How to remove dimmer switch?

[ryanprins13]

ryan, how are your stock gauges lit so well? Mine aren't lit so nicely, think a dim green glow.

Your talking about my post #8 from the other day with my new car right?
All the bulbs work. Lol. There are 4 bulbs up there. My old festiva i would replace the bulbs but it was still never bright. Even with new bulbs they would work with the instrument cluster out, push it in and screw it back and the bulbs would go out. I think the wiring was bad. I could never see my instrument cluster in the old car very well for 10yrs. This new one is awesome
But its just because all the bulbs work.

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[93FestyEh]

That's the pic.

Hmmm I read that there are only 2 bulbs up there when you don't have a tach. I guess I'll just have to take out my cluster and take a look, maybe I have 2 burned out bulbs.

[WmWatt]

Heard of a couple of old lady musicians whose speedometr broke but they knew how fast they were going by the musical notes the engine made.

[93FestyEh]

So it turns out tapping into the red/green wire means full power to the tach & vacuum gauge lights. Trying to figure out how to make the light dimmable. Sigh.

[Rick the Quick]

Hey guys is this the my first vacuum guage thread?



That's a stock standard instrument cluster from a 1981 Holden Commodore VC 3.3 litre 6 cylinder manual sedan.

That dash reminds me of an old Ford Ranger. Is Holden a GM brand? Some Pontiacs from the mid 60's had factory vacuum gauges. I never understood why they had a vacuum gauge instead of a tach. Gas was all of 30 cents a gallon back then. Unfortunately I was too young to drive. I might be old but I ain't that old....LOL.

[93FestyEh]

What a stupid dimmer switch wiring setup. I was able to wire the positive wire for tach/vacuum illumination to the green/red wire and the ground to the red/white wire and it works *except* when I turn the dimmer down it turns the RPM up. Not sure how to fix that.

[ryanprins13]

So it turns out tapping into the red/green wire means full power to the tach & vacuum gauge lights. Trying to figure out how to make the light dimmable. Sigh.

What a stupid dimmer switch wiring setup. I was able to wire the positive wire for tach/vacuum illumination to the green/red wire and the ground to the red/white wire and it works *except* when I turn the dimmer down it turns the RPM up. Not sure how to fix that.

Ha! Thats almost funny. I can probably get you a wiring diagram tomorrow if that helps?
I never tapped into that because my dash lights were so dim i needed em full brightness always. I used a seperate dimmer for the gauges.

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[bravekozak]

All instrument illumination grounds through the dimmer.
It sounds like you have current flowing in the opposite direction.
The wire colors are correct.
You may require a diode.

What happens if you bypass the dimmer and ground the tach illumination.
Does it the RPM still go up when you turn the dimmer down?