Gauge istallation a couple of questions

[mainlander]

Nice typo on the title, Doh!

I have three gauges to install and I may have gotten the cart before the horse here, I'm not sure.

Engine is a CDN speck 3B. Gauges are electric (not mechanical) water temp, boost and pyro.

Thinking about wiring up the gauge lights. What voltage is the truck? 24V or 12V? Anyone have a simple sketch for wiring the gauge lights into the truck? Where is the light switch that I wire into so the gauge lights come on when I turn on the truck lights?

I'm following the VDO installation instructions but I've been thinking about the voltage so thought I'd ask.

Next, water temp probe. Do I need to drain the system to put this probe in? I'll be using the stock temp probe location.

Last boost gauge pressure hose (it's not a vacuum right?). Does this just tie into the hose from the compressor side of the turbo to the air intake manifold somewhere?

Of course any detailed pictures would be great. Working on a bit of a time budget here too so any quick responses would be appreciated.

[crushers]

guage lights easy...get 24V bulbs...

gauge feed needs to be 12V on 12V gauges. very little draw.

pressure line to boost gauge can be taken anywhere along the compression piping to the engine

[mainlander]

Ok so a few questions answered, thanks Wayne.

Now what about the temp gauge sender into the t-stat housing. Do I need to drain the water system to put this in?

I'm still not clear though on the whole electrical system of the truck. Is it 24V with 12 v regulators for some items or are all parts that requrie electrical power 24V? I've done a fair amount of searching and I'm not clear on what or how the system works.

[rchalmers3]

Originally Posted by mainlander

Ok so a few questions answered, thanks Wayne.

Now what about the temp gauge sender into the t-stat housing. Do I need to drain the water system to put this in?.

No. Do the install on a cold motor. You will lose some coolant when you open the system, but you can top it off after the install and before starting the motor.

Originally Posted by mainlander

I'm still not clear though on the whole electrical system of the truck. Is it 24V with 12 v regulators for some items or are all parts that requrie electrical power 24V? I've done a fair amount of searching and I'm not clear on what or how the system works.

How many batteries does your truck have? Look closely how they are connected and you will be able to determine the voltage. If you have a single normal sized battery with 6 cells, then your truck is 12v. If you have 2 batteries and if those batteries are connected in SERIES (pos to neg on joining cable) then your truck is 24v.

Sorry, I saw your post earlier, but waited for someone else to reply. What can I say? I'm lazy.

Rick

[mainlander]

Thank you Rick, so here is how my batteries are set up.

Battery # 1, pos to starter with heavy gauge wire to the pos post on the second battery.

Both neg posts go to ground, Bat # 1 to the body, Bat # 2 to the frame.

Sounds like this is a 12v system. Yes?

[rchalmers3]

Originally Posted by mainlander

Ok so a few questions answered, thanks Wayne.

Now what about the temp gauge sender into the t-stat housing. Do I need to drain the water system to put this in?

I'm still not clear though on the whole electrical system of the truck. Is it 24V with 12 v regulators for some items or are all parts that requrie electrical power 24V? I've done a fair amount of searching and I'm not clear on what or how the system works.

Yes, you are correct, your truck is 12v if connected as you described (pos to pos and neg to neg).

I edited my last post. When batteries are connected sequentially, their voltage is added (12v + 12v = 24v), and are considered to be connected in SERIES.

I am glad my error did not confuse you and hope this knowledge helps you choose the proper gauges.

Rick

[Tapage]

For light pic in your fuse panel 2 wires .. one with constant ignition 12V for power on the Pyro and dash light 12V for bulbs .. easy !

[toynut]

rod do you have a repair manual for the 60 ? , it helps to find the proper wires to tap into find the dash light circuit and tap into that, that way when you dim your lights your gauges will dim also , this is a 12 volt system your batteries are wired in parallel you double the amperage output , but the volts remain the same .

do not get 24 volt gauge lights ? i dont know why that was sugested ?

for the water temp gauge your best to unscrew the factory water temp sensor take that to a plumbing store match that with some pipe fittings and make a t with two senders keep your factory sender and wire in the after market one too , be sure to use teflon tape on the pipe fittings !

[mainlander]

Thanks guys.

Kevin, I just downloaded the electrical manual for the 60. I haven't looked through it yet though. That's exactly what I wanted to do, tap the gauge lights into the dash light circuit so they dim and come on with the dash lights.

The VDO water temp gauge came with 3 different addaptors, I'm hoping that one of them fit. I will just take out the stock sender and install the new one. No need for redundancy with a bad guage (stock).

[joshoisasleep]

So wait... if the if the two batteries are attached together it's 12V, if they're NOT it's 24V? I'm no electrician...

