stealth mod+...slight electrical issue

cheese tits · 08-31-2009, 02:21 PM

Ok, so I installed a switch to cut power to my gauges in my clock pod whenever needed. Why you ask? Because they are extremely bright and I think attract too much attention. The whole install took about 2 hrs and I mounted the switch underneath the shift boot. As you can see in the pictures, it is still far away(2-3inches) from the shifter when in 2nd gear. Anyway, I tapped the wire for the switch onto the 'Batt' wire of the gauges. It works well but I noticed last night one of the gauges stays faintly lit(It was pitch dark and I could barely see it). My question is- Why is one of the 3 gauge faintly lighting up? The gauges are Maddad's, daisy chained, and the wires for each is the ACC, Illum, Ground, Batt, and On(ign). Thanks in advance and here's pics for anyone considering the install of a switch in a stealthy location for any purpose.

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kpluiten · 08-31-2009, 03:02 PM

My maddad's are full of bad habits when it comes to illumination also. I have a special dimmer circuit hooked up to them which was intended to dim the gauges when I used the factory dimmer switch. (This is not as easy as it seems due to the funky way in which Subaru decides to dim it's cluster) It works perfectly, but occasionally, my maddad's will get super dim or flicker. The strange thing is that I have used my ocilloscope to monitor the illumination wire and the ground wires on the cluster and there are no events seen when the gauge randomly flickers or goes dim for a period. This leads me to believe it has something to do with the circuitry internal to the gauges. Both do it, both do it at different times. All my connections have been verified several times.

I'm torn because they look like nice gauges, but in stock form they are the stupidest, brightest thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure what the designers were thinking. Without a dimmer setup, they are useless in my opinion as they blind you at night. And yes, draw excess attention. And no, I don't want to take the easy way out and have some lame secondary dimmer switch for them. I like OEM look and I would like to use the OEM dimmer switch.

In your case, I would assume that perhaps the gauge is getting some sort of electrical bleed off internally. You have cut the illimination power, but due to some strange wiring or electronics internally (in the gauge), it's still getting some fraction of a volt. Can you measure the illuminating wires with a multimeter or something along those lines?

All in all, my maddad gauges leave me

. Unless I can figure out a fix for my issue or at least an explaination, they are getting sold and some decent ones are going in. Also, these things are loud! The motors make a lot of noise on start up sweep. Once the car's on though, I don;'t hear it at all.

cheese tits · 08-31-2009, 03:09 PM

/\I was hoping it was not something gauge related, but it most likely is. Maddad is in the process of making new gauges as Rich is aware these have problems. Mine do function properly, just as you said, they are 'a little' bright

4wdrift · 08-31-2009, 03:12 PM

You could get resistors from radio shack and solder them in wire between the guage and the illumination power source. That would reduce the current thus decreasing the light output, rather than killing the power all together.

I know it's after the fact but meh, what are you gonna do right?

xsuperman350x · 08-31-2009, 04:36 PM

well if you have a kill switch no power should even come close to the gauges, so you might have a wire crossed or a solder rubbing or a wire is getting chaffed. we run into this problem all the time on the backlighting on the helicopters i work on. good luck though

cheese tits · 08-31-2009, 05:36 PM

I was thinking it may be a bad ground connection, so I just redid the ground wire for the gauges. It looks as though that solved the problem, but it is still light outside and I will check later on tonight.

kpluiten · 08-31-2009, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4wdrift

You could get resistors from radio shack and solder them in wire between the guage and the illumination power source. That would reduce the current thus decreasing the light output, rather than killing the power all together.

I know it's after the fact but meh, what are you gonna do right?

This is always a solution, but it leaves you with gauges that are one brightness and not a variable with the OEM gauge cluster. While this might not bug most people, I do A LOT of highway driving at night and really find the need to turn the brightness way down to avoid headaches and eye fatigue.

cheese tits · 08-31-2009, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpluiten

I do A LOT of highway driving at night and really find the need to turn the brightness way down to avoid headaches and eye fatigue.

+12344

thejordan · 08-31-2009, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheese tits

/\I was hoping it was not something gauge related, but it most likely is. Maddad is in the process of making new gauges as Rich is aware these have problems. Mine do function properly, just as you said, they are 'a little' bright

i talked to rich the other week. i'll be testing some of these.

cheese tits · 08-31-2009, 08:15 PM

/\When?

thejordan · 09-01-2009, 12:03 PM

should arrive this week.

4wdrift · 09-01-2009, 12:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kpluiten

This is always a solution, but it leaves you with gauges that are one brightness and not a variable with the OEM gauge cluster. While this might not bug most people, I do A LOT of highway driving at night and really find the need to turn the brightness way down to avoid headaches and eye fatigue.

No, no, no,....you don't understand...

You can purchase a 20 cent resistor that just dampens the light output by slightly decreasing the total current available to the guages' light circuit. It will not snuff the light completely.

Its a win win scenario in that the output will not be so bright but will remain adjustable with the cars circuits.

