Aftermarket Gauge Wiring

[Kmac92]

Im installing 3 new gauges in my r34 triple cluster and wanted to know how people have actually wired them up( custom harnesses etc) and also for the llumination. A diagram would be awesome.

Just trying to figure out the best way to go about it

Cheers

[Hadouken]

This has been covered numerous times. Please have you tried google?

[Kmac92]

Yes iv tried google.

[Kmac92]

If its been covered 'numerous times' can you direct me to the post in which what im asking is?

[suwidji]

I just spliced into the cigarette lighter power (you can also splice into head unit power wire) and grounded it to the head unit or a bolt near the shifter. For the switch wire i spliced into the cigarette lighter wire when u turn on the parker lights.

[Kmac92]

Thanks mate thats the answer I was after. Cheers

Obviously running more gauges it would have got pretty messy (wiring wise) how did you get around this? Or did you basically run each individual wire to each point or?

These may seem stupid questions but tbh im more mechanically minded then electrically

[suwidji]

I merged all of the similar wires together near the gauges by cable tying em together, then ran them all to the splice grouped together (so all power wires together, all ground wires together, and all switch wires together). It's probably not the "best" way to do it, but it's not as messy as I've had my electricals before. I kept them all grouped together with cable ties along the way from the gauges to the splice lol.

I'm not very electrically minded either, so i don't know what's best practice, but this has worked for me. I've only recently replaced my triple cluster as well.

[Kmac92]

With my gauge harness' they are to short to run all the way down to ciggy lighter so I will need to solder some more wire to them (hate soldering that 2-3mm wire haha)

Appreciate your replies man ☺

[suwidji]

As i mentioned, you can run them to the wires of your head unit as well if they're too short.

But also, if you dont like soldering, i recommend using connectors. That's the route i've gone down nowdays when working with electrical components in the car lol. Less risk to eff up!

All good, happy to help! I sometimes have a hard time finding stuff that has been "covered numerous times before" also lol.

[Kmac92]

Yeh I hooked up my boost gauge last week and made a mess with the solder on that bloody little wire that comes with gauge..was a nightmare , in the end I managed to get it to all bond and taped it up and she works all sweet haha. Wanted to take a more professional looking approach this time tho even tho its not visable to other people it plays in the back of my mind haha.

Yeah I know..ive legit been searching for ages, nothing exactly what I was asking tho.

[Kmac92]

Just while ive got you there...

Oil filter relocation kit or sandwich plate. What are you running?

[suwidji]

yeh, my soldering skills are very low quality haha. burnt through my pants whilst soldering one time in the car.

I'm running a sandwich plate. cheapest option for me at the time and easy to install.

[Kmac92]

Haha I havent done that yet but it wouldnt suprise me if it happens in the future lol.

Okay sweet im sussing out a greddy filter relocation kit (no cooler) atm but not to sure

[89CAL]

Possibly the best way to do it is to wire up the power and illumination wires through relays and then group them togethet to the gauges (depending on if the illum wire lights it up or just signals the gauge) then you save loading up the power/illumination circuits wherever you grabbed them from

Having said this, ive run mine directly to the wires with no problems. Think I just ran an extra fuse. I was just providing what would be my ideal setup, probably a relay powering a strip of accessory positives, a few illumination so you can just hook up what you want. But its a bit much for most setups