Basic wiring question

[NyQuiL07]

I just got in a new boost gauge since my last one was pretty crappy. Pretty simple setup on the new one, it has 3 wires, black ground, red 12volt power, and a third purple wire for dimmer settings. Previously i my old boost gauge tapped for power right behind the cigrette lighter. Only downfall to this was that everytime the car came on so did the light on the boost gauge. for this new one id like to tap it into something that i could
"turn" on and off. Anyone know where i could tap it for power and dimmer settings? Btw, this is for a 99 gst.

 

[Boostmonkey]

I just tapped mine in behind the dimmer switch. you will need to take off the drivers side kick panel (4 10mm bolts) and look up near the dimmer knob. there will be a little black rectangle sticking out of the dash with a white plug coming out. the plug has a latch on top so dont rip it out, now (because i cant remember which wire it is) you need to strip / test each. its a little messy unless you cut / insert heatshrink / resolder. or just use E tape. one of them will show the 12v (if you dimmer is set all the way up) and it will drop as you turn down the knob. The advantages of having it here are: the light only turns on when you turn on your headlights, and it functions with the dimmer I am fairly certain that it was one of the wires on the outside of the four, but i tapped my negative wire in to the other side of the plug also. (vs grounding to the car) im not sure if that has any significance, but what ever article i came across had it done this way so i followed suit. I am not positive but if you have the 4 wires facing you, 1 and 4 should be the two you need. Test first of course, and if im wrong, or if you want neato pictures to go along with it, just do some searching.

EDIT: i just re-read and noticed you had 3 wires. My autometer only had +/- wires coming out of the back, so all this information is useless unless you hook the red 12v power up where i said. i have no idea where the purple would go. no instructions with the gauge? :thumbdown


Dave

 

[dave99gst]

i use the bulb @ the cig lighter

 

[NyQuiL07]

I just tapped mine in behind the dimmer switch. you will need to take off the drivers side kick panel (4 10mm bolts) and look up near the dimmer knob. there will be a little black rectangle sticking out of the dash with a white plug coming out. the plug has a latch on top so dont rip it out, now (because i cant remember which wire it is) you need to strip / test each. its a little messy unless you cut / insert heatshrink / resolder. or just use E tape. one of them will show the 12v (if you dimmer is set all the way up) and it will drop as you turn down the knob. The advantages of having it here are: the light only turns on when you turn on your headlights, and it functions with the dimmer I am fairly certain that it was one of the wires on the outside of the four, but i tapped my negative wire in to the other side of the plug also. (vs grounding to the car) im not sure if that has any significance, but what ever article i came across had it done this way so i followed suit. I am not positive but if you have the 4 wires facing you, 1 and 4 should be the two you need. Test first of course, and if im wrong, or if you want neato pictures to go along with it, just do some searching.

EDIT: i just re-read and noticed you had 3 wires. My autometer only had +/- wires coming out of the back, so all this information is useless unless you hook the red 12v power up where i said. i have no idea where the purple would go. no instructions with the gauge? :thumbdown


Dave

im kinda thrown off by your post. So on back of the dimmer knob theres 4 wires, and 1 and 4 are the ones i need? i can find a place to get power for the gauge anywhere, but the dimmer is the one throwing me, anyone know which wire is exactly the wire i need to tap behind the dimmer button?

 

[Boostmonkey]

Right, my gauge only had +/- wires, so this is the place i used. The information is irrelevant to you i assume, unless you dont use the purple wire at all. If you wanna know more, search. Thats how i found the article.


Dave

 

[NyQuiL07]

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That image was borrowed from rre's website. I figured id wire it into the cig lighter. there are 4 wires on back of the cig lighter

green/white
black/yellow
solid blue
solid black

out of these wires rre says tap green/white for power and black/yellow for instrument light ground. Now on my boost gauge we have 3 wires and the instructions say

red - +12volt ignition (power im guessing)
black - ground (ground..)
purple - dummer/+12volts - to dim connect to headlights to activate (this wire is throwing me off)

im guessing if i splice the green/white from the cig lighter to the red for power ill be set for power. But the other 2 wires on the gauge are where im not sure of. I can splice the black ground wire to the black/yellow on the cig lighter to use the same ground as the cig lighters ground, but then where would my purple wire go? im guessing that i might not even need to hook it up since using the green wire i have power, and using the black/yellow wire it would be already grounded. Then technically if the gauge is now getting power and is grounded using the same wire as the cig lighter, the dimmer function should work since when the cig lighter dims the gauge should. any opinions or ideas on this? (in short, if i use the green/white wire along with the black/yellow wire will i need to use my purple wire?)

thanks - nyquil.