trying to install gauges...
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so where the hell might that be?? ***pardon my french***
ummm if you dont know what you are doing, id have an audio guy do it, and watch him. I can wire shit to jello (yeah...its 1230...those are the kinda descriptions you get) If it were me, i would take apart my steering column, find the hotwire for the headlights, and splice my hot wire into that. Then i would run it back to the guages.
For a temp fix you get a toggle switch and wire it from your battery, through the firewall, behind your stereo to a plate under your radio. on the plate have a toggle switch. We wired a friend of mine's nitrous that way...not too difficult.
For a temp fix you get a toggle switch and wire it from your battery, through the firewall, behind your stereo to a plate under your radio. on the plate have a toggle switch. We wired a friend of mine's nitrous that way...not too difficult.
what color would this "hotwire" be.. i have a 94 civic vx
so what color is the wire i splice it into...??
dunno, the lude is at the shop with the repair manual. as i said, there should only be two wires...maybe 3 (parking lights) how bout you go with the one thats not black...im not driving 45 miles to the shop to get my book outa my car/take apart my steering col.
Go get yourself a voltmeter (RadioShack, Sears, etc). Hook the black lead to ground, and poke through the insulation on the wires with the red lead, and see which one gives you +12V. You can also use this method to see which one is switched on and off with the key. Just be carefull not to rip the insulation off, or poke your finger, hurts.
Simple way to figure out what wire does what.
Ohh and if you wire it right to your battery, put a fuse on the wire, a few inches from the battery. You wouldn't want any fires in your car if something shorted. RadioShack and car part stores have a wide variety of fuse holders and fuses.
Simple way to figure out what wire does what.
Ohh and if you wire it right to your battery, put a fuse on the wire, a few inches from the battery. You wouldn't want any fires in your car if something shorted. RadioShack and car part stores have a wide variety of fuse holders and fuses.
not trying to be a bitch and comment on your habits but if at all possible DO NOT poke the wire, un plug the connector and test at the connector, the insulation is there for a reason! 
here you want the easy way, you got a civic, this is fricking simple. #1 DISCONECT BATTERY . have your dimmer switch on the left side of your steering wheel. its a dial that controls your dash lights, you have to get to the back of that switch, i think it should just pop out, or you gotta pop the cluster out. but if you gotta take the cluster out that only takes 3 mins anyways. on the back of that switch there will be 3 wires, one red, one black and one red with a black stripe going through it. since you are a noob im gonna send you the noob way, go to a store near you that sells electrical connectors and such, get a T connection, basically what youll do is cut the red and black wire, put the T connector in and crimp it so now the wire is reconnected with the connector, BUT now you have your T still on the connector to shove another wire in, so throw your red wire from your guages in the T and crimp it.
then for your black wire just find a bolt under the dash that goes to metal, even the nut thatholds the fuse box on works good too. put your ground wire on one of those bolts and you are DONE!
the way this will work is . your lights on your guages will only illuminate when you turn on your headlights.
now you didnt say what kind of guages you have (oil temp. boost. etc) some guages have more wires but i assumed you were talking about the two wires to light it up.
if you read this and have no clue what im talking about, DO NOT DO IT!! if you're this lost on wirring, thsi why we pay ppl to do things! so if they screw it up, they fix it. again thsi isnt a hard task but when it comes to wiring, some ppl are like a virgin boy with a 35 yr old woman. just plain lost! hope this helps, if not i hope someone gets some info off of it
here you want the easy way, you got a civic, this is fricking simple. #1 DISCONECT BATTERY . have your dimmer switch on the left side of your steering wheel. its a dial that controls your dash lights, you have to get to the back of that switch, i think it should just pop out, or you gotta pop the cluster out. but if you gotta take the cluster out that only takes 3 mins anyways. on the back of that switch there will be 3 wires, one red, one black and one red with a black stripe going through it. since you are a noob im gonna send you the noob way, go to a store near you that sells electrical connectors and such, get a T connection, basically what youll do is cut the red and black wire, put the T connector in and crimp it so now the wire is reconnected with the connector, BUT now you have your T still on the connector to shove another wire in, so throw your red wire from your guages in the T and crimp it.
then for your black wire just find a bolt under the dash that goes to metal, even the nut thatholds the fuse box on works good too. put your ground wire on one of those bolts and you are DONE!
the way this will work is . your lights on your guages will only illuminate when you turn on your headlights.
now you didnt say what kind of guages you have (oil temp. boost. etc) some guages have more wires but i assumed you were talking about the two wires to light it up.
if you read this and have no clue what im talking about, DO NOT DO IT!! if you're this lost on wirring, thsi why we pay ppl to do things! so if they screw it up, they fix it. again thsi isnt a hard task but when it comes to wiring, some ppl are like a virgin boy with a 35 yr old woman. just plain lost! hope this helps, if not i hope someone gets some info off of it
There is nothing wrong with poking the insulation, just don't rip it off and expose the wire underneath. Voltage isn't high enough to cause an arc. Alot of times the connector isn't nearby to connect to and you want to tap off right there, thats why I made the suggestion.
and thanks to DelSlo for the very easy to understand directions...after i read them i was thinking to myself, "i need to lay off the reefer" 