Gauge wiring...

[stang_1973]

So im installing pillar triple gauges. ive gone ahead and used the intrustions found on the dieselmanor.com website. So i have 12v switched connected under the dash, the ground, and the 12v constant all run, bowever wehn i plug in the gauges they come on fine. however even whe the truck is off, the guage is not "on" but the needle light is. is this normal for guages? i doubt those three little needle lights are not going to drain my batteries but i just wanna be sure. also i think theyll sorta attract attention to the trunk at night. IDK.


please let me know if yall have the same thing going on and if you ran your wires differently. thanks.

[bigcountrysg]

You need to find a power wire that is operated by the ignition switch. That way your lights are not on all the time. The instructions say to use a wire from the head light switch. But I just found a power wire that worked off the ignition switch.

Right now you have constant power to your gauge lights.

[Captain Starbucks]

Stang,

Not sure what guages you have, but I just wired some up on my truck last week.

My guages had three wires:
Ground
Switched 12V+
Lights

I ran all gauge grounds together and then one common wire to a screw under the panel.

I pulled the stereo out since that only takes half a second and used the stereo power "switched" 12v+ wire to run the switched 12v+. That was easier for me than splicing into an unknown wire.

The wire that is your problem is the light wire. Pop out the left side of your light switch assembly with a dull knife and the whole things pops right out. On the right side there should be (TEST this wire! This is from memory!!!!! And I work graveyard! I can't be trusted!) a blue wire with a red stripe. Test that with a light probe to make sure there is NO power. Now turn the lights on. Test the same wire again and there should be power. Now you can do one of two things. You can use one of those wire terminals that piggy back onto an existing wire and clamp through the insulation or you can just cut the wire and use a butt splice. I have horrible luck with the piggyback terminals so I always just cut the wire and butt splice it. The bad thing is that the headlight switch only pops out a few inches so there is not much room to work.

Good to go!

Rob

[stang_1973]

ok, thanks guys...

[redstroker_2002]

Stang your bulbs will hate you! i cut the switched power on my dimmer switch. That is shown on dieselmanor also. That way when you turn your clearance lights or headlights on your dash and gauge lights turn on as well. Go back to dieselmanor and go through very carefully and make sure you got everything right! Hope that helps

[stang_1973]

thanks alot guys,

So what i did is used the headlight wire.. and so now my guage lights only turn on when i turn on the lights, other than that i havent connected the trans or pyro probes but the boost guage works fine.

[CSIPSD]

Originally Posted by stang_1973

thanks alot guys,

So what i did is used the headlight wire.. and so now my guage lights only turn on when i turn on the lights, other than that i havent connected the trans or pyro probes but the boost guage works fine.

You need to hook it to a dimmer wire, pull the light switch panel out and with a test light find the one that feeds your dash lights and dims with them. Do it right or dont do it at all...

[bigcountrysg]

I disaggree with needing to hooked to the dimmer on the head light switch. All that would do is allow you to control the brightness of the bulbs along with the cluster on the dash.

The way you have it hooked up is just fine.

[CSIPSD]

Originally Posted by bigcountrysg

I disaggree with needing to hooked to the dimmer on the head light switch. All that would do is allow you to control the brightness of the bulbs along with the cluster on the dash.

The way you have it hooked up is just fine.

Then how else would you control the brightness of the gauge lights? Not saying its "wrong" but its not professional.

The gauge lights should be connected to the dimmer wire.

[stang_1973]

Actually thats what i did. I hooked it up to the blue with red trace that leads into the dimmer. And yea if you dim the guages they do the same.