[cruiser_guy]

ALL Canadian BJ60's are 12v. I'm sure Wayne had a brain fart when he said 24v.

HJ60's are 24v as are some JDM models but all Canadian BJ60's ARE 12v!!

[cody c]

electrician here, if the 2 positive terminals are connected together it's 12 volt.

If the negative of one battery is connected to the positive of the other its 24 volt.

yours sounds like 12 volt.

[mainlander]

ok, so I got the gauge's pre-wired, into the pod and the pod installed. Now I've got all the wires down below the dash at the driver's feet.

I'm so not an electrician and really need some help to locate where to connect the power wires for the gauge lights as well as the power wires for the gauges that require power (ignition aux power).

I've downloaded the series6_elec pdf and have been looking at the diagrams but still can't see where to connect into for the lights and the power (ignition aux power)

I need your help folks.

So here's a question, can I just connect the gauge lights to the dimmer rehostat? And if so can anyone tell me which wire to connect to.

I'm very good at following directions, just need to know the exact wires to connect too.

Also, is there any reason why I can't just use the OEM temp sensor which is already installed in the t-stat housing for my new gauge?

I'm such an electrical dork

[Tapage]

Buy a test lamp .. ( get a good one .. very usefull tool ) and unscrew your fuse box then with the test lamp found a fuse that have V ( you will see the bulb on the test lamp ) when you turn on your dash lights and use it ..

The same procedure for your ing V.

I start doing the job for the dash light with the dash light switch on .. and see which have V then start turning off the dash light .. same procedure for the ing switch.

[mainlander]

That sounds easy enough. Thanks Tapage!

[mainlander]

OK, I got a good circuit tester and tryed all my fuses. None of them are for the aux light that must be in a rely burried under the dash somewhere. So I'm thinking I'll just leave them full bright and hook them to the head light fuse.

Power for the gauges I think I'll hook up to the cig lighter (don't use it anyway) will this be alright. It comes on with the ignition. I do use the cig lighter for powering a small air matress pump will this cause an issue with the gauges? Maybe I'll forfit the cig lighter all together and add an inline 15amp fuse and a 12v power supply in the rear cargo area.

[cody c]

Accesories like the radio, or anything else turned on when the ignition is on are an acceptable power source for your gauges. I have a few gauges powered by the radio power wires and it works well for me. I suppose you could find the wiring to your headlights and use that to power your gauges so they turn on at night.

The gauges should each have 1 wire to ground (i just drilled a hole on a metal part of the dash and bared the paint off of the metal and used an eyelet sta-kon on each wire to fasten it) . There should be 1 wire to power the gauges, and there should be 1 wire to illuminate them. You can find out on the instructions or by connecting a power source to find out when the light turns on.
You could probally find the wire that feeds the instrument cluster to have the gauges dim to match the gauges, but toyota has some electronic bits in there which seem to overcomplicate things. If you want to be able to dim them i would suggest getting a seperate dimmer. Although this seems it wouldnt be the simplest way, the instrument cluster may not dim to the same level the gauges would and may not be the best way to go.

If you run power from your cigarette lighter you should be fine to run accesories without popping fuses. the lights dont pull a lot of power. You could always upgrade your wiring size from the fuse box to the lighter and the fuse size though if you are concerned or find you are popping fuses.

One of the nice things about automotive testers is that they have a pointy tip which alows you to shove the tester into the wire without having to strip the conductors. I use my Fluke tester and its not as quick as a simple automotive tester.

[mainlander]

Thanks for all the help folks, you've all made this easier for me. Thanks.

I got the gauges all wired up and the water temp gauge working (just hooked it up to the OME sender, works just fine).

Hooked the gauge lights up the the headlight fuse and the power to the gauges hooked up to the cig lighter fuse.

Just need to install the turbo to hook up the pyro and the boost gauge. That should be Monday/Tuesday if all goes well. Wednesday will be the exhaust.

[cody c]

Sounds like you got it figured out, what are you using for turbo manifold, i modified the stock manifold and drilled and tapped for 1/4 NPT, I got the tap at NAPA if i remember correctly, i hope this isnt redundant info, also where are you draining your oil from the turbo to?

[toynut]

rod way to go you are going to have one sick truck when completed , i should have bought it !

[mainlander]

Kevin, you should see the frame I picked up in Arizona too

Cody, I've had a friend make me a manifold from 1 1/2" sch 40 elbows and tees and a matching flange to the turbo (mitsu TD04)

Oil will draing into a 5/8" line going into the oil pan. I'm going to pull the oil from the oil pressure sender.

I've got most all of my parts together (will have them all by tomorrow I think) so I'm hoping two 3 hour nights will get the turbo installed and than Wednesday I've got booked with my welder friend to do the exhaust. Should take us about 5 hours to do the exhaust I think.