I am looking for input from the electrical brains. I am going to be installing Speedhut gauges in a friends car this weekend. I need to know where I can tap into the dash lights for power. I don't use it on my car but she for some reason drives at night and is visually challenged.
I know where to get power at the BCM fuse block but need advice on where to connect to the dash lights that hopefully does not involve taking the whole car apart.
I assume they will be LED illuminated which means even a small wire will do. What about taking power from on of the button illumination wires at the traction control or hazard button?
Power for the gauge is easy. There is a spare location in the BCM fuse block that works great. The lights need to be connected to the car dash lights so they will adjust with the rest of the dash lights.
It looks like the easiest place to get the light power is Fuse 28 in the BCM. It is a 2A fuse that feeds the PWM voltage to the steering wheel control switch backlights.
Not sure what you mean by "sense the changing voltage". That fuse is downstream from the PWM device that does the dimming, so a bulb connected to it should dim with the instrument lights. Depending on the characteristic of the bulb in the new gauge it could still be too bright or dim, of course.
I think that the PWM signal is considered analog, a little choppy, but effectively analog.
In other words, if you put a voltmeter on it you will get a 0-12V reading.
They heve two inputs for lights. One is directly connected, the second is through an inverter. Both connect to the dimmer side of the dash power. There is another pair to power the gaige
Fuse 28 does provide a varying voltage as the instrument lights are dimmed. I tested with the engine off, so the source voltage is around 12V. It may be more with the generator supplying 14V, but I didn't check. The 10V reading is at maximum brightness, the 2V is somewhere near minimum. My test light was also connected and went from bright to barely glowing.
I tried to get my Speedhut Gauges to be the same brightness as dash gauges but unsuccessful.
I got power from one of the wires going to the gauge cluster but the dimming was not linear.
I ended up getting unregulated power from the line feeding the gauges and wired in a dimmer.
I leave the dash cluster light at full brightness and adjust the dimmer so the Speedhut gauges are close in intensity and color. I rarely drive at night so it's not that big of a deal.
The dimmer I used is a Blue Seas 7506 Deckhand Dimmer. It's made for marine use so $$$. I had one laying around. I'm sure you can find a less expensive 12 volt dimmer at Newark/MCM Electronics or web.
forgot to mention, the added LEDs are dimmable. Notice the extra dimmer dial in the lower right of the picture. Needed that at night when they are too bright.
There's quite a number of threaded holes along the top metal of the windshield, under the plastic trim. I used one as a ground for my mood lights and homelink transmitter.
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