Stumped at tripping out......

[Demon James]

how i'm looking at it , could well be wrong , & its my eyes or monitor or both!! , the red live (A) for the bulbs is connected to the gauge mounting brace one side , while the other side is used for the negative ( ground wire ) (B) unless in not seeing every thing , the whole lot is metal , soon as you connect it up , it blows a fuse as its like touching + & - together

just connect the three red lives for the bulbs together with a bullit or butt connector , don't have the reds bolted to the gauge mounted stud bracket / brace thingy , because that's grounded with the black wires ! or it looks it , from where I am sitting

now if the gauge mounting studs & mounting brace are individually insulated , ignore what ive just said

Steveo.........

That will deffo be the problem then.

Sorry no side views until later, but this is the issue I think....

All instructions are per this.....
http://www.carid.com/images/sunpro/cust ... ctions.pdf

The Voltmeter has rubber mounting boots between the gauge clamp and the terminals. Both Water temp and oil pressure do not. So by my working then at the very least both these are basically mated together through the clamp and blowing the fuse????

Also found the other instructions on line.......................What a muppet............

http://www.carid.com/images/sunpro/cust ... ctions.pdf

I've gone and read the electrical gauge installation section and done that........

So please confirm.............?

I do not require power feeds to the middle and right gauge as they are mechanical. I only need power and earth from the voltmeter.

The two posts on these are purely for mounting................?

Help is much appreciated chaps............

Looks like youv'e got it sussed mate, you only need a dash light feed to each of the thin reds to come on with the existing dash lights.

The thin black wires can connect to a good ground, as Dave999 says this wont work unless the cluster is metal and mounted to a grounded part of the car.

So all the larger wires can go except the two on the volt meter as you say they are insulated between the "U" clamp and the threaded studs. Is that also a thin reddish insulating sheet behind the clamp on the volt meter?

[Demon James]

Just the two Dave? Is there only room for the first ten?

yeah yeah fixed it....

Sorry mate, slow day here so had to amuse myself for a fleeting moment

[Dave999]

no probs

i would have done the same...to myself....

Dave don't set it on fire.... if you do we'll have to call your Bernie fo the rest of your life...and that will wear thin very quick !!!


Dave

[Mossy68]

Dave81.
What did happen Saturday night ??????

[Dave81]

Thanks Chaps.......Sorted.

Removed the feed off of the two mechanical gauges (clue in the title ). Left the individual grounds, why not..........Tested perfectly at idle and under load with a 0.25v drop between battery and gauge (not too bad at all).

So I've started putting the dash back in bit by bit......Thanks again for all the help (MMA to the rescue) and helping me realise that Electrics are not my strong point.

Dave999.......Bernie it is then!

Gary,
Catalogue of errors and all self imposed without engaging brain or taking a breather (as the wife requested 15 min before hand).

Spent from 2pm to 8pm outside fabricating the mounting plate, wiring the gauges and trying to cross reference the wall mounted wiring diagram to the birds nest of wiring behind the dash. Found my feed (as above), cut and ready to go.

Got called for dinner so car went back in the garage......this is where I should have finished as it had already taken twice as long as expected due to only having a metric 40mm holesaw for imperial 41mm gauges.

At 9pm I decide that I just wanted to test the gauges worked, so told the wife '15min love'. Plugged into wiring, put the battery in and nothing. So out with the multimeter to test the radio feed........nothing (I now know this is because of my wiring the mech gauges, i shorted and popped the fuse in the engine bay).

Earlier in the day upon looking under the dash, I'd found a black wire which was a constant live feed..........obviously one that one of the previous owners had butchered for something and taped it with a '+' tag.

Another testing point then.........

So in my quest to appease the wife who was less than impressed that I was still tinkering after 7 hours, I hooked the live feed on the gauges to that.

Went to engine bay and connected battery............

Luckily I had the gauge just hanging out of the dash..........as in the second it took for me to walk from battery to divers door and put my head in the window, the white smoke turned to orange flame and me requiring new underware.

Unhooked the battery while using long words I wouldn't use infront of my mother, grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran to the door!

Disconnecting the battery had stopped the fire plus the copper connection on live and ground on my gauge cluster had fried and disconnected naturally, so no need to white powder the entire interior!

Filled the garage with white smoke and probably took a few years off of my life at the same time (nasty stuff)!

Spent the next 2 hours visiting the car to make sure nothing had re-ignited, much to the wife's displeasure!

So mistakes made,
#I misread the instructions and hooked up two mech gauges to an electrical source hence inducing a power surge and short.
# The 8 amp wiring was not quite up to the task of handling the full power of an unfused wire from a 640CCA battery (again misread the instructions, should have been 15amp at least). On the positive side that mess up lead to my new wiring being the sacrificial wire within the whole circuit......it could have taken all the dash wiring with it!:shock:, could have been a different story then!!
# I didn't push the car back out of the garage, the same one that has a exposed wooden beam flat room and the gas supply to the whole house, plus the boiler all within 1 meter or the car/flash point.

The biggest thing is that I tried to Bananarama! after 7 hours, when I should have just gone back out the next morning! Being knackered whilst trying to do stuff that's pushing my limits of expertise almost cost me big time.

All in all one MASSIVE Bananarama! UP!!!

Positive note: I won't do it again in a hurry, and i'll only ever work on the car like that outside!!!



Stupid BOY..........

[MilesnMiles]

Easily done , Dave when you are tired.
Walk away, spend time with wife and child, drink beer.
Start fresh again the next day

[sinny]

Nice to know I'm not the only one the Bananarama! wiring up!!

Glad you got it sorted mate.

[Mossy68]

Scary stuff Dave
I think we've all frazzled some wires in our time !!!

[cadboy]

It happens Dave, that is why these jobs takes for ever, no need to rush them.

But we all do it.