Anyone had any luck hooking these up to the dimmer switch yet?? Put mine in tonight and DAMN they do look great but they are a bit bright and distracting.

yea, i had the same thought,was going to take it to a sparky...get him to do it,but if anyone knows a simple way to do it,ide give it a crack. :cool:

they're not too bad once you get use to it :)

Yeah first time i drove at night with em they were a bit bright but had em in for bout 2 weeks now and im used to it, i love em.

and so does everyone else. ahhahahaah

I hooked them up to the dimmer switch but the problem is, as well as being a variable earth, they keep switching of because the module attached senses voltage. When it drops to low they turn off. This means that every time they turn on, if the dimmer is set to low they turn off. BUGGER

because they have an inverter ( little black box with wires coming out of it ) they require a certain voltage for the inverter to convert the power to the requirements, if the In power drops bellow a certain level, which is what happens when u dim your lights, the inverter cannot run therefore it switches off your lights.

so does every1 still have the seperate switch still setup?

do you guys all have em in your 3rd gens? Does anyone have it in a second?

the dials in question are made for 3rd gens
i do believe a company does make them for second gens tho.

no body in the club has them to the best of my knowledge

theres a link somewhere in the forums the companies called emtech automotive i was just wondering if anyone has them yet cos they look pretty snazzy

theres a link somewhere in the forums the companies called emtech automotive i was just wondering if anyone has them yet cos they look pretty snazzy


talk to ant0ne...he has EL dials in his 2nd gen

as for the voltage thing, i think photoboy is right. the inverter requires the voltage to run.

OK, I think the only solution after some experimentation is to fit a dimmer to the gauges after the inverter. If anyone can work out what it needs to be that would be great. I imagine it would be some kind of trim pot or similar.

As far as hooking the gauges up to come on with the lights, I had no luck. By removing the switch and bridging the connection ( so it thinks it is always on) it resets every time the power is switched off, thereby needing to be switched back on again.
I'm sure there are some brainy people out there who are more than capable of making these great little numbers even better.

By the way, has anyone noticed any difference in the speedo accuracy?? I don't know if I have the same as everyone else as I bought mine independtly but they only go to 180 km/h. Original went to 240 km/h.......

OK, I think the only solution after some experimentation is to fit a dimmer to the gauges after the inverter. If anyone can work out what it needs to be that would be great. I imagine it would be some kind of trim pot or similar.

As far as hooking the gauges up to come on with the lights, I had no luck. By removing the switch and bridging the connection ( so it thinks it is always on) it resets every time the power is switched off, thereby needing to be switched back on again.
I'm sure there are some brainy people out there who are more than capable of making these great little numbers even better.

By the way, has anyone noticed any difference in the speedo accuracy?? I don't know if I have the same as everyone else as I bought mine independtly but they only go to 180 km/h. Original went to 240 km/h.......


My father who is a technician was able to find a way around the on/off situation, involved a little circuit worked it out for another members car,

the reason u can not simply bridge those connectors is because the inverter senses electrical pulses,

I bought these diamante dials over 2 years ago and it included a dimmer nob, a color changing switch and did not include this on off switch, oh and they also deleted the fuse( mine included a fuse on power wire) for some reason they have changed all this.

so any chance you might share this info with us?? be nice to your dad for us :D

so any chance you might share this info with us?? be nice to your dad for us :D
yea,...what he said :)

OK, brain is starting to work. I figure getting a dimmer switch out of another vehicle (I'm goona get one that fits next to the factory one) and hook that up after the inverter. Should work fine. All we need is to get SOMEONE to share the circut info from their DADDY!!! :P

come on share with the community.:D

I use the switch that was supplied and stuck it to the right of the centre console underneath my ciggy tray.

Anyway, for those that find them too brigh, you could night shades the clear plastic. Then turn on the dials day and night for the lexus look. I thought about it but then it would be more difficult to see the already difficult to see the needles. Oh well just a thought :D

Trudged off down to the wreckers today and grabbed a dimmer from a gj sigma. Hooked it up and it works a treat. Bit flickery right down low they're to dull to see anyway. Must say, a lot easier on the eye!!! Piece of cake to wire in: it gets bridged between the power wires after the inverter.

Now all i'm waiting on is someone to come forth with the switch circuit!!! :confused:

Hey madna, quick explaination of where/how the dimmer was installed etc?? Did you wire that into the wires that run to the guages themselves??

Okay, dimmer switches are just variable resistors. All I did was bridged the 2 wires that come out of the inverter TO ( the one that hass all the connectors on it)the guages NOT the power wires to the inverter. Bridging these will not allow the unit to work as the voltage is to low and the inverter drops out.
The dimmer I bought has three pins on it, 2 power and one earth. In this application the earth wire as not used as it ends up putting out voltage and needs to be insulated to ensure you don't have a short etc.

