Wiring gauges
07-23-2010, 08:12 PM
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Wiring gauges Im wiring my oil and fuel psi gauges this weekend and im looking for a good source to get their power and ground from. Id like to be able to turn them on and off and dim them, but they only have a power and grounf hook up on the back, its not like my tach that had power ground and dimmer source.
I figure ill have to get the power source of the back of the light switch so that its at least on and off with the gauges inside because they are the cobalt c2's and i dont want them glowing blue all the time.
would i take the power source from the grey dimmer wire or off of the actualy wire off the switch?
im not really sure with wiring
I figure ill have to get the power source of the back of the light switch so that its at least on and off with the gauges inside because they are the cobalt c2's and i dont want them glowing blue all the time.
would i take the power source from the grey dimmer wire or off of the actualy wire off the switch?
im not really sure with wiring
07-25-2010, 08:19 PM
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For my Cobalt nitrous psi gauge, it had 3 wires. A power wire, an illumination wire, and a ground wire. The power wire I just plugged into an accessory port on the fuse block, the ground wire I grounded to a nut/bolt underneath the steering column, and the illumination wire I tied into the gray wire by the headlight switch. This allows the illumination to only come on when I have the headlight switch on. I am going to guess that since you have only 2 wires, that if you connect your power wire to the gray wire by the switch, you will have to have the headlight switch turned to one of its on settings in order for the gauge to power up, which is what your are wanting. Hope this helps.
07-26-2010, 07:41 AM
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I would expect the opposite... if you connect the only power wire to the dash light circuit, your gauges will only work with the headlights on. I suspect that those gauges are designed to be lighted at all times when they are powered so you don't really have any choice but to connect the power wire to an ignition switched source. Now, if they're mechanical gauges rather than electronic then the single power wire would be for illumination rather than gauge power. But I haven't seen mechanical gauges for the street in many years.
07-27-2010, 03:03 AM
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I would expect the opposite... if you connect the only power wire to the dash light circuit, your gauges will only work with the headlights on. I suspect that those gauges are designed to be lighted at all times when they are powered so you don't really have any choice but to connect the power wire to an ignition switched source. Now, if they're mechanical gauges rather than electronic then the single power wire would be for illumination rather than gauge power. But I haven't seen mechanical gauges for the street in many years.
I have a very very retardedly acting oil gauge so my oil guage is indeed mechanical. The fuel psi is electronic and is just got me to be able to keep my eye on one i get the dope and wanna be able to watch everything going on. My c2 tach has a dimming wiring, i havent looked at my fuel gauge yet, it might also
