

ok there are two wire coming out of the box for the push button to hook to to allow current what i don't understand is it's doing just that allowing curent why won't it do that hard wired ac/dc? i ok i just remebered the name they're calle reverse el glow gauges and prices how gone up considerably on ebay. i'll tyr and get pics.

 

[mcpcola]

The inverter does not use the switch to pass power it only uses a quick spike to say activate and same with shuting off.

 

[bensn8]

Boss302, Was the switch that you lost a rotary type switch?

If the switch was a rotary type then it is a potentiometer/variable resistor and if this is the case then the way that I told you to wire it will work. With the jumper in place all you would be doing is passing full voltage from the inverter to the face plates and using your dimmer switch to vary voltage input to the inverter which will in effect give you the same results. (input voltage from dimmer switch drops = output voltage from inverter drops)

Now if your "SWITCH" is of the push button type then that is a momentary acting switch. Depending on how the circuit was designed by the manufacture, every time you push the button you are either pulling voltage to ground or sending voltage to certain transistor that will then within the circuit design vary resistance and then voltage output to the face plates. This is why I said I would need to take voltage readings in order to design it to work right. Now with that said, IMHO just buy a new set, you already invested the time and effort to install the face plates. You can always use the remaining parts as spares in the event something breaks.