Now I've searched & searched & I remember reading a very simple & elegant way to run another powerwire from the battery through the firewall under the dash to a distributor block of sorts that you can tap all your gauges into. Then hooking up a relay? to the ignition or lighting to make the power only come on when car is on or lights are on.

Dave left me spaghetti for wiring w/out a map, rhyme, or reason for all this. I know I've got an electrical drain or short in it all somewhere & I've already cut alot of it out. I want to get all this running on it's own line, not everything through the cig.

Does anyone know how or remember what I'm talking about?

Thanx!!
- J

You can run wires from the gromet in the passenger's side foot well. YOu can also slip a wire through the steering boot, or in my case, all of the above plus drilling a hole to the upper right of the brake fluid reservoir.

I appologize, I think I need to ask a lil better...

How do you hook up a relay? to a dedicated power wire run directly from the battery through the firewall (where ever it comes through) so that power is only applied when either a.) Car turns on, or b.) Lights turn on?

... I'm by no means an electrician, so pleaz explain for a kindergartner if you can.

I want this:

BATTERY
    |
    |
   --- (firewall)
    |
    ^
   / \
  /   \
 R     R (relay?)
 ^     ^
|||   |||
GAUGES

I assume it's a type of relay, what kind would I get, from where? What wires would I tap to trigger the relay, still the cig & cig light? I just dunno. Hoping you can help me out...

Any idea? Am I even close?
- J

Oh I got that too. You need to get a relay, most likely at autozone since that is where I got mine and they handle the type of power used in a car. There should be schematics on how the relay works. For example, one post of the relay is the "gate switch", It is hooked up to the accesories or lights power line. When that gate recieves power, it allows power to flow from the "main power" line and that is a post from the battery to the relay. Another post on the relay is the ground, that's self-explanatory, and the other post is where you can tap for power for your gauges. Remember to run a inline fuse between the battery on the mainline, and the relay post.

Again, please note that the schematics are in the back of the relay box. It's very simple and just follow the general directions above, as applied to the scehmatic..

make sure you use a 1a fuse on each gauge.

www.cnnmotorsports.com

Okay, thanx Jezreel, so basically just go to AutoZone & ask them for a relay... notta prob (I'm assuming then it's not on the "Help" isle & there's only 1x to choose) I can handle that. I'm sure all will be explained then when I see the schematics then. Will be sure to ask them which.

Extreme, I know the gauges are expensive & should be protected w/ fuses... but why do you say 1amp fuse on each? Wouldn't it be better/simpler to put a larger fuse before the relay for all of them or can 1x still blow if large enough draw? I dunno, just asking...

I looked @ Radio Shack for this type of stuff but really didn't find anything Xcept a cheap lil 2x circuit plastic & metal distributor that I think I'll be using to connect everything. Also looked @ audio/video power connectors (Much nicer), but they're for too large a wire than I'm using here so they didn't really help. No bling here I guess.

P.S.
I'm loving your exhaust manifold & water cooling!!!!!

Thanx!
- J

I suppose you could just use 1 fuse for all the gauges however if you run into a problem with one gauge you will loose all of them. Just a suggestion. Individual fuses is the way I have mine setup.

www.cnnmotorsports.com

not sure if i did mine right but they all work and don't blow up. two autometer carbon fiber gauges on the a piller(boost egt) and a innovate wideband (xm-1) then i have two more cf in the stock gauge cluster both electirc(oil temp and pressure) and i have a electric fuel pressure and nitrous pressure in the middle air vent slots. i ran one ground to each location. then i ran a fused power line that turns on when the ignition is on to each location and tapped the gauge power into that. then i found the wire for my aftermarket alarm that blinks the lights and tapped that for the gauge lights. they all work fine and have not blown up yet.