How Can i Wire the dash dim switch to AUX lights?

infamousRNR

infamousRNR

Senior Member
Does anyone have any idea how to go about wiring up some lights to this fader knob?>....
i have an extra one from a Camry or something .. so not looking to use the factory one... i have a completely separate one i will use.....



. . . .
IMG_0025.jpg






. . . .
[MENTION=74071]Brilliant[/MENTION] im kind of counting on you to give me an answer here since your pretty much my favorite modder when it comes to things like this....
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0025.jpg
    IMG_0025.jpg
    112.1 KB · Views: 5,307
Register to hide this ad
Do you wish to control the level of brightness of your aux lights with this dimmer? I believe it's a basic potentiometer, and would be surprised if it could support the wattage demands of an aux light. If you only wish to add on/off functionality to your lights, why not just use a simple, 2 or 3 pole rocker switch from AutoZone with a 40 amp inline relay?
 
absalom said:
Do you wish to control the level of brightness of your aux lights with this dimmer? I believe it's a basic potentiometer, and would be surprised if it could support the wattage demands of an aux light. If you only wish to add on/off functionality to your lights, why not just use a simple, 2 or 3 pole rocker switch from AutoZone with a 40 amp inline relay?
Click to expand...



with this said... what wattage do all the lights add up to in the dash?

i suppose i don't entirely know what lights i would light to add these too...just trying to see if ANYTHING was possible

i was thinking some LED lights that I'm wiring into my door's that shine through the speaker holes and where you can store stuff in the side pockets....

i don't think i was ever intending on this dimmer switch powering anything that would be more than 10w lets say...
 
Oh, I heard AUX lights and just automatically assumed you meant exterior lighting, which easily would exceed 10 watts.

There's a 1000 ways to skin this cat.

1.) Pull FSM, look up wire colors and terminal locations on backside of dimmer switch to see what they do.

or

2.) Bust out multimeter and start testing which terminal does what.

If it were me, I'd just get a crappy LED with (+) and (-) coming out and see how the dimmer responds to that.

You may also look in FSM and see if there's an inline relay in the dimmer circuit.
 
The 3rd gen Rheostat is a 3 terminal switch. The are as follows

Power to Terminal 1
Ground to Terminal 3
Negative side of light to Terminal 2

The lights have 12V all the time the headlight switch is on park or headlights. The Rheostat varies the resistance to ground.
 
Here is the circuit diagram for a 2002. It is identical to the diagram in my paper factory '99 EWD so it applies to you. The rheostat operates on the ground side so you should power you 'AUX' lights separately (or camp on to a green wire feeding one of the dimmable lights) , and connect the ground side to the white wire with green stripe at the rheostat or wherever you find it behind the dash. Rheostat should be able to handle a few LED with no issue. Some LED's may not dim too well, however, unless they were designed to dim.

EDIT: Heh, [MENTION=102597]IBallEngineer[/MENTION] answered while I was typing this (plus a phone call). His info is good, as always.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
infamousRNR said:
[MENTION=74071]Brilliant[/MENTION] im kind of counting on you to give me an answer here since your pretty much my favorite modder when it comes to things like this....
Click to expand...

Looks like iballengineer gotcha covered. Its pretty straightforward. If your switch is pinned different, just look for the pins that vary resistance with turning the pot. There are the supply and variable output side. In between the pins is a variable resistor.

Illustration 1, substitute the motor for a series of LEDs.
Lessons In Electric Circuits -- Volume VI (Experiments) - Chapter 3
 
Last edited:
TheDurk said:
Here is the circuit diagram for a 2002. It is identical to the diagram in my paper factory '99 EWD so it applies to you. The rheostat operates on the ground side so you should power you 'AUX' lights separately (or camp on to a green wire feeding one of the dimmable lights) , and connect the ground side to the white wire with green stripe at the rheostat or wherever you find it behind the dash. Rheostat should be able to handle a few LED with no issue. Some LED's may not dim too well, however, unless they were designed to dim.

EDIT: Heh, [MENTION=102597]IBallEngineer[/MENTION] answered while I was typing this (plus a phone call). His info is good, as always.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've got to wire up my boost gauge to the dimmer switch... Done some searching and still not sure how to wire it up so that it dims with the rest of the gauges... Any help appreciated!
 
lhsoulrebel said:
Yeah, I've got to wire up my boost gauge to the dimmer switch... Done some searching and still not sure how to wire it up so that it dims with the rest of the gauges... Any help appreciated!
Click to expand...

I honestly don't know what else you could need to know...positive to green, negative to white w/green stripe.
 
ok so it sounds like electrical wiring is a piece of cake to everyone but even with a diagram i am still lost....

is it wattage i need to be concerned about? or amperage? or volts?...



what is that dimmer switch rated for? 5 watts? for 12volts?...



i guess i need to do electrical for beginners but what i've concluded is:

all switches need:
~ power
~ ground
~ source (lights for example)

when do you need a relay?
when do you need a fuse?


how do you know what type of gauge wire to use?...

these are all hypothetical questions that don't require an answer (just thinking out loud)
BUT would appreciate an answer or a direction for a youtube video or thread that can help with simple wiring questions like these....


