Fabrik8

It's possible that it won't dim without the illumination wire hooked up. There are actually a few different dimming schemes for different brands of cars, so it's hard to predict. Some illum schemes are ground based, and some are 12v based...


This is one of those situations where the gauge could be designed one of a few ways (I'm not going to confuse you with the possible ways), so what do the instructions say?

Fabrik8

It's also possible that the illum wire needs to be connected to the headlight switch, which is a true illumination wire (which is just an on/off signal) as opposed to a dimmer wire (which is a brightness signal).

markell27

fabrik8. what you said before makes sense that the illumination wire is just there for dimming. I'm just gonna put a switch in to turn the power off. Since gauge is mechanical it should still work with power off.

Thanks for the help. Main problem now is I have a boost leak. I really wish I would have checked the boost controller before trying all this, then I would know for sure.

Slomar

Why would you put it on a switch? Its pretty simple man, use your test light and find the wire that gets 12 volts when you turn your lights on. Did you get your boost gauge working? Where are you located?

markell27

Gauge is working just fine. I'm still confused on the electrical. I have two options for the illumination wire for the gauge, illumination and dimmer. I've tried both with the same results. Only thing I can think of is installing a switch to manually turn of the power/light. Electrical is not more forte, so I'm all ears.

blksylv

im running a stri x line gauge with a dimming function, i just tied the dimmer wire together w 12v wire. i wasnt really too concerned about it dimming. i had it tied into the dimmer switch for the gauge cluster at one time and it worked fine, i cant really remember what color wire it was tho that i tapped into. u could also tap one of the illumination wires from off of the back of the cluster also. it worked for me until i moved the wire to the dimmer when i decided to clean up my wiring. either way it should work

Fabrik8

Just hook the 12v wire up to the headlight switch so it comes on with the parking lights and headlights. You won't have the ability to control the brightness with the dimmer control, but I'm not really sure if the gauge supports that function anyway.

markell27

I really appreciate the help! I'm planning on moving the gauge from the center dash to the pillar so getting to the parking lights shouldn't be a problem. I'm not worried about the dimmer as I don't use the dimmer.

C16EFSedan

Tie into your parking lights for your 12volt source.
Dont wire dimmer up unless you want gauge to dim with dashlights.
and when you turn gauge on it will illuminate with your parking lights

use this for wire colors when ready under alarm and remote start(and always trust your meter not wire colors)
http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...rd/Nissan.html