My father who is a technician was able to find a way around the on/off situation, involved a little circuit worked it out for another members car,


C'mon Dude, still waiting here. Any luck yet?

sorry dude completely forgot, its basically a timing circuit as the inverter works on pulses it slows them down, i will find out exactly what parts etc

Thanks dude, I'm sure we'd all appreciate it :D

Any joy with the circuit??

My father who is a technician was able to find a way around the on/off situation, involved a little circuit worked it out for another members car,


hehehe..... that's me (my car)!!! *rubs it in*

Im sick of this stupid switch that comes with the dials. The damn dials switch themselfes off once in a while. Turns out the switch is sticky or doesn't pop back up, or makes some sort of contact. I dunno. Would a normal on/off switch work? Coz this switch works on a pulse, so im thinking not. Just want to get confirmed. So what can be done to just change the switch?

Im sick of this stupid switch that comes with the dials. The damn dials switch themselfes off once in a while. Turns out the switch is sticky or doesn't pop back up, or makes some sort of contact. I dunno. Would a normal on/off switch work? Coz this switch works on a pulse, so im thinking not. Just want to get confirmed. So what can be done to just change the switch?

just pop down to dick smiths and get a momentary switch, i gots one

clicky (http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/431539460b69d280273fc0a87f9c070f/Product/View/P7568)

Well, i got the new switch, recrimped the power cables, and made sure it has good contact. However the stupid dials still turn off, and sometimes dont turn on at all. I think that black relay?? is stuffed and need a new one. Gees, i wonder if that company can send me a new one. grrrrrr

we sell the EL dials (white dials or illuminous dials). I have attach a couple of pics of them on 2nd and 3rd gen.

We usually hook them up to the ciggy lighter light, because that's straight pure power, and the earth is just a screw right next to it. Very easy. We have had problem with hooking it up to the dimmer switch before and we never tried again as it's much too difficult.

Good luck.

I dont have those dials. I have different ones. See attached pic. But yeah, i have it hooked up to the same area (ciggy).

Im getting a new one send from the supplier (the inverter) so in a couple of weeks, it will be up and running again. :)

we sell the EL dials (white dials or illuminous dials). I have attach a couple of pics of them on 2nd and 3rd gen.

We usually hook them up to the ciggy lighter light, because that's straight pure power, and the earth is just a screw right next to it. Very easy. We have had problem with hooking it up to the dimmer switch before and we never tried again as it's much too difficult.

Good luck.


These dials u sell how much are they and do you have to strip down the original cluster and bugger round settn up all the needles (just the dial face itself), or are these complete pod type ones

I went to the trouble of wiring mine up to the rear of the instrumment cluster. Traced the power through the factory wiring for the head lights. Wasn't to hard at all and it keeps it all together as one unit.

With the exception of the friggin on of switch that is. If ANYONE knows how to get around using the damn thing so the gauges can be hooked up to the factory stalk, it would be great to know.

It came to me last night at about 1am: the solution to my switch problem. The answer?? A 12v Relay, so simple eh!!

I hooked the relay up off the factory dimmer switch so when the park lights turn on it switches. Was simply a matter then of removing the momentary (push button) switch and connecting the wires to the switch in relay.

Now when I turn on the lights the gauges come on as well, just like they should. WOO HOOO!! :D

It came to me last night at about 1am: the solution to my switch problem. The answer?? A 12v Relay, so simple eh!!

I hooked the relay up off the factory dimmer switch so when the park lights turn on it switches. Was simply a matter then of removing the momentary (push button) switch and connecting the wires to the switch in relay.

Now when I turn on the lights the gauges come on as well, just like they should. WOO HOOO!! :D

OMG!!!
can ya make a simple walk through for us please:D
(and make it in s i m p l e terms, for the not so smart ones

cheers

sean

OMG!!!
can ya make a simple walk through for us please:D
(and make it in s i m p l e terms, for the not so smart ones

cheers

sean

i agree gree :D yes please!

OK

Power the relay as per the diagram (I made it S I M P L E for you).

I used the power and earth off the back of the dimmer switch. There are only three wires, the black one is earth, the other two are power. The middle wire is regualted from the switch. The outside coloured wire is 12v fed from the head light switch.

Hook this up first and if you did it right, when you turn on your park lights you will hear th relay click.

Then it is just a matter of cutting back the two black wires that go to the push switch before the connector. Connect these wires to the remaining two on the relay. It doesn't matter which way around you put them.

Test to make sure they come on when you switch your lights on and your done!!!

Provided you have your Gauges hooked up to Ignition power, NOT wired straight to the battery, they will switch of when you turn off the car. If you want to turn them off with the column switch just turn it on and off twice to trip the inverter.

Enjoy.

thanks heaps buddy, i think i understand :doubt:
i'll have a crack at it tomorrow

cheeers