[MENTION=79826]absalom[/MENTION] thank you for your response
[MENTION=102597]IBallEngineer[/MENTION] very helpful info, thank you
[MENTION=10169]TheDurk[/MENTION] seriously appreciate your responses on this forum...
[MENTION=74071]Brilliant[/MENTION] you are one of kind.... your skills are impressive to put it lightly
 
infamousRNR said:
ok so it sounds like electrical wiring is a piece of cake to everyone but even with a diagram i am still lost....

is it wattage i need to be concerned about? or amperage? or volts?...



what is that dimmer switch rated for? 5 watts? for 12volts?...



i guess i need to do electrical for beginners but what i've concluded is:

all switches need:
~ power
~ ground
~ source (lights for example)

when do you need a relay?
when do you need a fuse?


how do you know what type of gauge wire to use?...

these are all hypothetical questions that don't require an answer (just thinking out loud)
BUT would appreciate an answer or a direction for a youtube video or thread that can help with simple wiring questions like these....
Click to expand...

Well yes it's hard to sum all that up in one post. I WILL try to get you some tutorial links. But some short answers

Concern for all 3 at different times
More amperage draw, bigger wire, there are numerous charts available to help.

Not all switches require all that, long as answer for that one.
Always use fuses on new powered circuits
Relays are needed when the load is to big for the switch.

The dimmer is NOT a switch, it's a rheostat, my guess is it's rated for amperage, and very low, but should be no problem for interior lights, lots of them.

:couch2:
 
infamousRNR said:
ok so it sounds like electrical wiring is a piece of cake to everyone but even with a diagram i am still lost....is it wattage i need to be concerned about? or amperage? or volts?...what is that dimmer switch rated for? 5 watts? for 12volts?...

i guess i need to do electrical for beginners but what i've concluded is:

all switches need:
~ power - yes
~ ground - sometimes, but at least a low side. A simple toggle may be 2 pole
~ source (lights for example) - if you mean connected to something to act on, then yes

when do you need a relay? - You use a relay to switch a large current load. You can use a toggle switch on the relay trigger which requires a very small current to activate. Simplest way to think of it is, use a relay when you dont want a large current running through the dash switch. Like say HID lights, you can send milliamps through the dash switch to trigger the relay and let the relay switch the 30 amp load.


when do you need a fuse? - always, you can protect your dimmer, any questionable wiring with a fuse. A fuse will blow and break the circuit before anything is damaged

how do you know what type of gauge wire to use?... - use a wire gauge chart. Its a function of amperage, length, and acceptable voltage drop. Google has many.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
TheDurk said:
Here are two great sites:

Car Alarm, Car Stereo, Mobile Video, and Cruise Control Info for Installers

Basic Car Audio Electronics

But as far as illumination of a boost gauge goes, just connect it as I suggested and you'll be fine--no fuse (you're tapping a fused wire) no relay
(load is trivially small). 14 gauge wire is fine. 16 would work, but it is mechanically frail and I won't use it unless it's in a box.
Click to expand...

The first site The12volt .com is my go to for unusual relay set ups. They assume you know a little, but the diagrams are really good. So even if you don't know, you know.

For a more basic understanding of DC circuits, you can look at this site. Read the basic, try to understand it, go out to a battery with some wires and a light and duplicate the diagrams/pictures. You'll get it!

Direct Current (DC) Electrical Circuits by Ron Kurtus - Succeed in Understanding Physics: School for Champions

:grouphug:
 
infamousRNR said:
with this said... what wattage do all the lights add up to in the dash?

i suppose i don't entirely know what lights i would light to add these too...just trying to see if ANYTHING was possible

i was thinking some LED lights that I'm wiring into my door's that shine through the speaker holes and where you can store stuff in the side pockets....

i don't think i was ever intending on this dimmer switch powering anything that would be more than 10w lets say...
Click to expand...

Just a note, LED's and Dimming devices, don't always play nice with each other.
 
infamousRNR said:
what did you end up hooking this dimmer up to?
Click to expand...

See posts 6, and 9 of this thread. Worked great. Just used a couple wire taps... A bit tricky as you have to remove some sheathing from the wire bundle. Then I ran it to the boost gauge ... I'll see if I can figure out how to post a pic 5 drinks deep, and ready to pass out! Drilled a 1/2" hole Behind the gauge to fit the wires and boost line.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    126.8 KB · Views: 1,802
Last edited:
TheDurk said:
I honestly don't know what else you could need to know...positive to green, negative to white w/green stripe.
Click to expand...

Using this type of switch, should hooking up wire #3 to the green and #4 to white/green yield the desired effect of having the switch LED dim along with the factory switches/dash lights? Thanks
517rrzfp7fL._SL1000_.jpg

61-QbZoyu8L._SL1024_.jpg
 

Attachments

  • 517rrzfp7fL._SL1000_.jpg
    517rrzfp7fL._SL1000_.jpg
    47 KB · Views: 1,835
  • 61-QbZoyu8L._SL1024_.jpg
    61-QbZoyu8L._SL1024_.jpg
    81.8 KB · Views: 9,914
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 905 (members: 8, guests: 897)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,089
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top