These links might help you to better understand...

http://www.doctronics.co.uk/resistor.htm#limit

http://www.the12volt.com/resistors/resistors.asp

Un0RiGiNaL · 09-01-2009, 01:28 PM

I might be a little off topic but dont cops know all the ins and outs of cars and if theyre searching the car they will pop the dash trim open?? or do cops have no idea

cheese tits · 09-01-2009, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Un0RiGiNaL

I might be a little off topic but dont cops know all the ins and outs of cars and if theyre searching the car they will pop the dash trim open?? or do cops have no idea

Lol, First off, no. Second off the reason I am doing this is two fold. 1)the gauges are blinding at night, 2)Civics (and maybe cop cars) are less likely to harass me then if they dont see the red 200 watt glow these gauges emit.

cheese tits · 09-01-2009, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thejordan

should arrive this week.

Pm me and let me know how they are different.

08-31-2009, 02:21 PM	#1
cheese tits Scooby Newbie Member#: 38605 Join Date: Jun 2003 Vehicle: 2000 impreza	stealth mod+...slight electrical issue Ok, so I installed a switch to cut power to my gauges in my clock pod whenever needed. Why you ask? Because they are extremely bright and I think attract too much attention. The whole install took about 2 hrs and I mounted the switch underneath the shift boot. As you can see in the pictures, it is still far away(2-3inches) from the shifter when in 2nd gear. Anyway, I tapped the wire for the switch onto the 'Batt' wire of the gauges. It works well but I noticed last night one of the gauges stays faintly lit(It was pitch dark and I could barely see it). My question is- Why is one of the 3 gauge faintly lighting up? The gauges are Maddad's, daisy chained, and the wires for each is the ACC, Illum, Ground, Batt, and On(ign). Thanks in advance and here's pics for anyone considering the install of a switch in a stealthy location for any purpose. * Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

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08-31-2009, 03:02 PM	#2
kpluiten Scooby Guru Member#: 120273 Join Date: Jul 2006 Chapter/Region: SWIC Location: AZ Vehicle: 06 WRBWRXWGN Now with 100% more Spec-C	My maddad's are full of bad habits when it comes to illumination also. I have a special dimmer circuit hooked up to them which was intended to dim the gauges when I used the factory dimmer switch. (This is not as easy as it seems due to the funky way in which Subaru decides to dim it's cluster) It works perfectly, but occasionally, my maddad's will get super dim or flicker. The strange thing is that I have used my ocilloscope to monitor the illumination wire and the ground wires on the cluster and there are no events seen when the gauge randomly flickers or goes dim for a period. This leads me to believe it has something to do with the circuitry internal to the gauges. Both do it, both do it at different times. All my connections have been verified several times. I'm torn because they look like nice gauges, but in stock form they are the stupidest, brightest thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure what the designers were thinking. Without a dimmer setup, they are useless in my opinion as they blind you at night. And yes, draw excess attention. And no, I don't want to take the easy way out and have some lame secondary dimmer switch for them. I like OEM look and I would like to use the OEM dimmer switch. In your case, I would assume that perhaps the gauge is getting some sort of electrical bleed off internally. You have cut the illimination power, but due to some strange wiring or electronics internally (in the gauge), it's still getting some fraction of a volt. Can you measure the illuminating wires with a multimeter or something along those lines? All in all, my maddad gauges leave me . Unless I can figure out a fix for my issue or at least an explaination, they are getting sold and some decent ones are going in. Also, these things are loud! The motors make a lot of noise on start up sweep. Once the car's on though, I don;'t hear it at all.

08-31-2009, 03:09 PM	#3
cheese tits Scooby Newbie Member#: 38605 Join Date: Jun 2003 Vehicle: 2000 impreza	/\I was hoping it was not something gauge related, but it most likely is. Maddad is in the process of making new gauges as Rich is aware these have problems. Mine do function properly, just as you said, they are 'a little' bright

08-31-2009, 03:12 PM	#4
4wdrift Scooby Guru Member#: 1403 Join Date: May 2000 Chapter/Region: TXIC Location: In a warm dry place Vehicle: 99 RBP GC8 Impreza	You could get resistors from radio shack and solder them in wire between the guage and the illumination power source. That would reduce the current thus decreasing the light output, rather than killing the power all together. I know it's after the fact but meh, what are you gonna do right?

08-31-2009, 04:36 PM	#5
xsuperman350x Scooby Specialist Member#: 188128 Join Date: Aug 2008 Chapter/Region: South East Location: clarksville, TN Vehicle: 2004 wrx wag stg3 silver	well if you have a kill switch no power should even come close to the gauges, so you might have a wire crossed or a solder rubbing or a wire is getting chaffed. we run into this problem all the time on the backlighting on the helicopters i work on. good luck though

08-31-2009, 05:36 PM	#6
cheese tits Scooby Newbie Member#: 38605 Join Date: Jun 2003 Vehicle: 2000 impreza	I was thinking it may be a bad ground connection, so I just redid the ground wire for the gauges. It looks as though that solved the problem, but it is still light outside and I will check later on tonight.

08-31-2009, 08:15 PM	#10
cheese tits Scooby Newbie Member#: 38605 Join Date: Jun 2003 Vehicle: 2000 impreza	/\When?

09-01-2009, 12:03 PM	#11
thejordan Scooby Specialist Member#: 185374 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: California	should arrive this week.

09-01-2009, 01:28 PM	#13
Un0RiGiNaL Scooby Specialist Member#: 189748 Join Date: Sep 2008 Chapter/Region: MAIC	I might be a little off topic but dont cops know all the ins and outs of cars and if theyre searching the car they will pop the dash trim open?? or do cops have no idea