on/off switches - how do they work

how do those on/off switches work?

i think they are tacky for a street car but am only considering using it for backlighting on my aftermarket gauges i recently installed in my gtr

reason being is because after combing through the fsm and making a few posts on gtrc, no one seems to know the wire(s) that control the headlights (from off/daytime/nightime lights - and i dont wanna cut into every wire in the harness (6 in total, very little room to splice/crimp wires)

ideally i would only like my backlighting to come on with my nightime lights.

however, if i can keep constant power, which is my current setup (to make sure everything worked), could i use an on/off switch to control the backlighting? i would ideally put it somehwere hidden like under the steering wheel area.

i have on in my possession right now from the kouki clip i had. but i have no idea how they work or how theyre set up

ill post pics of it tommarow if this would work

or if anyone has idea’s as to how to set up my baclighting properly. i know there guys on here running aftermarket gauges with proper baclighting setups, so hopefully someone can chime in

you should just be able to probe the switch in your car with a multimeter/test light and find the wire that gets 12 volts when the headlights are on.

i got my gauge lights wired up so they only come on when i turn on my headlights. is that what you want to do? I forgot how i wired them up but i can check if thats what your looking for. Im pretty sure i used a multimeter to check which wire was hot when the lights came on, and just wired in a relay. its a good idea to run a 12 gage wire right off the battery to a terminal strip to run other accessories in the cockpit, instead of tapping into other wires for power. then off the terminal you can run relays.

that was my original plan

but… im an idiot and dont know how to use my multichecker i have haha

that is still my most viable option once i learn how to use it.

and minimum, i am currentlyu off of battery for my constant power, but essentialyl i want to hook them up to my headlights. ill have to learn how to use my multi-checker

i got it for christmas and dont have a clue - its an equuis version something something

ill have to research it

matty, why dont you just ask me you know i will help, go to ct and get a circuit adder, its a fuselike jumper that you would put in place of your headlight fuse, you retain the headlight fuse and add a new circuit(your gauge lights) in which you just run the power lead to the 12v on your gauges, and when you turn on the headlights the gauges will come on, if you want to get really slick and make them dim with the dimmer, let me know i can figure that out for you if you really want (its not a hassle i just want to sound really intellegent haha) bottom line let me know ill help ya out

90sohc… PLEASE DO A WRITE UP!!!
that would be a faq i would be very intrested in… i would deff do it aswell with the dimmer… that would be SWEEEEEEEEEEEEt

all i know is jumping into too many constant lines can cause hassles… once i jumped into a 12volt (lic plate light) power for an exhaust LED (yea the crap one from canadian tire… it was on a cavy… dont ask… not my car…) and the lic plate light went out… unplugged the tapped LED and the lic plate light came back on…

its cus you had too much draw on the system probably due to a bad ground, normally i would only jump a fuse and put it into a relay that way there is almost no load on the parent system but because the gauge lights draw almost no power just run it straight off the tap. ill get a harness printout this weekend and see where the dimmer wire is for a 240, you can get it off google if you look hard enough, one you do just tap of that line and run it to your gauge lights. also if you have an aftermarket radio, the harness will probably have an orange wire that says dimmer on it, you can use that if it is powered. it is hit or miss as every car is different, some of the radio harness dimmer wires are powered some are not.

stevo, ill be out there tommarow buttoning some things up

if your in town, give me a shout

gas station or house ill be around for a little while

off the top of my head, the cluster and dash backlighting is red wire w/ blue stripe

look it up in the FSM dude… its all there

been looking at the fsm all day, couldnt locate any info

your right tho spd dmn, there is a red wire with blue stripe

and ill be at my house steve

905-359-7358 (cell)