Instrument Light Dimmer

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 8:34 am

just found this

http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/electri ... -t890.html

Post by **indigolemon** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:02 am

Yo gents. I have a prefacelift UKDM car, and have the dash brightness dial. When I fitted my EL's, I swapped the whole dashboard loom across from a facelift car. Everything pretty much worked out of the box when I did it, wiki entry here:

http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/wiki/in ... celift_car

The dash brightness dial is a two parter. It rotates, and allows you to adjust the brightness, but it also clicks at the bright end, allowing you to force the dials to stay at full brightness even when the side/headlights are on. After the dial swap, the dimming stopped working, however - the click part still worked, so I can have full dash brightness and side/headlights on.

FINALLY, there is a wire behind the dash that is used to send the signal to the dimmer box telling it the headlights are on. If you were to splice into that, and fit a switch inline, you'd achieve the same effect. I'll try and find the colour code for that wire (been a while since I looked, was for my Brother in Law's lude).

[edit] Found it, the wire is "red with blue spots" and goes to 12v when the lights are turned on. You'd need to trace it about the dashboard, as there is a wire that goes into each cluster. if you could slap a switch on it though, mission accomplished for the bright dashboard when it's night time quest.

'92 Si VTEC · Post by **jjmartin349571** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:13 am

+ rep on that mate

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:57 am

uumm do you think its possible to just swap the intermitant wiper relay with an adjustable one, been looking at the wiring diagrams while looking at the dimmer and cluster wiring, cant see any reason why not. dont know why but i fing the intermitent wiper setting annoying

its either to long a pause or to short

WHY CANT I GET IT INBETWEEN, EVEN CRAPPY CARS HAVE THIS FEATURE. oops sorry.

Post by **indigolemon** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:12 am

littlefeller wrote:uumm do you think its possible to just swap the intermitant wiper relay with an adjustable one, been looking at the wiring diagrams while looking at the dimmer and cluster wiring, cant see any reason why not. dont know why but i fing the intermitent wiper setting annoying its either to long a pause or to short WHY CANT I GET IT INBETWEEN, EVEN CRAPPY CARS HAVE THIS FEATURE. oops sorry.

I swapped out the relay in my Volvo 850 for one from a Golf, didn't require any extra wiring etc, but had a little timer circuit internal to it. You turn the wipers to intermittent, then turn them off, wait the delay you want, then turn it back to intermittent again. It remembers the gap you left.

I'll check if the pinouts are the same! Would be a dead easy retrofit if they are.

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:58 am

that would be ace

Post by **indigolemon** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 11:43 am

Here's the relay, I'm still trying to find a pinout ...

[edit] Update! The ludes intermittent relay lives against the firewall in a rubber sheath in roughly this area:

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:17 pm

uum dont really need a pinout, the schemetric is on the outside casing. i would presume there is a small timer circuit operating the switch inside the relay. in the diagram, the square box with the arrow is the relay, while the other switch parts in the centre of the diagam is the timer circuit.

intresting, im gona have a hunt around on ebay and google and see what comes up

my only consern is the relay is powered via an intagrated control circuit

littlefeller · Post by **littlefeller** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 11:59 am

ok found the pinouts for the 99 relay, just need a cheap relay now. theres a few on ebay, however there not always cheap as they are used extensivly for upgrades and is a popular relay (every f*uckers doing it

)

Post by **indigolemon** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 12:24 pm

I got mine at a scrapyard. Cost me 50p

It's staying in the Volvo though.