Wiring Gurus - Speedhut Gauge Question

[Aeneiad]

I'm wiring up a Speedhut oil pressure and water temp gauge and I'm wondering if I can wire them directly to my Blue Sea fuse block for an ignition source? I've tapped into the cig lighter for a USB plug, if I can't wire the gauges to the fuse block, can all 3 be tapped into the cig lighter wiring? Last question (for this round), the wiring diagram has an inverter and both gauges can be plugged into one inverter. Do I need to connect the additional ground and dash lighting cables or can I use the one connection that both gauges are plugged into for the dash lighting / ground?

Inverter

 

[Aeneiad]

Anyone?

 

[dirtyboots]

Positive circuit for Speedhut gauge needle illumination:

Yes you can hook the Speedhut needle illumination to either the sea fuse block or USB 12v power source. The needle doesn't care where it gets positive 12v from. You should only connect the needle to a circuit with an appropriately rated fuse. Having said that the blue sea block will be a much more satisfactory connection, you can put in whatever fuse you want, and easily diagnose any issues on that one circuit. Alternatively if you plumb in to the USB circuit, you've added another layer of wiring to sort out if there's an issue.

The speedhut gauge face illumination:

Any positive and negative connection and it works only on speedhut's own rheostat which is hooked in to a DC power from the landcruiser to the AC invertor from speedhut. You can try to hook everything in different ways, but trust me there is no way to run speedhut gauges on one factory 80 series rheostat. Good news is Speedhut will service any part that you roast here in the USA playing around with wiring and they will respond with helpful tips promptly.

In summary: the speedhut needle and gauge face are not controlled by the same dimmer and cannot be added to the factory dimmer. In other words, by adding a speedhut gauge there are 3 different levels of brightness all connected and controlled by different inputs. One, factory stuff. Two, speedhut gauge FACE. Three, speedhut gauge NEEDLE.

True story and yes it is as strange as it sounds. You can dim the gauge face with the speedhut supplied dimmer, but not the needle. The needle only gets 12v positive, and because the 80 series dimmer operates on the neg side, it's impossible to control the needle brightness with the 80 dimmer switch.

I run the speedhut dimmer, factory dimmer, and needle illumination with a 5k resistor. For about a year I disconnected the needle illumination. It was okay except the speedhut odometer backlighting is on the needle circuit. I didn't like the full 12v brightness of the needle illumination and got a pack of resistors and diodes. A 5k resistor and diode in line with the 12v feed to the needle illumination dims the needles, provides backlighting to the odometer, and works great.

Hope that helps.

 

[Aeneiad]

Positive circuit for Speedhut gauge needle illumination:
Yes you can hook the Speedhut gauges to either the sea fuse block or USB 12v power source. The gauge doesn't care where it gets positive 12v from. You should only connect the gauge to a circuit with an appropriately rated fuse. Having said that the blue sea block will be a much more satisfactory connection, you can put in whatever fuse you want, and easily diagnose any issues on that one circuit. Alternatively if you plumb in to the USB circuit, you've added another layer of wiring to sort out if there's an issue. The speedhut stuff is all LED so it's unlikely it would strain the USB circuit though.


Negative circuit for Speedhut gauge needle illumination:
The cleanest way to hook up speedhut is to tap the J5 (negative) circuit of the 80 series illumination circuit. Go to Corsa Tech, buy some Yazaki 090ii series connectors, a cheap crimper, locate J5, learn how to de pin and re pin a wire in to the J5 connector, and have a robust connection for your Speedhut needle illumination that is tied in to your factory rheostat.

The speedhut gauge face illumination:
Any positive and negative connection and it works only on speedhut's own rheostat which is hooked in to a DC to AC invertor from speedhut. You can try to hook everything in different ways, but trust me there is no way to run speedhut gauges on one factory 80 series rheostat. Good news is Speedhut will service any part that you roast here in the USA playing around with wiring and they will respond with helpful tips promptly.

Hope that helps.

This helps a lot. Thanks dirtyboots!

 

[dirtyboots]

deleted

 

[dirtyboots]

deleted edited 1st post to clarify