autometer gauge lighting

[96GRIMREAPER]

got my a/f & oil pressure C2 gauges installed but they are too bright at night. What wire or fuse do I tap into to get them to dim with the dash lights? someone please help.

*oh and I had them wired up to a switch but that just wasn't working-too bright.

 

[shaddixstang]

Maybe I can help a little. I installed indiglos white face guages on my stang. Took instrument cluster out and turned headlights on. Then put a voltmeter on all the pins that had 12V+ and rotated the dimmer knob. When I located the pin that the voltage dropped when I rotated the knob I wired the power for my indiglos to that and they dim now with the factory dimmer switch. Have an auxillary output from the indiglo transformer? (I think) box and planned on wiring the power to my C2 guages light connection to it when I get them. Hoping that works. If not I will just hook them up to the same place I connected the indiglos!
Jon

 

[GT2000JAY]

How difficult was the oil pressure install? I have the C2 A/F & Fuel Pressure - I love the looks of them and honestly I think under WOT there is some value to the A/F - I've run the car on the dyno and I had two green lights when the car was 12.5:1 and I had one light when it was 12:1. At part throttle it is just a light show, though.

Anyway, when I did my reverse glows I did the same thing that was recommended - digital voltmeter - that will definitely work!

Jay

 

[nyuk98gt]

96GRIMREAPER:

Haynes manual ($20) will give you wiring schematics and the wire color that you need to look for to find the dash illumination wire. On my '98, the wire is light blue with a pink stripe. Voltmeter works very nicely, too, if you have one.

 

[96GRIMREAPER]

yea I used the blue wire w/pink stripe from the dash clock. Works great. The oil pressure gauge install was simple. I just unscrewed the stock sender and screwed in the autometer sender. I then put the stock sender on the bottom side(so the stock gauge would not be a dead gauge) Then I just ran an 18 gauge wire from the sender to the gauges.

*My damn A/F gauge is still being a bitch. All the lights light up instead off just the 1 or 2 that should. Looks really cool at night but in-effective.. oh well. I used the red w/black stripe from the computer.

 

[Red Dragon]

I have the same problem with my gauges. Hooking them up to the dimming part of of the headlight switch will not fix mine because the Autometer gauges are brighter at a given voltage than the stock dash lights. I bought a dimming knob ar Radio Shack, but I have not installed it yet. I think I might just wire mine to the stock dimmer circuit, but also install an in-line resistor to get the brightness in sync with the dash lights. Does anybody know what type of resistor I would be looking at that I could get from Radio Shack? The people at Radio Shack know nothing about electronics anymore. They can program a phone and race zip-zaps, but they can't tell you about electronic parts.

 

[CTGrey02]

Fuse 37 on the fuse box. Theres a blue wire with a pink stripe. Think it's the fourth one on back from the corner facing the engine. If you stick a wire probe into the right hand side of that fuse and turn the dimmer with the lights on you should see the probes light turn up and down. If you tap into the next wire over, that's the wire protected by the fuse. Thats the one you want. Just did this the other day. Works great.

 

[WaltA]

I think I might just wire mine to the stock dimmer circuit, but also install an in-line resistor to get the brightness in sync with the dash lights. Does anybody know what type of resistor I would be looking at that I could get from Radio Shack?

Instead of a resistor, I would use a diode or two in series. That would give you a fixed voltage drop, and therefore, have the Auto Meter guage brightness always a fixed amount less than the rest of the dash.

 

[shaddixstang]

If you decided to use a resistor you can wire in a potentiometer (or however you spell it) and adjust it till you get the brightness you want. Then put an ohmmeter across it and measure the resistance. Then go to radio shack and get a resistor of that ohm rating. Put in place of pot. Or just leave the pot in there and put something on it so it doesn't get moved. Then later if you wanted to adjust it again, bam you allready have a knob to do that.