New Guage wiring Options

[96bluevert]

Does anyone know how I am supposed to wire up these aftermarket guages?

They are the ones you slip over the needles in the cluster and they come with their own knob for changing the color and brightness, but I'm a little confused on how I'm supposed to hook them up.

Picture for refference:



I know the guages themselves will plug into the 3 (there's actually 4) in the middle. But I don't know about A) the 4th middle one and B) the wires on the far right. Can you guys help me figure this out?

[njccmd2002]

Well, today i got off work, after a crude week.

Decided to install these little babies, as i had been procrastinating for so long..



Well the first thing is to get the bezel around the key ring off, there are no screws here. You have to unplug the lights dimmer. Be careful, as when prying it out if you do it to hard you break it.

On my way there, let me show you one thing.



Its held by a single screw, easy to remove and then you look like this



And this is where you plug the 74 LED



Well the next is the bezel around the gauges, its held by 3 screws on the top.



Four screws need to be removed, to remove it I did with the face towards the upside. I found it easier..



I am not going to open my gauges again, they are already installed. But I did it by loosing a couple of screws. The EL gauges just slide in. There is no need to remove the needles, if you do this, you’ll have later figuring it out. The gauges did not have a sticky contact, so it was difficult to align them with the OEM, so that all the warning lights lined up (gas, check engine) I used some contact cement in a couple of spots. Then it wont move. You can avoid this if you like

The set I had is hooked up with wires so I had to make a couple of grooves in the white housing. So that they won’t be pressed. Look at the video , showing the grooves and the installation of the bulb.



Don’t assemble the Cluster, why?

First I tested the bulbs, as they have polarity, if they don’t light up at first, turn 180 degrees and they will. Test with the lights dimmer plugged

And voila!!!



A lot of people ask where to draw power for the gauges. You can use the cigarette lighter, but it’s a lot of wiring and you’ll need a second switch. Well this is how I did it. I wanted my gauges to turn on when the lights are on and vice versa. With a millimeter I checked the harness 1 of the cluster. By tracing the back where the bulbs attach I noticed the positive and negative terminals that feed the lights. The first two wires. I found the white o be negative and green positive. Always Check the polarities, dont quote me, and here:



I used shrink wrap tube since I had to cut and solder. I originally had not cut and simply tapped, but the gauges flickered on occasions, and bugged the hell out of me. So Soldered, they are not loose. Always protect your car and wiring by insulating.



I hid the rest of cable and transformer behind the drivers vent, that’s where I put the EL dimmer.

Then you put everything back together. And Enjoy. The Number one mistake people make is to leave the lights dimmer unplugged. The gauges wont light if this happen.



Cheers! BTW I still not received my radio parts..