I should mention, on my wife's I tapped into the back of the cig fuse, but it's sloppy. and i wanted to do it right this time. So specfics will help.
and serious on topic replies only
Yes is this an electrical gauge with a sender you are locating under hood?
Can you easily identify the wires that are powering the lightbilb in the switch? That would be a good source of power for the illumination as it should dim with the rest of the dash.
my boost gauge is set up like that: when i dim the interior lights it dims along with everything else and even when i hit the 'Night Panel' button it dims to almost completely dark.
it's an electric prosport. (should look nice: green backlight, orange needle, black gauge face like stock, and a brushed silver bezel that matches the aero dash)
It's LED lit, so i don't want it to dim. But i can wire it (if i have a wire that is connected to the headlamp on off) so that i light up white in the day, and green at night.
or I can skip that and have it green or white all the time...
the sender is actually in the dash and already all wired(except power). There was more vaccum hose than sender wire so it worked out better that way.
I have an Autometer SportComp II electric boost gauge. I don't know if the Prosport gauges operate the same, but every time I start the car, the gauge recalibrates itself, thus the need for a constant 12V source. When I first wired it, I tapped the cig lighter fuse, but had problems because the power is interrupted during cranking, leading to inaccurate readings. After some trial and error, I ended up using the fuel pump fuse for power with a fuse tap from Radio Shack. A better spot might be the ignition, which I may eventually swap it to. Let us know how it works out.
dan, does yours have a peak hold and warning function?
if so, i have had this gauge for about two months now. get that sender in the engine bay and closer to where you tap off of the intake manifold.
ps. mine is set to be green all the time. i used the same power and ground that you would use for a regular autometer with a standard light. and i beleive i ran a wire to the back of the sid for switched ignition for some reason...
before I tap anything, what wires exactly... ignition, where do i get that... a fuse or a wire someplace???
Nick, what wire exactly did you tap behind the SID??? I just got a regular one, no peak/hold, so I don't even know if I need to do this.
EDIT:
I prefer to leave the sender where it is, due the enormous PAIN this was to get it set up this far... (aero with esp "box" and huge brake booster was impossible to get the hose through the firewall unless you go from the cabin out and fish the hose with something long) I have a few wires left to tap... but will it create an inaccurate reading? they gave me 1000 feet of vac hose and like 3 inches of wire :roll:
You can tap off the stereo. Red is +12V with ignition on and Yellow is +12V constant. I am 100% sure on red, but double check on yellow as I know Saab has this reversed from most Euro cars. It may be same color, just pinned differently in the connector.
You can also use the leads in the handsfree plug behind the SID/Radio. I used to have all the color codes/pin numbers for 12 on /12 switched but you can probably find it on genuinesaab reference section. But I'll look around and post up if you need it...
maybe I am making this more complicted than it needs to be.
I put a fuse tap on the ciggy lighter fuse, and ran the sender and guages red wires (constant 12V) and the orange (accessory) to this tap... the gauge lights green as desired and performs the opening ceremony, and rests just under 0.
now I gotta take a road test and see if it reads accurate/if the sender is wired up OK, and if when the car cranks everything still works right.
I think I am gonna say screw the white lighting and leave it green (which is pretty much why I got this one in the first place)
I also always thought that the cig lighter was a constant 12v.....but its not. My glowshift needed a batt 12v to keep the memory, and for that I ran off of the fuse in the back of the radio.
With a voltmeter, am sure you can find some 12 volt constant battery source.
Perhaps the radio fuse, I know that you can turn on the radio when the key is not in the ign, so maybe thats a constant 12v?
the pod is from parts for saabs. I can't say I am 100% pleased with it...
It doesn't look anything like the pod on their website.
it had to be trimmed to get some excess material off to make it fit, which makes the edges look unfinished.
it still doesn't fit flush, it will need some heat to soften one of the edges and smooth it out a little.
it is basically the same as the speedparts pod I could have gotten from Nick, but at least the speedparts pod is made for 9-5... this one is "universal"
I plan to upholster it, although I almost like the black, with the brushed silver bezel of my gauge, it echose the look of the black aero dash with brushed metal dash panel...
dan, i cant really tell you what is to what, since the premium gauges (what i have) are different than what you have.
I will tell you that a multimeter is your friend and that i got fed up trying to get mine white in the day and green at night, so it is just green all the time.
yeah I think I am gonna keep it green all the time, it's plenty bright in the day....
I do want to get that closing ceremony going, it seems harsh when I turn off the car and the gauge just "snaps" off....I am gonna try the radio fuse next on a suggestion from a guy on SC... the radio does work with ignition off so sounds like a good bet.
p.s. I have a multimeter but no clue on how the hell to work it, it has like a million switches and modes on it.
maybe, you did... I might have thought you were telling me to tap the wires on the back of the radio, the fuse would be much easier and easier to remove later if needed
Yes, I tapped the fuse in the back of the radio for my gauge. But I suggest you tap the radio fuse on the fuse panel. I just did this with my brothers NG, but we used the cig lighter(his did not need a constant 12V).
Well, I tried hooking the 12V wires to the radio fuse, no luck.
Also tried the ignition fuse, no luck. In this position, the gauge stays on after the engine is shut off, for about 30-45 seconds. and then it just clicks off.
yeah, i went and read that about an hour ago. i dont think that the one you have does a closing ceremony.
Still, for the price, that gauge can not be beat. I love mine. the peak hold function (while entirely un-necessary) is so helpful in diagnosing my boost spike issue thing that i still have going on occaisionally.
The warning function is even more useful. Get an eyeful of flashing red lights and it screams let off the gas quick.
yeah I put in an email to them to confirm my stupidity...
Boy I feel like a idiot. :roll:
but also feel good knowing I had it wired up fine the first time. :lol:
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