making gauge needles light up when car starts...

The Green GT

No 13 year olds are safe around me.

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Mar 12, 2007

#1

• Mar 12, 2007

• #1

I am thinking about tinting the clear cover on my gauges and I was wondering how I would go about getting the needles to light up when the car is started? Ill be able to get the gauges to light up cause I have some aftermarket face plates. But I need to get the needles to light up now.

 

trav_19

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Oct 29, 2006

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Jackson, MI

Mar 12, 2007

#2

• Mar 12, 2007

• #2

pull out your headlight knob... lol man you are tint crazy lol

 

The Green GT

No 13 year olds are safe around me.

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#3

• Mar 12, 2007

• #3

I dont think the headlight knob thing is a good option. lol

 

urban96

bubb rubb says:"woo woooooo"

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Mar 12, 2007

#4

• Mar 12, 2007

• #4

wire a switched +12v source to the wire that powers on the gauge lights

 

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

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Mar 13, 2007

#5

• Mar 13, 2007

• #5

I'd simply source key-on power for the dimmer circuit.

 

urban96

bubb rubb says:"woo woooooo"

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#6

• Mar 13, 2007

• #6

HISSIN50 said:

I'd simply source key-on power for the dimmer circuit.

Click to expand...

thats what i ment, you splained it better tho

 

The Green GT

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#7

• Mar 13, 2007

• #7

HISSIN50 said:

I'd simply source key-on power for the dimmer circuit.

Click to expand...

So if I spliced the blue wire with teh red stripe (I think thats the cluster illumination) to say my radio then it would work?

 

urban96

bubb rubb says:"woo woooooo"

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#8

• Mar 13, 2007

• #8

in theory, give it a test

 

HISSIN50

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#9

• Mar 13, 2007

• #9

Sounds good to me.

Urban, apologies - I simply missed your post last night. Otherwise, I would not have even posted anything myself since you covered it (I HATE! it when people 'echo' what someone else already said, and I did it last night).

Wait, I remember what happened. Last night I typed a huge long post that I deleted. I thought Eric wanted the needles to light up for a few seconds when he actually started the car, but then have the needles go dark. I talked about using a capacitor, RC constants, blocking diodes (to prevent feedback from the dimmer to the starting circuit) and all sorts of other crap. Then I re-read his post and realized that I misunderstood.

 

urban96

bubb rubb says:"woo woooooo"

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#10

• Mar 13, 2007

• #10

no worries, i was pretty tired and not very clear in my post

 

The Green GT

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#11

• Mar 13, 2007

• #11

lol

All that work for nothing eh?

 

HISSIN50

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#12

• Mar 13, 2007

• #12

Actually Eric, it was kind of fun to think about that stuff - I havent thought about capacitor half life in some time.
I'm glad you didnt want to do that because I didnt have a lot of faith that my idea would work.

 

The Green GT

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#13

• Mar 13, 2007

• #13

Well maybe you could help me with making my taillights brighter. Are there any electrical components I could use to do that? Or will I have to use LED bulbs?

 

HISSIN50

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Mar 14, 2007

#14

• Mar 14, 2007

• #14

For brighter tails, I cannot think of a way to achieve more brightness with any wiring trickery, per se. It would take brighter bulbs (more watts) if the circuits can handle the additional amperage. I'm not sure about LED bulbs - maybe they are brighter?