Gauge light failure.

[Bolverk]

I installed some reverse glow gauges, pull the dimmer out and hooked the red wires together and the black wires together, power and ground, right? I left the red with black stripe wire alone. Now the gauges don't work and the other cluster bulbs and hvac lights don't come on either. What did I do wrong? How do I fix it?

[Ryan]

Uh, a fuse. Replace it.

KISS

[Bolverk]

I checked the fuse box, which one is for the cluster lights? None of them seemed like they were blown.

*EDIT* Okay, did some searching on here, found out "TAIL" fuse is for the cluster as well. Checked it and its blown. Will replace and update.

[Bolverk]

I replaced the fuse and the lights come back on now, but the reverse glow gauges don't work. Could it be a bad inverter?

[Ryan]

Just make sure you hooked it up properly.... Read the instructions. and make sure you hook it up to the right side of the dimmer.

[Bolverk]

The instructions just said to hook it up to a 12 volt source. I checked the faqs on here and one said to connect the red wire to the red/black wire on the dimmer and put the black one under a screw to ground. The other one said to connect the red wire to the red wire on the dimmer and the black wire to the red/black wire on the dimmer. I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks for the help, Ryan.

[Ryan]

The dimmer has 2 or three power leads? I forget. Wait, I have one sitting downstairs. R/B and R.

The power (R?) should be wired to... Ugh, I can't find it in the diagrams. The lead to the illumination switch (that changes the dash light brightness) that doesn't change voltage when you turn it. You could use a 12v test light, or a multimeter, and the ground to any ground.

[Bolverk]

Yeah, the stock dimmer has three wires on it; Red, Red/black, and Black. I just matched the colors from the inverter for the glow gauges and left the red/black wire alone.

[Ryan]

That may not be right. If you put the actual dimmed wire as the power for the gauges, and you hit the dimmer, you might fry your inverter or something... make sure its getting constant 12v.

you don't have a testlight or multimeter?

[Bolverk]

Got a cheap multimeter and test light. Both the red wire and red/black wire tested 12v, the black had nothing, with the parking lights switched on. When I connect the red wire to the black, the dash lights come on. Leaving the red/black wire disconnected had no effect on the dash lights, not sure what its for. When I connect the inverter to the red wire and ground, the potentiometer gets power but the wires going to the gauges don't. So I ordered a new inverter.

[Ryan]

Oh boy. Did you turn the dial and test it again/while testing?

[jkbreazeale]

Definitely sounds like a bad inverter. I installed mine by wiring the positive to one of the screws on the instrument panel and the ground... well to anything that constitutes a ground really. It was +B on the circuitry of the back of the cluster. Mine came with a adjustable dimmer switch. Not really that difficult if you dont mind having the extra dimmer switch.

[Bolverk]

Voltage did change when I adjusted the dimmer.

Got the new inverter today, hooked it up to the red/black wire and grounded it under a screw. It worked! But only the Gas/temp gauge and the tach I am pretty sure I know why the speedo didn't light up... I had to bend it a bit to get it in, so I must have damaged it. I am pulling it apart now to check it out.

[Bolverk]

Yeah, I accidentally broke one of the connections on the speedo. Unfortunately I don't have a soldering iron, but I was able to connect it with a clamp and taped it up. It should be okay in there...



Anyone else notice a whistle when the inverter is set to blue? It doesn't do it on green though.

[jkbreazeale]

Noticed but really don't know why it happens.