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Autometer gauge install

sweetk30 said:
well the 205 stuff with 4wd light has 2 wires down to the switch on the tcase. and it goes down tranny hump to shifter hole then to the switch on the tcase.

not sayin yours is like that but who knows. i dont play with 208/241 stuff mutch :dunno:
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Yeah, my old '80 was like that with a working "4 WHEEL DRIVE" lamp. :pimp:
 
Ok, in my infamous wisdom I screwed up and placed an order for some "LED's" from www.wiringproducts.com that weren't LED's at all so I went back to their website and discovered my screw-up. I was quick to order when I seen a BLUE "LED" light which actually turns out to just be regular incandesent indicator lights. :doah:

So the search was on to read up on LED's and learn as much about them as I could and then ended up buying LED's, panel mounts, and lense mounts from them and now I just have to solder in a resistor and some wire. I did go to my local Radio Shack today and bought 1 blue LED and another style of panel mount that I like and then came home and soldered it together to test it out. LED's brightness is measured in millicandela (mcd) and the higher the number the brighter the light is and all the LED's I ordered online are 1200mcd, the LED I bought at Radio Shack it 2600mcd and I bought it on purpose so I can see how bright it would be and if it's too bright then i'll use the 1200mcd LED's instead. All I can say is that 2600mcd is BRIGHT.

Here is a pic of the LED mounted in the panel mount I think i'm going to use with the resistor/wires soldered on. It is useless trying to show a pic with it on as it is nothing more than a big blue blurr but i'll post it as well anyhow.

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fyi just choke off the flow of electric to make the led dimmer. ie: bigger resistor. :whistle: no need to buy another led and wait.
 
sweetk30 said:
fyi just choke off the flow of electric to make the led dimmer. ie: bigger resistor. :whistle: no need to buy another led and wait.
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Yep, I understand about adding a larger resistor to cut the voltage even more but i've already got some 1200mcd LED's on their way. I did fire off this same LED with only 3 volts with the 470ohm resistor and it is much dimmer but still highly visable.
 
Ok, so my buddy finally was able to finish up my angle rings for the 5" speedo and tach. Here is another shot with all the gauges installed for mock-up.

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looks cool Scott, love the oldschool blackface... nice to see as opposed to all the whitefaces done nowadays...

is it just the pic, or are the lower 2 on the left at a slightly less angle than the top 2?
 
ryoken said:
looks cool Scott, love the oldschool blackface... nice to see as opposed to all the whitefaces done nowadays...

is it just the pic, or are the lower 2 on the left at a slightly less angle than the top 2?
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It's just the angle of the pic I suppose. All of the small angle rings are the same and are oriented the same as well.
 
So the wiring has begun. I need to pick up some more heat shrink in the morning and then figure out how I want to run the remaining wires but i'm getting much closer to finishing up the gauge portion of this. Once the gauges are done and back in the rig then I need to tear into the t-case and convert it from a mechanical speedo to the tone ring/DRAC system.

Spaghetti.jpg
 
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Got some more done on the wiring tonight. Takes alot longer than one would expect once you get into it and then change your mind 1000 times. :doah:

Between the speedo and tach near the top of the bezel I added 3 LED's which will be from left to right, S.E.S, Hi Beam, Brake warning indicator. The S.E.S and Brake warning LED's are red and the Hi beam indicator is blue. I'm still deciding if and where to install the 4WD indicator. If I decide to put it in i'm thinking maybe between the speedo and tach near the lower portion of the bezel just above the gear selector.

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careful with the 4wd light, if it's a bright LED and you are offroading at night, it is going to bug the hell out of you. If it's even brighter still, daytime is going to suck too.

I shot my highbeam indicator at the gear selector. Lit it up bright blue, unmissable. <wow, that's a word?!
So you could do something bright, but have it bounce off something you'll see easily.:dunno:
 
Yeah, not too worried about it being too bright as I can just up the resistor size to dim it to my liking. I also bought some of the dimmer LED's to begin with anyhow.
 
Ok, i'm a little confused as to where to hook the signal terminal on the speedo to the DRAC unit. I "think" the light blue wire from the DRAC (2000PPM) goes to the signal terminal on the speedo. Does anyone know if that is correct?

Here is a link to the instructions from Autometers website. http://autometer.com/productPDF/1140.pdf
 
i think it will work with both outputs if i recall 6-7 years back on my speedo i had.

just need to road calibrate it.
 
sweetk30 said:
i think it will work with both outputs if i recall 6-7 years back on my speedo i had.

just need to road calibrate it.
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One is a signal terminal and the other is an OUTPUT terminal. I'm guessing the OUTPUT would be used in the event I was not using a DRAC which already has a wire going back to the ECM and to the cruise control to make both of them happy.

I guess the really confusing thing is that the instructions that came with my gauge does not exactly match the instructions on Autometer's website for the same part number gauge. The instructions I have show the signal wire going to the "Hi side VSS signal". So which wire is the "Hi side" the green or purple?
 
Yeah, i'm almost done with my mock-up using a junk yard bezel. Once I get it all installed and am happy with it THEN i'll cut up my good bezel and move the gauges over and finish it up. I still need to tear into the t-case and swap the speedo gear and housing for the 40 tooth tone ring and then run the wires from the VSS up to the DRAC module but that shouldn't take me that long to do.
 
4X4HIGH said:
One is a signal terminal and the other is an OUTPUT terminal. I'm guessing the OUTPUT would be used in the event I was not using a DRAC which already has a wire going back to the ECM and to the cruise control to make both of them happy.
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Yep, that's how mine is wired up. I tried it the other way around and it didnt work right. ;)
 
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