Urgent:need help w/reverse gauge wiring

[giant32oz]

procarparts didnt send any instructions with these. I have everything installed except I dont know how to get power to them. I went off of the light switch, red to the light bluew/ red stripe coming out of the pull switch, and the black wire to the ground from my cig lighter. This cant be right. This works but kills my battery after 2 min. I think i need to come off the fuse box somewhere but really dont have a clue since there are multiple wires with the same colors. Your help would be much appreciated. Ive tried searching this but not good enough info. thanks

 

[giant32oz]

help

 

[Alec]

what is this for?

 

[giant32oz]

a 91, its in my sig...

 

[Alec]

I'm just not clear as to what exactly a reverse gauge is.

 

[expo5.0]

reverse indiglo gauges are i think what he's looking for. he's probably looking for which wire is the power lead and the ground going to the dimmer switch for his dash lights. i don't know where it would be on a 91, but thats what he wants.

 

[Alec]

hmmm, ok.

Do these gauges have their own controller, or do they just have power and ground to the cluster?

 

[giant32oz]

there is a switch to control brightness and color, and a power inverter box thing. The wires all go to the box and the power/ground wires come from the little box. I just need to wire it so it doesnt constantly drain my battery. Should i just go to a sound shop?

 

[expo5.0]

do you have a dimmer wheel thing for your dash lights? like to control how bright they are? if you do then the black wire (ground) on your thing goes to the black thing there and the red goes to one of the other wires (the power wire) i'm pretty sure you have one of those, i'm just not sure which wires are which on your truck. don't give up on it, just give me a better description of your truck and whether or not you have a dimmer switch. i'm sure we can figure it out together and get it working soon.

btw- i have installed similar lights in 3 or 4 cars and trucks.

 

[expo5.0]

also, have you decided where your going to mount the switch that controls brightness and color? personally i prefer just setting it once in your garage so that it matches your interior lights as much as possible and then just mounting it inside the dash panel out of site. its sort of cool to change the colors, but i don't really see any reason to be able to and i like not having extra clutter on my dash.

 

[giant32oz]

The headlight switch is a push/pull-type on/off, and it rotates to control brightness.

 

[expo5.0]

there should be a power and a ground that goes from under your hood to the switch right? well ignore those wires. there should also be a power and a ground that run from the swich toward the back of your gauges and such. i think the power will be black with white stripe and the ground will be all black. you need to splice into these wires for you power and ground. if that doesn't explain everything just take a look at the wires going into the headlight switch knob thing and describe them to me and i should be able to clear everything up.

 

[dejello]

I got them, let me go check

 

[dejello]

Ok, 1st, they sent me instructions for 95+ which really didn't help me, so I looked for it. Anyway, heres what I found:

If you hold the switch upside-down with the knob pointing towards you, I've got a blue wire with a red stripe in the lower left harness hole. That one works for me.

EDIT - don't forget to ground them with the other wire!

 

[dejello]

Oh wait, just re-read your post, don't ground it to the cig lighter. Ground it to something else (I used a bar that's behind the light switch).. It was difficult to get to and to keep the wire on at first, but it works for me.. No problems at all

 

[expo5.0]

is this working?

 

[giant32oz]

dejello, are you talking about the light blue/red wire that comes out of the headlamp switch? Thats what I used but wasnt sure if i should wire to that or to the actual harness that plugs into the cluster. If thats the case, i just move the ground to,say, a screw under the dash or something other than the cigarette lighter, right? I also tried the harness and there is a black/white stripe wire that parellels two terminals on the harness instead of coming out in pairs like the others. The instruments work when i touch the wires to both sides of the terminal, but its the same black/white wire basically. Would this also work safely? Dont want my truck to catch on fire.

 

[giant32oz]

Originally posted by giant32oz
The instruments work when i touch the wires to both sides of the terminal, but its the same black/white wire basically.

I should make this clearer; The terminals are on opposite sides. The wire goes in the right side. Another wire (same color) runs from this side to the other side and stops, no other wires in that side. Im trying to explain this where you can understand, Im just

 

[dejello]

Originally posted by giant32oz
dejello, are you talking about the light blue/red wire that comes out of the headlamp switch? Thats what I used but wasnt sure if i should wire to that or to the actual harness that plugs into the cluster. If thats the case, i just move the ground to,say, a screw under the dash or something other than the cigarette lighter, right?

I started off at the cluster harness too, but yes, the blue w/red stripe wire coming from the light switch harness is what i'm using. Find a ground like a screw or something that works, this should work without problems.

Originally posted by giant32oz
I also tried the harness and there is a black/white stripe wire that parellels two terminals on the harness instead of coming out in pairs like the others. The instruments work when i touch the wires to both sides of the terminal, but its the same black/white wire basically. Would this also work safely? Dont want my truck to catch on fire.

Not entirely sure what you're talking about here. But when you use other wires/harnesses, have you turned the lights on (parking, and then headlights) to test if the power goes on in both "on" settings?

Basically, you want this:
1st setting (switch off): No lights on gauges
2nd setting (parking lamps on, no headlights): Lights on gauges
3rd setting (headlamps on): Lights on gauges as well.

When I was testing wires, I had a helluva time working that out (don't think I got it worked out right) until I used the light switch harness.

 

[dejello]

Also, just to ask, did the brake light on your rpm gauge line up? Mine didn't so I just moved the light itself over. If you don't understand what I'm saying, then just ask