installing gauges need some pointers

[jay dcpt]

One of the gauges i bought is the vdo water temp gauge from kirban. In his instructions it says to locate the ignition terminal on the back of the gauge and wire this into the ignition circuit for the gauge to function. Im guessing you tap into a wire on the ignition harness under the steering wheel but wich wire? and how do you guys like to cut into the wire? Also when hooking up the lights on theese gauges the direction say to tap into the headlight fuse i dont want to just shove wires into the fuse box so i guess my question would be what do you guys tap into so the gauges light when the marker lights are turned on? as of rite now there will only be two aftermarket gauges in the car they are sitting under the radio. I would appreciate to hear what you guys have done.

 

[ThunderKiss85]

When i did my gauges i ran the wires into the fuse block,i used male spade terminals in slid them into the empty ignition slot and if i remember right there is a slot for the lights so you dont have to use the actual fuse slot.

 

[prostreetdrag]

I would recomend maybe having a friend help or someone that knows electrical..If you are still planning to install yourself..there will be couple things you will need one would be test circuit light so you can test the wire to insure your tapping into the correct one..yes the main wire harness will be fine to source for power if you dont want to tie directly to the fuse box but if you tap into wire harness which is fine i would recomend useing an inline fuse and also instead of spliceing your wire harness the best thing to use is called t-tap connectors 3-m makes them but im sure there are other brands out there..there are too many diffrent and too many wires to just tell you a single color to use..I do know as far as the lights you will want to use the parking light wire and not the headlight wire..the parking lamp wire is useully brown in our gm cars..as far as the ign wire you can use pretty much use anywire that is a keyed source meaning the circut tester light only lights up when turn key on..to test the correct wire for the parking lamp you can source this wire under dash or behind the headlamp switch and check the dark brown wire first chances are thats the one you need and then you can test it if test light turns on when parking lamp switch is on then your in bussiness..i do not recomend spliceing into wires and just tapeing with electrical tape. i would use the correct connectors and less chance for probems or fires later on..you can do a search on t-tap connectors and will show you a pic and what they look like

 

[2QUIK6]

For the gauge light, you can also just tap into the wire that powers the light in the center console shifter...I think its a gray wire going under the center console just below the radio pod...and either tap into the black ground there also, or run a ground wire to something steel under the dash.

 

[prostreetdrag]

thats a good one 2QUICK6..and easier too, you can get to that wire useually under the radio too if your car has the lamp behind the ashtray under radio console unless your ashtray is in console..that would be eaiser...lol..I keep forgetting i gutted out my factory console and shiffter for an after market shifter..

 

[jay dcpt]

Ok I like the center console idea the car is an 87 gn for my lights and my ground I am going to check the fuse box for an open spot that will get ignition voltage. And as thunder kiss said I will check there first for an open slot for the lights as well i suppose if those two spots are available i would rather do that then tapping into part of the harness. If the slots in the fuse block are there do you think I should still run an inline fuse?

 

[2QUIK6]

If you don't find an ignition voltage slot in the fuse box, then look for an orange wire under dash and test it for ignition "on" voltage and tee into it...there will be one going to the radio.

 

[jay dcpt]

Thanks quick 6. When u tied in to the shifter light did u up the fuse or use another in line one? If I do go that route i would like to run the lights for both gauges off of that one spot I wouldnt think it would be pulling that much more amperage to cause a problem. But thats why im askin first.

 

[2QUIK6]

Thanks quick 6. When u tied in to the shifter light did u up the fuse or use another in line one? If I do go that route i would like to run the lights for both gauges off of that one spot I wouldnt think it would be pulling that much more amperage to cause a problem. But thats why im askin first.

I did not put an inline fuse for the lights because the fuse would only be for that gauge light...if its going to pull enough load to burn a fuse, its going to burn the fuse for the dash lights as a whole anyway as all the lights should be pulling about the same power.

As a general rule, if what you are hooking up runs the same amperage as what the line you are tapping into is fused at, you don't need an addition inline fuse....only when the device runs at a much lower amperage than what the tapped into line is fused at do you want to add a fuse that is for the operating range of the device...otherwise the existing fuse is enough.
That make sense?

And of course you always add an inline fuse if you are tapping off of unfused power, there are usually a few slots on the fuse box that are straight power that do not have a corresponding fuse.

 

[jay dcpt]

thanks for the info 6 i just got back from the shop and was talking with steve wood and i basically went with what u said there are open spaces in the fuse box 3 ignition spots and one with lights i just went straight into those spots and everything works great i was told there would be no additional fuse needed. Thanks for helping me out with this one. and i didnt have to cut into the wiring harness at all wich for me is a good thing, thanks again.

 

[aminga]

When i did my gauges i ran the wires into the fuse block,i used male spade terminals in slid them into the empty ignition slot and if i remember right there is a slot for the lights so you dont have to use the actual fuse slot.

If you're tapping the fuse box instead of a spade terminal use a PICO GM Ign Cavity tap. 0925PT (I think) It locks in and won't come out. Plus you can plug one into another