Another alternative to getting brighter gauges

[scottb]

This is fascinating.

Subscribing!

[DRACO A5OG]

Update:

Changed my order to 8 splitters ( 1 5-Way & 3 2-ways).

Spoke to Joe at www.thatscoolwire.com. He stated each splitters are 8" long the 12v 8-13' Inverters are 10" long on the connector side and 3' long on the power/ground lead side. I'd say this is long enough to place behind the fire wall of the trunk.

He also verified the inverters will make a whining sound.

He mentioned an 80's SL Mercedes Benz owner did this gauges to his car and loved the outcome.

[VinceQN]

anyone else done this with different color variations? I was going to do this and was considering red.

[DRACO A5OG]

Nope just started but originator of this thread found a Jag Owner that used green.

[carslutt]

does anyone have photos of how they wired up the each piece of the el wire once they had it cut to the needed length for installation?

thanks

[DRACO A5OG]

[SpeedracerIndy]

Here's my update and my final product.

I ended up removing one of the inverters, and am now only using one for all 5 gauges. With 2 it was a little too bright even when dimmed and all 5 gauges were not consistently the same brightness. With one inverter it looks much better.

I attempted to do a wire diagram, but I am NOT an electrical engineer (and have no intentions of becoming one). Here is my attempt at the diagram:



Here is how I routed the wires for the inverter under the fresh air duct work in the trunk:



Here is where I stashed the inverter. I used an empty relay location behind the fuse box. I fastened it there with some double sided tape. Even without the tape, it wouldn't be going anywhere.



Here is my final product. I am VERY happy with the result. Can't wait to try it out next time I take it out at night:



Also, a word of caution to anyone going this rout: The wires can apparently burn out. I had a flickering gauge, and it eventually killed all of the gauges. I took apart the offending gauge, and there was a black spot inside the wire where it had shorted out. This was in the same location where I had been bending the wire repeatedly to try to fit it to the gauge. While these wires are pretty rugged, they can be damaged with repeated bending. My short happened to be at the end of the wire, so I simply cut the short out and re-capped the wire. See below for a picture of the short:



Let me know if anyone has any questions. Thanks!

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by SpeedracerIndy

Hey Speed,

I am no EE either but that looks good to my spastic old eyes

Question:

You retained the OEM bulb sockets in the SPEEDO. How did you route the EL-Wire? With the LED bulbs and Sockets, I can not visualize how you routed the El-Wire. Did you drill?

My plan is to have the wires emitting light right after the sockets.

Thanks for the HEADS UP on not over bending the EL-Wires.

[SpeedracerIndy]

Originally Posted by DRACO A5OG

Hey Speed,

I am no EE either but that looks good to my spastic old eyes

Question:

You retained the OEM bulbs in the SPEEDO. How did you route the EL-Wire? With the OEM bulbs, I can not visualize how you routed the El-Wire. Did you drill?

My plan is to have the wires emitting light right after the sockets.

Thanks for the HEADS UP on not over bending the EL-Wires.

Hey thanks! I used to have AutoCAD, but don't have it on my new computer, so MS Word's built in drawing program is all I had to work with.

Yep, I drilled the speedo. My car is a euro and has a "not actual mileage" title because the speedo was swapped out when it was imported. Because of that I am not too worried about the originality of the speedo. I drilled a hole just big enough for the wire to fit through right at the top.

[DRACO A5OG]

Me too I used the packaged MS Draw for my Diagram.

I thought so, I was trying to figure out what you did to use the OEM sockets. Now it makes sense.

I hope my plan of dual inserts and exposed EL-Wire will work on those odometers?

Just checked on my order from Texas, it is in route

[DRACO A5OG]

Hey Fellas,

I posted a new Thread on my Journey to the Road to the Ultimate Gauge Illumination.

El-Wire, Alternative to OEM and LED Lights for Gauges

Thanks again Luke and Speed!

[abisel]

subscribe

[FLYONWALL9]

Has anyone done this in RED? I use red gauges and lights
on the offshore boat I fish from, it really helps my vision in
the dark. Wondering if anyone has the same effect with
their land sled and if it works as well as my water sled? I'm
also thinking of doing footwell's on the door pin switch to
match. My dome light has a mind of its own and works when
its damn well ready to anyway......



I recently took my first road trip and HATED the gauges so
much I just turned the damn things off when it got dark....

[SpeedracerIndy]

Originally Posted by FLYONWALL9

Has anyone done this in RED? I use red gauges and lights
on the offshore boat I fish from, it really helps my vision in
the dark. Wondering if anyone has the same effect with
their land sled and if it works as well as my water sled? I'm
also thinking of doing footwell's on the door pin switch to
match. My dome light has a mind of its own and works when
its damn well ready to anyway......



I recently took my first road trip and HATED the gauges so
much I just turned the damn things off when it got dark....

Red would certainly look nice. My Audi has red interior lighting (along with red "mood lighting"), and it is loads easier on the eyes at night, plus it looks pretty slick. Most modern cars are back lit though, so I'm not sure how red would work on these gauges not being back lit.

I would love to try it, but I don't have the energy to take my system apart again just yet. If you do it, please post pics so we can see the results.

The EL wire draws so little current that your idea of foot well lighting would work very well. You could string that stuff all over the car if you wanted and have "mood lighting" without worrying about overloading the circuit.

My original system as displayed above is still working perfectly after one year!