control unit II

[sneeky]

alright, so i have everything hooked up as far as wiring and mounting of the defi gauges and the control unit, looks amazing in the STI!! the only problem i am having is when i turn the car off the control unit stays on. i spliced the clock wires for the control unit. the only thing i can think of is that the power wire for the clock never shuts off...since it has to keep the current time. does anyone know another power source that i can splice close to the clock that shuts off with the car? also for some reason, the gauges don't preform the closing sequence anymore. they did the first few times i tested them



chris

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[samwY]

tap into the handbrake light

[sneeky]

i wish i could, but i have no idea where that's located... can you help me out with location and possibly wire color?? thanks for the help


chris

[mbeach]

Sammy meant near the handbrake.
It's actually the plug for the adjustable mirror circuit.

The wire is yellow w/ red stripe on the plug. It is a 12v switched outlet. As I recall, the Defi unit's white wire will tap in here easily.

EDIT: Oh, near the clock (we put Sammy's in the armrest). Use the wires feeding your stereo (harness).

I don't know the exact pinout for these offhand, but a testlight and a friend will make quick work of it.
On the stereo harness you will be able to find:
Ground->Defi black wire
Illumination (orange)->Defi orange wire (for lights on guages)
12v Switched (yellow) ->Defi white wire
12v Constant (red) ->Defi (yellow, I think) wire

[brunetmj]

the only thing i can think of is that the power wire for the clock never shuts off

I might be misunderstanding this but I will give it a shot.
There are two power sources available at the clock wires. One is accessory power and the other is constant. It sounds as if you are using constant power or have constant power and accessories power flip flopped. On the side of the clock constant power is labeled BAT and accessory is labeled ACC

[sneeky]

Originally posted by brunetmj
I might be misunderstanding this but I will give it a shot.
There are two power sources available at the clock wires. One is accessory power and the other is constant. It sounds as if you are using constant power or have constant power and accessories power flip flopped. On the side of the clock constant power is labeled BAT and accessory is labeled ACC

deifnately gonna check that out... thanks guys


chris

EDIT: i was also advised to connect the orange AND white wires to the ignition wire because the BF gauges need to always be lit up or you won't be able to see them... don't know if this changes any of your answers.

[mbeach]

We tried that on a recommendation.
It looked ghetto.
The guages were always lit up when the key was on.

Ended up doing the illumination separately. Looks far better. Not dimmable, but the driver keeps the dash at high illum at all times anyway.

[sneeky]

what if i wanted to hook the control unit up to the illumination selector for the stock gauge cluster? is it possible? and could anyone supply some info on which wires would need to be sliced for the STi?? i think it would look nice if the gauges changed levels at the same time as the stock cluster!!


chris

[brunetmj]

I am pretty sure it is possible but it depends on whether the gauge is capable of it . There are two wires that go to the hazard warning switch . Notice that it dims and brightens with the other gauges. These wires are Violet and Orange which are part of the dimming circuit . I hooked a bulb to one of those wires and it will dim with the gauge cluster (cant recall which one).
However having said that , I have tried it with other kinds of things and it will only work if the gauge itself has dimming capability . I mean have the capability of multiple levels of dimming not just dim and bright.

[brunetmj]

I should have explained that last statemeant a bit. To get a small bulb to dim and brighten with the cluster I spiced one wire into the orange wire (or violet) and the other wire of the bulb went to ground.

[sneeky]

the defi bf gauges do have dimming ability, i think there are five different levels, just like the stock cluster. but it's controlled from the control unit. will that make a difference??


chris

[mbeach]

Originally posted by brunetmj
There are two wires that go to the hazard warning switch . Notice that it dims and brightens with the other gauges. These wires are Violet and Orange which are part of the dimming circuit .

Excellent!
We used the stereo harness illumination wire (which should have dimmed the guages). It lights them correctly, but wouldn't dim with the dash. We'll try this one instead.
Thanks!

[ronaldwrx]

the defi gauges dim when you turn the headlights on and are brighter when the headlights are off.

[mbiker97]

It definately sounds like you wired the constant 12v and the ignition 12v wrong. The controller needs a constant 12v (like the clock) to retain it's memory. Then it needs the ignition on 12v to light the gauges only when it is on.

There is one trick though. You want to run the line to the gauges from the #2 port on the controller instead of the #1 port. This way you have control of the dimming at all times. Otherwise the controller lowers the light only 1 step when the lights are turned on, where as I lower mine to the lowest setting with the lights on.

[ronaldwrx]

i thought using the #1 vs #2 port was if you had BF gauges or not .. the defi site says use output 2 for BFs output 1 for other gauges - link display can go to either ..


http://www.defi-shop.com/product/cu2/cu2_top.html

[mbiker97]

Originally posted by ronaldwrx
i thought using the #1 vs #2 port was if you had BF gauges or not .. the defi site says use output 2 for BFs output 1 for other gauges - link display can go to either ..


http://www.defi-shop.com/product/cu2/cu2_top.html

I was told otherwise when I bought my stuff. However I figured it out pretty quickly.

[ronaldwrx]

if i plug my BFs in port 1 they dont function properly.

[InfamousDX]

Son of a bitch this is annoying. Here's the thing. I have power to my control unit but the gauges aren't powering up.

For ease of installation, I totally cut the plastic part of the clock harness off and then my dome lights went out... great move Mike. Why did this happen? I figured that it would be easier to tap them if they were straight cut, then I could use butt connectors. I don't even need the clock plug anymore cuz my gauges are going there. Moving on...

I wired the Defi black wire to clock harness GND (ground).
Defi orange wire to clock harness LIG.
Defi white wire to clock harness ACC.
Defi red wire to clock harness BAT.

Is this right? It must be because I have power to the control unit when I turn the key but I plug in the gauges (into either port) and none of them power up. Plz help... I knew I shoulda just paid someone to do it.

EDIT:: After all was said and done... it worked out just fine