Best place to wire gauge lights to?

[dicion]

I'm planning on installing my first batch of gauges shortly, and I was wondering, from the people that have done this 100's of times, Where's the best place to wire up the power leads, so that they work on/off with the stock dash lighting. (on a 1G btw)

Now I know I probably could just find any of the leads to any of the the lights, and just run it parallel from there, But I would rather do it right, and tap in at the source. I've looked through all the wiring diagrams and i didnt notice a single 'source' for the lighting control... perhaps an experienced vet could enlighten me? (pun intended)

 

[Denji]

did mine off of the cd player power supply... they turn off if i turn off my cd player..but why would i do that?

 

[gigahz95]

Wtf, to the dimmer of course. Get the tech manual with all the curcuitry diagrams.

 

[dynatos]

If you are looking at the harness for you dimmer, with the clip on top, the two leads are on the right for your lights. I forget which one is negative and which is positive. If you are looking to have your gauge lights be able to dim, then use this directly. Though i would just recommend using a relay and having dedicated power to your gauges. That will put less strain on the dimmer.

 

[Defiant]

It's also very common to use the ligher socket light lead.

 

[gigahz95]

Strain??!?!

 

[sids]

I used the light from the ashtray beside the driver seat.

Oh I also got a question, is the cigaret lighter (the thing that makes the cigaret smoke, not the orange ring around it) a power on voltage source?meaning that if you turn on the car there's power and not when you turn on the lights? planning to hook up a volt meter using that wire, I'm a non smoker

 

[dynatos]

There is power at the cig lighter whenever the car is on (or at ACC or ON) and that's it. The light lead should only be used for lights because it never gets past 10.8 - 11 volts.