Wiring My Autometers

On the harness that I used to wire my head unit there is everything that you need and its labeled so I tapped off that.

for the panel of switches in the ash tray, you need to watch how much currrent you draw. if it is for little things, or you are using it to energize a relay, you should be ok. i think what Ryde On used was the radio wire that trips a power antenna or amp turn on. these usually provide very little power, enough to trigger a relay (or turn on an amp).

you could tap into the radio, but i would not. you dont want to overload the wiring for it (~15 amp fuse, IIRC). were it me, i would tap into one of the key on wires under the column (yellow, IIRC). its real close to the radio anyhow, so you wont run much more wire. i would still use a relay to power anything big from these switches. bosch type SPDT relay draws around 120 mA.


for lighting, if you tap into the ISO circuit (fuse 18, IIRC), the gauges will dim with the dimmer. just tap into the cold side of the fuse (when fuse is removed, the dead side wont light a test light). i like to put a small fuse on this wire you run to the gauges' lighting (1 amp fuse should be plenty). this way, if your wire shorts out, it blows the 1 amp fuse hopefully before it blows the ISO fuse, and takes your gauge lighting with it (or fries bulbs and dimmer, etc). driving at night with no dash illumination sucks.

when i run lighting power and ground wires, i like to run the wire to the first guage, then piggy back a wire from the first gauge terminal to the second gauge. cleaner installation. you can use one power wire feed this way. same for ground. you can use the ground wire to the bulbs' ground for the gauge ground too. just lots of piggy backs. make sure to choose a really clean nice ground or the gauges will read funky.


good luck. and enjoy.

you can parrellel wire them.

-yes
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if u look into the vents and off to the left on the metal bracket, there is a little screw type thing that pops up. Made a beautiful ground for my gauges. And i tapped into the A/c controls for lighting and radio for turn on. and my tach i used the fuse box for turn on.

for the fan, just about anything should be fine. just be cognizant of this circuit if you wire in other accessories to be switched by your panel. relays are a must using those wires. as a rule, i personally dont use any "electronics" as a source for anything. with my luck, one of the new circuits would short out and take the radio, etc with it. if you know about how fuses blow and the time and energy required to blow one, you know what i mean.
good luck and enjoy.