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?

[95CelicaST]

Some sort of power and ground? You can look up which wires on the cluster to tap into, or run it to the clock.

[96bluevert]

That's what I was thinking, since they are supposed to power themselves, just didn't know where to put them.

[95CelicaST]

Yeah. I would look into the clock, so they light up only when you flip on the lights, instead of a constant power where they'll always be on.

[ra65_22re]

I think I have mine hooked up by the light around my cig lighter. I cant remember but thats prob your best bet.

[96bluevert]

I don't have a light around my cig lighter lol... What about the light around the ignition, would that work?

[95CelicaST]

Isn't that one on when you open the door, but off when the car is on?

[Spider77]

Got mine spliced into my clock. Im not sure about yours, but with mine, it requires 12v to run, so the dimmer knob has to stay all the way to the right. If I move it a bit, the lights go out.

[96bluevert]

^^ So clock is probably the best bet here then?... I hope the dimmer doesn't have to be ALL the away to the right, I want to have the blue lights one

Isn't that one on when you open the door, but off when the car is on?

Yeah, your right, I didn't think about that part.

edit: New problem, the RPM gauge and speedo are sticking and obviously I'm not getting an accurate reading. Would it be b/c the OEM pieces are undernieth? I didn't see how to get them off when I put the new ones on, so I left them.

This post has been edited by 96bluevert: Jul 9, 2009 - 6:00 PM

[GriffGirl]

Run the power wire to the auxillary (ACC) wire of your stereo (should be an orange wire). That way it's no where near associated to your dimmer switch, which apparently can cause bad things with these.

The other wire is the ground. I have the same gauge face.

[njccmd2002]

check my long electrical post. Its in there... i wired to the gauge cluster to the light on switch,,

[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..

[96bluevert]

Cool, thanks everyone...Now what about the OEM ghauges, should they just slip off like the aftermarkets went on?

[njccmd2002]

nope they stay. my aftermarkets are on top of the oem, in my case

[96bluevert]

Is there a way to make it so the needles don't get stuck?

[DEATH]

spray on adhesive - it's recommended in the manual for your gauges.
Griffy - way to go girl - you remember everything you learn don't you?

[96bluevert]

They didn't come with a manual (bought from another member), so I guess that's why I didn't know about the adhesive.

Thanks Death.

Edit: seems double sided tape works pretty well too Now time to wire it all up.

This post has been edited by 96bluevert: Jul 10, 2009 - 2:23 PM

[DEATH]

They didn't come with a manual (bought from another member), so I guess that's why I didn't know about the adhesive.

Thanks Death.

Edit: seems double sided tape works pretty well too Now time to wire it all up.

Just be careful the double sided tape isn't too thick or it will have the opposite effect.
Also be very careful not to remove the needles - it's really easy to do and they will be off after that.

[Spider77]

Yeah, I had that same problem with the double sided tape. Mostly around the fuel level part. I just used a bit of glue to secure it.

[96bluevert]

They didn't come with a manual (bought from another member), so I guess that's why I didn't know about the adhesive.

Thanks Death.

Edit: seems double sided tape works pretty well too Now time to wire it all up.

Just be careful the double sided tape isn't too thick or it will have the opposite effect.
Also be very careful not to remove the needles - it's really easy to do and they will be off after that.

Yeah, I was definately being careful not to remove the needles. The RPM, Speedo, and temp gauges seem to be fine now (not sticking). Not possitive about the gas gauge yet since I havn't driven very far, but we'll see.