I need some help installing some indiglo guages in my friends eclipse. The indiglos don't work "in the car". I connected the red wire to the green/white stripe, and the black to a ground. There was no glow still, and I know I have them wired just like my car. So I took the guages out and spliced them into a regular ac outlet plug. And plugged them in and they worked.:shrug So I was like OK, and put them back into the car and hooked everything up, and they still don't work. So I tested it with my cut up ac plug cord again and then they work. Whats the deal. Why do they only work in the house, and not in the car? I'd appreciate all the help I can get.

Originally posted by TXrepresent
I need some help installing some indiglo guages in my friends eclipse. The indiglos don't work "in the car". I connected the red wire to the green/white stripe, and the black to a ground. There was no glow still, and I know I have them wired just like my car. So I took the guages out and spliced them into a regular ac outlet plug. And plugged them in and they worked.:shrug So I was like OK, and put them back into the car and hooked everything up, and they still don't work. So I tested it with my cut up ac plug cord again and then they work. Whats the deal. Why do they only work in the house, and not in the car? I'd appreciate all the help I can get.

are you sure it's connected good to the green/white striped wire? Are you sure you have a good ground?

Ummm... wow. I cant believe you didnt fry yourself or start a fire doing that. Pretty bad idea. AC (House Current) and DC (12 Volt in the car) are completely different types of electricity.(thats putting it simply) Those gauges are most likely ruined. I dont believe they actually worked when you plugged them into the wall circuit. Probably going to have to get new ones.
In the future, if you need to test something that is 12V DV use a computer power supply, dont ever plug something into a wall outlet, lol.

-Chris b.

like /\ said....alternating current and direct current are totally differnt things....you'd ideally need an inverter....but thats so rediculous sounding I can't believe it!!! sorry.:nono

indiglo guages are best used in place of the stock guages

No, the guages aren't fried. I still can hook them up to my cut ac wire and they STILL WORK. I did have a good ground and good connection to the green/white wire. I even touched them directly to the battery terminals. I still don't understand why they only work when hooked up to my house. Oh, and by the way, you won't get injured by testing things like this. I do it all the time and haven't gotten burned yet!}(

Originally posted by TXrepresent
Oh, and by the way, you won't get injured by testing things like this. I do it all the time and haven't gotten burned yet!}(

Ya. okay. Just keep telling yourself this. :rolleyes
or you could listen to all of us... AC AND DC ARE NOT COMPATIBLE!!!

www.howstuffworks.com... good reading.

-Chris b.

hey maybe he's missing the inverter?
what kinda signal does the inverter that comes with indiglos put out to the gauges?
haha maybe like since the inverter is used to convert +12v to whatever goes to the gauges, if he doesn't have the inverter or it isn't working properly then that's why the AC works? haha just an idea.. kinda makes sense since the color of the gauges is controlled by chaning frequency, right? wouldn't that imply some type of sinusoidal or alternating signal going from the inverter to the gauges?

quick someone go pull an indiglo gauge an plug it directly into an AC wall socket without using the inverter!

-marc

='95 RS 5spd Red=
Matrix TypeX CAI
A'pexi Turbo N1
NGK Plugs
Accel 8mm Wires
Nakayama GT5 17's
Ractive STB
GSX Calipers
AEM 12.5" X-Drilled/Slotted Rotors

255 is fricken short

You know, you may be right. He doesn't have an inverter box or even a dimmer box. He just got the guage overlays them selves. Where would I find one of these little boxes?

i dunno if they sell the inverter separate from the gauges... did you buy these used or somethin? if so you should ask the guy that sold it to you for the REST of the gauge parts :P

-marc

='95 RS 5spd Red=
Matrix TypeX CAI
A'pexi Turbo N1
NGK Plugs
Accel 8mm Wires
Nakayama GT5 17's
Ractive STB
GSX Calipers
AEM 12.5" X-Drilled/Slotted Rotors

255 is fricken short

Yeah, he got them used. One of his friends sold his car and ripped these off before he sold it. So all I did was wire all the guages together and tried to hook them up to the car. Is there a generic inverter I could use for this. Or is he just screwed. Or maybe someother way I could light them up?

i'm not really sure how universal inverters are.. especially since different inverters are setup to provide a different range of colors and intensities (frequencies and apmlitudes).

-marc

='95 RS 5spd Red=
Matrix TypeX CAI
A'pexi Turbo N1
NGK Plugs
Accel 8mm Wires
Nakayama GT5 17's
Ractive STB
GSX Calipers
AEM 12.5" X-Drilled/Slotted Rotors

255 is fricken short

Did you guages come with a fuse and fuse holder thing? I had a problem with mine up untill yesterday that my guages would only work certain times and just die. It was caused by the fuse and the holder. I guess they didn't keep a good connection. Try connecting the power wire from the guage straight to the battery. check to see if you are actually getting any voltage at the trans. check ground also.

There was no fuse box. I just need a way to convert the ac power to dc. Weird, huh?:shrug

nah ya need to conver the DC from your car battery a useful AC signal to light up the gauges. i'm sure you could find a generic inverter somewhere but i think the application for indiglos is pretty specific as far as output voltage and frequency

-marc

='95 RS 5spd Red=
Matrix TypeX CAI
A'pexi Turbo N1
NGK Plugs
Accel 8mm Wires
Nakayama GT5 17's
Ractive STB
GSX Calipers
AEM 12.5" X-Drilled/Slotted Rotors

255 is fricken short