Gauge Ilumination

Hey guy's,

I'm not very good with wiring diagrams/schematics so i'll just rely on you guys to give me an answer

I want to tie my two 2 5/8 gauges, as well as my 5" tach into the same ilumination path of the stock gauges. Right now my tach is tied in with the ilumination of the stereo, so the light is ALWAYS on, and i want all my gauges to work just like the stock ones.

Can i tie into the light switch, or the dimmer switch or what? And what colour will the wire be that i want to tie into?

Thanks

Yeah you can. Pull the switch out and take a test light.. Probe each wire and adjust the illumination until you find which one is making the light dim and brighten. You can do the same with a volt meter. I did this with mine when I did my custom dash. Sorry, but I forgot what color the wire was.

Also you can just hook into the fuse panel. Just hook the power wire for the gauges up to the gauge illumination fuse and they will dim with the dash lights.

BTW.....it is the only 5 amp fuse in the fuse panel.

Mine is hooked up just like 89sleeper suggested. Just take a test light and find out wich side of the circuit is dead with the fuse removed and hook it to that side of the fuse.

Thanks sleeper, i'll check that out tonight.

Thanks again man I like it simple!

No problem.

i agree with The Shape and 89 sleeper's way, if you dont feel like playing around (tapping power from the a/c lights, etc).

one thing i might do: stick a one amp fuse on the wire you run. that way, if your wire shorts out for some reason, hopefully it will blow the fuse rather than the ISO circuit. the ISO circuit is pretty finicky, and i would not want to be blowing fuses or taking a chance on messing it up (based upon the threads in here on the topic of fixing the circuit). plus not being able to see the gauges till you can fix it would suck.
good luck.

I believe it's fuse # 13 you're looking for -- and be sure youp ut it on the FUSED side, so your gauges are fused as well -- as mentioned above. With the fuse out you should not get any gauge lights on stock or aftermarket -- that's a surefire way to check and make sure it's right.

Thanks guy's i found it, and wired it up.

Good to hear you got it hooked up ok!

for future reference there are 2 Illum wires that run to the factory stereo, one of them is Dimmed, one of them is not. If not notice the lights on your factory stereo (buttons, not display) dim with the dash lights.

Dr.

also for those who have an aftermarket deck with the harness, there is the dimmer wire which isn't used with aftermarket (orange), that can be used to power lights and they will dim with the dimmer.

It can also be used as a convienient location for shorting to the metal around the radio and blowing fuses -- that is of course when you don't close it up good after you cut the wires.

my 88 GT vert does not have any factory wires for dimming (orange). the aftermarket install harness has the provision, but on my car's harness, there is no factory wire goin into the connector (never was).
Adam is right on (we have all seen the threads where that ended up being the problem).