Boost Gauge wiring balls up lol. mini how-to post #14
 

Car: 2001 bugeye UK300

morning all, last night i decided to fit my stack boost gauge and upon many failed attempts at using the search function on here for where to take the live and illumination feeds from i decided to get my meter out and have a look.

anyway, i did read something about the hazard switch, so took a live from there and it was fine, 12v when ign on and it stayed on while cranking...

and the illumination i took from the plug on the stalk... all good - worked fine with engine off etc...

i couldnt start the car as it was late and the kids were in bed, so upon driving in to work this morning i found that the boost gauge would power off when indicating left, and come back on when indicator neutral lol

and the illumination is also not working...

it was only temp wired to see if it still worked, so ill do it properly later, but where do you take your feeds from?

i need a live that comes on with ign pos 1 or 2 and stays on - so this counts out the clock and radio feeds as they turn off when cranking
and i also need an illumination live but i might take that from the dash clock light feed....

any help appreciated - i know its been covered before, but all i could find on the search wasnt really that helpful.

oh, one more thing, as your looking at the engine from the front of the car, there is a little black round thing coming off the inlet, just to the left of the alternator. is it ok to T into that for the vac feed?

cheeeeeers :D

Take the feeds from the radio. all 3 will be there. the vac line is best teed from the dump valve. the point your talking about is the feed for the fuel pressure reg and ideally left alone

Good advice above.

When i metered the feeds the 12v acc switched off when cranking, this is no good for the stack as every time you power up it does a sweep to callibrate the guage.

so i need a switched live that stays live while cranking.

i also couldnt get the illumination to work off it either, and the clock doesnt seem to dim when the lights are turned on?

ill probably take the illumination feed off the dash the lights, but still unsure of the 12v supply.

thanks for the tip on the vac plumbing tho, ill see if i can get it spliced into the DV vac.

cheers people

Dont all stepper/sweep gauges calibrate when first turned on. So what the issure with the 2 second cranking and then calibrate? Am i missing something.

I wired mine via the cigar lighter.

Agreed. Theres very little that stays at 12v when cranking as the starter is sucking all the power.

The instruction manual says so!!

Also tested the cig lighter, that also looses power when cranking. But thanks for the replies.

To be honest i think everything will lose power whilst its cranking.

Now the only thing that i would think stays live whilst cranking would be the battery.

My Defis are wired so that they lose power while cranking, but it's no big deal. I switch on, let them do their sweep, (long enough for the fuel pump to prime), then start it. They don't REDO the sweep.

Had this problem myself and after much boloxing about I just put up with the double sweep !

Mine has the option of a different colour when sidelights are on , but if I crank with the lights on (I forget to switch them off sometimes) the gauges stay at the 1st colour whether lights are turned on or off afterwards.

As above , after boloxing about , I just put up with it !

Well, i have sussed the wiring side now i think...

Just not had time to look into connecting up the vac line yet lol

The gauge itself is only temp mounted as i dont want to drill any holes etc incase i dont keep the car long etc.. So i have utilised the screwhole for the proximity alarm sensor on the a pillar and cable tied it on for now.

Hopefully in the next day or two ill hook it up properly and have it functioning.

Cheers for the input guys

ok, got it all hooked up tonight so if anyone is interested then ill stick a couple of pics up for wiring reference.

after metering a few places i settled on removing the dash clocks and on the top left green connector there is a switched live that does not turn off when cranking the engine.

NOTE: This is a temporary install as i dont know how long ill keep the car and i dont want to drill/cut anything and the car can be put back to stock in about 15 mins.
also for the wiring i crimped on some ferrels (not pushed all the way in so you can see what pins they are in) and just pushed them into the connectors as i dont want to cut any wiring about. also cable tied the wiring to the main loom

car is a 2001 bug uk300
my gauge is a Stack ST3312 and requires a switched live that does not go off while cranking as the gauge sweeps and callibrates everytime you ign on.

also the live only comes on with position 2.

i also used an earth next to live for ease

see pic:

switched +12v is 4th pin in from the left, green wire and the earth is the 5th pin in from the left, black and silver wire.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i6...ps52a8c2be.jpg

for the illumination i used a wire coming off the light/indicator stalk. if you take the steering cowling off there are 2 plugs ont he stalk, a big one and small one with 3 pins.on the small plug the front single wire is orange and i used this. sorry for the crap pic, i couldnt get the phone to focus and take a blind shot! but you get the idea.

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i6...psd8031c37.jpg

so, got boost lol (ok vac as its on idle lol)

http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i6...ps2e55cee1.jpg

vac take off was fromt he DV vac, again i didnt cut any pipes etc just used some pnumatic fittings and made up the line. not the best ever to look at but it does the job.

ill get some braid for the wiring to the gauge at some point, and if i keep it ill get a pod etc but it will do for now lol. so there we go.