Reverse Glow gauges 1999 Camry

[kdrk]

Recently, I put in reverse glow gauges for my 1999 Camry, which look sweet by the way.

But at night, when the headlights automatically turn on, the lights for the dash all go out, leaving only the reverse glow gauges on. And the dimmer switch doesn't work on that. But it's not a big problem, because during the day, it works fine, it's only at night that this happens.

And I'm pretty sure the gauges aren't drawing power from the dimmer, because the gauges are hooked up to the headlight fuse.

So does anybody know anything about this?

[war0827]

I just installed my indiglo gauges on my car like 2 days ago. When I installed it, it was a pain in the a$$ without the instruction manual. so i had to do it all myself even though i didn't know what the hell i was doing. But hey, I learn by doing.

After i finished, it looked awesome. when the lights kick in automatically, the gauges work perfectly.

Make sure the positive wire is hooked up to a live wire (usually when you pull out your stock gauge, there's 3 adapters with a bunch of wires. find one that goes live when you turn your lights on and hook up the positive wire to it. There's a device, don't know what its called, that lights up when you put the end of it against a live wire.) Usually there is a bolt behind the gauges, I just unscrewed it and wrapped the negative wire around it and screwed it back on again.

make sure all connections are secure.

[kdrk]

are you sure that will definitely solve it? because it's all the lights that the dimmer switch controls, such as the radio, temperature knobs, etc.

[88 LE]

Originally posted by kdrk
are you sure that will definitely solve it? because it's all the lights that the dimmer switch controls, such as the radio, temperature knobs, etc.

You have a blown fuse or a faulty dimmer switch.

By the way wrapping a wire around a fuse is a no no. The correct way to wire it up is to splice it into the parking light wire.

Use a DMM to find the correct wire.

1. Black lead from DMM to ground. Red lead from DMM to any of the wires (pick one) going into the guage cluster.

2. Turn on the parking lights and the meter should jump to +12V if you have the right wire. If you don't see +12V move onto another wire.

3. When you find the correct wire turn the parking lights on and off a few times to verify. It should jump from 0 (off) to +12V (on) everytime you turn on the parking lights.

[war0827]

splicing is what i meant, i just couldn't think of the word at the time. sorry.

[Hamsterman]

i have messed with my gauges a lot, indiglo...leds...back to indiglo... now leds... here is the easiest way to run your reverse/indiglo gauges, and to activate any gauge pilar ligths you put in...
take out a 194 bulb for the cluster and attach the positve to the postive termainl on that bulb and negative on the negative terminal... no splicing no nothing, just tapping wires, then whenever your main guages are on, the pilar gauges come on, or indiglo/reverse, nice thing is now you need no dimmer since the factory dimmer will control your gauges

[kdrk]

ok, so I checked the fuses and they're fine. But let me explain the situation more. most of you are familiar that the headlights turn on automatically at night or in the dark because of the sensor. well, I hooked my gauges into those so when they turn on, the gauges also turn on.

So now, at night, when they turn on, all the lights for the radio and the control knobs turn off completely. They still work, it's just that there's no light for them. I was thinking that they aren't getting enough power, but I wouldn't know how to solve that. what do you guys think?

[kdrk]

isn't there anybody who can help me?

[epborden]

My best thoughts on this, would be to find another wire for power or another wire that turns on when you turn the lights on manually. Otherwise you could be right abou them not getting enough power, or you have a blow fuse.

Best of luck though man

[88 LE]

Originally posted by kdrk
isn't there anybody who can help me?

Dude, did you not see my post above?

I explained in detail how you can fix it by connecting the power wire for the guages to the parking light wire.

[kdrk]

whoops, my bad. Thanks for the help

[kdrk]

Hey guys, thanks for all the advice. I finally fixed it, but you'll never guess how stupid the solution was. All I had to do was to plug the bundle of wires back into the dimmer switch. I was kicking myself for an hour after I found that. So now it works