Wiring the gauge cluster / instrument cluster overlays
 

Alright, I did a search for 'wiring' before posting this but alll sorts of junk came up, and nothing necessarily related to what I'm looking for.

I purchased the white light up overlays for the instrument cluster from another Aleromod member a couple months ago. I planned to learn electronics in the near future (at the time of buying) from a buddy who could teach me those sorts of things... long story short, it's March now and I still have, basically, $35 sitting in a brown box.

So today I decided to take them up to Car Tunes and see if they could do a custom install. It's 2 wires - a power and a ground wire - not too hard, right? Wrong, they didn't want to mess with the cluster. Said that last time they tried on a different car, it didn't turn out very well. I was however told, "If you put it in there and leave the wires hangin and bring it back, we can wire it for you I'm sure.".

I took the cluster out, taped the white gauges on, left the wires hanging as instructed, and preceded to drive to Car Tunes with my gauge still unbolted and the bezel loosely attached. Upon arriving, I'm told "Oh, you did it today? I don't know if we have time to do that today...". Although they closed 2 hours from when I got there, they were busy on other jobs.

I drove home, knowing in the back of my mind that I would be driving tomorrow morning without a visible cluster - unless I removed the white faces but that is more work than it's worth, IMO.

At any rate, I'll be going by Car Tunes again tomorrow to have it wired up. I think I'm looking at "just a garage charge, maybe $35", says the associate at CT. $35 to have a wire grounded and one spliced into another wire? Really?

If anyone can provide pictures, I might consider undertaking this project tomorrow on my own. I watched a few HOW-TO videos on soldering and it seems relatively simple.

A couple questions, though - can I solder this wire without removing anything except the cluster? I've read on the forums numerous times that the cigarette lighter wire is the one to shoot for, and from what I've read in wiring diagrams, it's orange; but is it accessible from the cluster area? If anyone could provide pictures to help with this, I would be eternally grateful..

I have an aftermarket radio professionally installed by Car Tunes. Is it possible that there is a ground back there I can readily use? I'm not entirely sure on how to wire the 'ground' wire, so information on that would be appreciated.

Lastly, if I were to tap into the cigarette lighter wire, do I look for the wire and cut it, and create a "T" join with the wires? A 3-way solder?

Open to all input, thanks in advance.

alright. this is the easy part.

you definitely want to solder it. you can do a "T" joint, strip the wire, wrap the 2nd wire around the stripped part, and solder it. just be sure to give it a good covering of tape.

making a "ground" is simply connecting the black wire off your new gauges, to any connection that will go to the body of the car.

Personally, i use the center console cubby light, as my "night power" source. Connect power to the GRAY wire and your ground to the BLACK wire.

Project is done.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think they are designed to be on all the time though (or at least wired to an always-on wire), there's a dimmer that runs to the gauges, which I snaked down through a small opening under the steering wheel. I'd prefer that I have them to a wire that's always on, not the cubby light which comes on depending on if my lights are on.

Okay, 2 solders, I can do that. I can find any black wire and use that for my ground? Can the cigarette lighter wire be found from the gauge cluster area or do I need to pop the console off?

you can wire them to constant power, but why bother? you won't see them light at up at night. Your just wasting power doing that. Wire them to that cubby light, and when your DRLs turn off (around dusk) your dash lights will kick on.

my led'd gauges turn on, before i'm even able to see them. as it gets darker out, they are more visible.



but yes, you CAN splice into the cig lighter line, if you want to. You will need to open the console area, for either.

Okay. I'll go to the cubby.

One thing you missed though, can I pop into *any* black wire, and it's a ground?

Got a link for easy removal of the console?

i won't say ANY black wire... but MOST black wires should be. if you have a black wire next to some colored ones. yes, its the ground.


and for the console...
1) take the staple out of the shifter
2) lift the shifter off
3) put your hand in the cubby hole, and slide your fingers back (toward the shifter) until you feel an edge. Pull up there, and the shift console will pop out
4) With the shift console removed, just pull the bottom of the cubby and it'll pop free.
5) remove all the wire harnesses/light connectors.

Alright. Thanks a lot, tomorrow will be a big experiment :D Hopefully I don't fck anything up too badly lol, I'm almost considering having CarTunes do this so I don't break anything.. I gotta learn sometime though!

Thanks again, you've been a huge help.

the absolute WORST thing you could screw up.... is to either
A) wire it backwards
OR
B) Cut a power wire, and have to resolder it.



everything your doing, is completely reversible.

I believe the cigarette lighter's power source is constant, so if you used that the gauges would be on 24/7 and drain your battery.

Did it today, it went great and I learned how to solder =) I ended up removing the cubby light completely and just 'stealing' that set of wires instead of doing a T-splice. I'll be rewiring a separate LED to go into the cubby hole eventually.


Oh, good point, didn't think of that! I doubt it though because a lot of other aleromodders have theirs or other accessories wired to the cig outlet.

You would have been better off wiring it to the Dimmer Switch. That way you could control the cluster's dimming feature still, but to each his own.

i think that would work, although, leds need a constant source of power, a varaition, would make the go out

the cubby light is also adjusted by the dimmer switch. so that method still works.

Yep they dim with everything else. But on a side note, these have their own dimmer control switch, too.

dual dimming! NOICE! :lol:

glad you got it worked out. :thumb: