Connecting some gauges

[jantheeven]

I'm about to connect my digital AFR, water temp and oil temp gauges... but what's the best location for the ground wires? I can get the 12V from just about anywhere under the dash, but where to connect the ground wires?

[James5]

I earthed mine under the steering column matey when I used the DB gauge kit.

[jantheeven]

And how exactly do I do that?
I'm sorry... I'm a big noob when it comes to wiring :rolleyes:

[James5]

Just a case of unscrewing 1 of the bolts and attaching the earth to it matey then screw it back in.

[jantheeven]

Gotcha ;)
Can I also attach the ground wires for the 2 other gauges to the same bolt/lug... as well as the ground wire for the LC1 controller?

[scratcher]

yeah, they can all ground together as long as the bolt is long enough :agree:

[jantheeven]

Good. But, of course, all of the wires for the 3 gauges are too short. Can I take the wires, solder all of them together and do a little something like this?
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/jantheeven/wiring-1.jpg

[scratcher]

if you run it like that they might come up dimmer than they should. if you link each feed in the terminal and run it like that it should be fine.

[scratcher]

not so artistic but you get the gist....
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g319/pimpscratcher/untitled111.jpg

[jantheeven]

Oh I see... I thought you meant this:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g88/jantheeven/wiring2.jpg

[jantheeven]

So I need to run them in line instead of parallel...

[scratcher]

yeah, the need to be in series really, otherwise the voltage will be eaten up a bit as it goes through each one. and you could use one ground wire that way too :cool2:

[jantheeven]

I don't have access to the gauges right now... but what if I can't disconnect the wires in the gauge's terminal? Because if I understand correctly, for example, I have to attach the first gauge's wire into the second gauge's terminal, right?

[Scoff]

either of the last 2 diagrams will work ok - I think there is some confusion over the words serial and parrallel, maybe I'm mis-reading, sorry.

both the previous 2 diagrams are parrallel, since there is no break in either the +ve or -ve wire. either system works fine aslong as suitably thick wire is used to handle the sum total of current, which for gauges will be bugger all.

[jantheeven]

Hmmm... I was under the impression that scratcher's drawing was serial and mine were parallel :confused:
And he said that they should be connected serial...

[Scoff]

Hmmm... I was under the impression that scratcher's drawing was serial and mine were parallel :confused:
And he said that they should be connected serial...

both are parrallel.

serial means inline and to an electronic engineer that thinks in terms of current flow it would mean something like this:

+ve into the +ve input of the first gauge, out of the -ve into the +ve of the next, out of the -ve into the +ve of the final and finally out of the -ve back to supply -ve. ofcourse, that wouldn't work for you. If you had 3 x 4v bulbs that you wanted to run from a 12v supply then you'd wire them up like I describe. That would be serial. Since each of your gauges needs 12v then you must wire them in parrallel. As I say, both diagrams are correct since technically they are both parrallel wiring, they just look a bit different.

[jantheeven]

Thanks... it's clear now :agree: :coffee:

[scratcher]

:ashamed: shame, and i do 'lectrics for a living. better get back to school :D

[jantheeven]

yeah well you and me both mate... I'm gonna buy 'lectrics for dummies :laugh:

[jantheeven]

Alrighty then... got all of the gauges working! Nasty job, connecting 200 wires ;), but I managed to do it. Just have to figure out now how to set up my mixture and carb properly, as AFR is now around 8-9 when idling and it doens't go higher than 10.5, even @ WOT :rolleyes: