adding 2 gauges

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Dave NEO

Dave NEO

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an electrical temperature gauge and a voltmeter - am planning to run a hot wire from battery to these 2 gauges with an in-line toggle on switch and a fuse. If I don't care about shutting off or dimming the gauge lights when running, would I able to simply use this same source to power the gauge illumination lamps? thanks
BTW bulbs are .19 A and I'm thinking gauges should not draw much- 5A fuse should be enough..? thinking out loud here
 
Why not get power from a keyed source (Ign), and then tap into the orange wires coming out of the fuse block to be able to put the gauge lights on and be able to dim them....
 
my 'thinking' is I don't want to pull any additional current through original wiring in the car but maybe not a 'bright' idea-I don't know..appreciate your comments.
 
Dave NEO said:
my 'thinking' is I don't want to pull any additional current through original wiring in the car but maybe not a 'bright' idea-I don't know..appreciate your comments.
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I've always wired my gauges right off the fuse block or one of the wires coming from it...

If the original radio is gone, just tap into the orange wire from that...
 
hey thanks great idea...original radio is there but not working.
 
I pulled my gauge lights off the the headlight switch. Easy and now they only light up at night.

Pigtail/daisy chain to all gauges. Same for the ground wire. Easy and clean.
 
you could tap both power sources ( the red wire and the orange wire ) at the radio. Thus no hot wire from battery, another fuse, or a toggle switch. A volt gauge should be tapped into blue w/white tracer after ignition switch but the oil, water, fuel, other, gauges could run on the radio fuse. The more wire length we add the more possibility of faults and shorts.
 
Is there a reason I can't use the radio plug for the volt meter also? Voltmeter is the the only one I was thinking go going to battery with so it's giving me charging status of battery..
 
Dave NEO said:
Is there a reason I can't use the radio plug for the volt meter also? Voltmeter is the the only one I was thinking go going to battery with so it's giving me charging status of battery..
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That will work but...
There may be a slight voltage drop through that fuse and wiring. Where there are very few fused circuits, several things might be on each fuse. And 3 or more fuses are fed by they same 1 wire so... Turn signals might make your voltage gauge twitch? Who knows?
Blue w/white is after ignition switch, that switch and the fusible link in its path. What it feeds varies with year model. Basically... spark ignition, voltage regulators, alt' field.
This is just what works well for me and those who got a alt to volt gauge conversion from me ( at least a dozen factory rallye gauge conversions ). You could try the radio wire, compare voltage there to battery/other places.
 
I have cheap glow shift digital gauges with remote sensors, they barely draw anything at all, think I have a 1 amp fuse in line for them.
 
thanks all for input - what I'm hoping for with voltmeter is to see the battery current with key on/engine off, then with engine running, see the higher charging current from alternator...W e'll try it a couple ways and report back w/pic etc.
 
101_3111.JPG
ok - so triple gauges went in ok and all is working though I do have an electrical glitch - I have the radio hot and ground feeding the temp gauge and voltmeter. For the illumination lamps for the 3 gauges, I tapped into what had been used previously to power the illumination lamp for the existing oil pressure lamp. This is on headight switch circuit that dims/shuts off the dash lamps. When I turn on headlights the gauges are all still good as long as I have the headlight switch rotated all the way the the right to shut off the dash lights- if I turn them full on by rotating the switch to the left, the temperature gauge gets pegged to the extreme right position and the voltmeter drops to the 0 volts position. I'm guessing the power required by all that is on this dash lamp circuit when put in the full on position does not leave enough for the temp and volt gauges to function properly......... I suppose I need to find another hot source that will have sufficient amperage in it? anyone's thoughts here appreciated - So daytime it's no issue, but though it's usable as is, I would like to have dash illuminated at night and still have gauges operating accurately....
 
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ran a separate feed from battery with an inline fuse to power the temp gauge and voltmeter. Put a toggle to off-on (hey, had a hole there to fill with something anyway..) all works great - done. Geez.. those pics show I got some interior clean-up to get at.. thanks again for tips from you guys.
 
Dave NEO said:
hey thanks great idea...original radio is there but not working.
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Why not use the 2 way plug wires from the radio for the gauges...

The red wire can be a source of power feed the volt meter when the ignition is on.

Then tap into the orange wire to feed the background gauge lights and they will also dim with the dash lights then.... Fancy....
 
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