Power source for boost gauge?

[ca18hatch]

Hey guys, I was just wondering where you all tapped in to get a power and ground source for the light on your boost gauge. Maybe radio harness?

[driftin8ez]

Radio harness FTW

[themadscientist]

I power mine with anger. It's really bright too! In a pinch though you can use the radio harness.

[biosehnsucht]

Three for radio harness.

I have mine hooked up for accessory power (rather than ignition power that it calls for.. oh no, it doesn't work with cranking! *sob*) and battery backup power (its one of dem fancy Greddy ones) from the radio harness, grounded to the radio bracket (no ground wire in said harness) and illumination from the radio harness too. I forget which one, there's two wires, ones +12V with parking lights on, the other is the funky dimmer thing.. I'm too lazy to gank the harness from the car right now to tell you, but if I remember I'll check tomarrow..

[bias]

I'm not sure but i think Radio Shack has a terminal strip or something like that. You can run the power from the radio and have a place to wire all your gauge power.

[ca18hatch]

Alright, thanks alot guys...radio harness it is.

[c-rad]

For the light? Why would you hook it up to the radio harness? Then it would always be on. How about hooking it up to the illumination lights when the parking/headlights are on? That's how I did mine.

[ca18hatch]

Hey C rad, thats exactly what I was trying to do...where is the illumination harness? Do I have to remove the steering column?

[float_6969]

Where are you mounting the gauge? If you're mounting it in a pod an the A pillar, why not get power from the cluster? That's what I did.

[iliketocrash]

i tapped into the dimmer switch circuit. it's right next to the steering column. and on a side note, you can ground your gauge anywhere metal on the entire car.

[ca18hatch]

Ok, that sounds easy enough...I may just do that.

[MasterZenki]

Ok, that sounds easy enough...I may just do that.

true...hehe i like pictures do ::wink wink hint hint::

[biosehnsucht]

For the light? Why would you hook it up to the radio harness? Then it would always be on. How about hooking it up to the illumination lights when the parking/headlights are on? That's how I did mine.

There are two illumination wires in the radio harness:

+12V when illumination on (i.e. parking lights on)

"Positive dimmer" I think is what the other is called, variable power or something wonky for the dimming illumination.

My Greddy gauge doesn't support dimming anyways, as long as illumination is something above like 3V it is full brightness, and somewhere below 3 it just shuts off. So I have it on the first of the two, so whenever illumination is on, it is on. It's not on all the time..

[iliketocrash]

hard to believe it doesn't support dimming, unless it's an electroluminescent light source. but some guages do have less of a gradient when dimming. then again, i'm too poor to afford greddy guages and the like so they might have some extra circuitry that negates the process that i'm unaware of. and i'm not trying argue you, biosehnsucht, i'm just commenting. =)

[iliketocrash]

that and i'm trying to post whore a little because i've been on the forums for roughly four years now and i'm still sub 1000 posts.

[MasterZenki]

well you've got about 10 more post to go homie

[themadscientist]

that and i'm trying to post whore a little because i've been on the forums for roughly four years now and i'm still sub 1000 posts.

It's not about count, it's about content. You are normally a goof though so at least you have consistency.

[biosehnsucht]

The greddy uses LED backlighting I think.. it at least would explain why lighting works right up until it goes below 3Vish, which is where LEDs generally stop working..

Either that or its going into a CMOS/TTL level input transistor that is driving the bulb/LED/whatever and so when it drops below logic '1'.. no light.

Also, the gauge works fine with voltage inputs all the way down to almost 5V before it acts weird and then turns off as you go lower.. (I plaed with a variable voltage supply on it before it was installed..)