I bought some white gauge faces off Ebay for my 89 Ranger supercab probably close to a year ago. They're actually for an Explorer, so the brake light's in the wrong place, but that isn't an issue.

Usually people wire these into the headlamp dimmer, but my dad looked at the wiring diagram and saw that the radio, and a bunch of other accessories are all on that same circuit, and it would be more efficient to wire them right into the connector going to the gauges themselves. So we did that, using those little quick connector clips, and they worked pretty well, up until about 6 monthes later. Now, whenever I have my dimmer turned all the way up, they start to flicker, or fade. If I turn the dimmer down a bit, they work fine. Another problem I'm having, is my dome light doesn't always come on when you turn it on from the headlight dimmer switch. You have to turn it all the way over, and then force it over a couple of times before it'll turn on.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm not much of an electrical guy and my dad's not usually accessable for me to ask him.

Mathius

My Explorer OHC flickers when I use the dimmer control. I have yet to find the reason behind it but I am sure it is probably the same culprit.

Im not that good on electrical but i hooked mt gauges to the headllight switch, so when the when you turn the parking lights the gauges come. its worked fine for me. ive had mine for about 7 mths and no problem. pain in the a** to get dash apart but even in my directions they state dont hook up to the dimmer switch. about other problem ths might take care it. good luck. hope this helps

the dimmer switch is a potentiometer which is a varible resisitor....It might be kind of dirty inside and not making good contact when it needs to draw a certain a mount of current...try some electrical contact cleaner...or it might just be too much of a load for it to handle...soccer jimmy does have a good point...thats a good idea but sometmes those gauges get too bright

MY GAUGES CAME WITH A 2 COLOR SELECTER SWITCH ANDLALSO A DIMMER CONTROL . IM NOT SURE IF MATHIUS' GAUGES CAME WITHONE OR NOT

Originally posted by soccorjimmy
MY GAUGES CAME WITH A 2 COLOR SELECTER SWITCH ANDLALSO A DIMMER CONTROL . IM NOT SURE IF MATHIUS' GAUGES CAME WITHONE OR NOT

Mine came with those also, but they do work to a certain extent with the headlamp dimmer switch. However, they don't turn down as low as the switch will go, they just sortof shut off after a small interval.

I'll have to try cleaning the contacts next time I have it apart, maybe that's all it is.

Mathius

Make sure you actually dont have the indiglos hooked up to a dim'able power source. You want them hooked to the park lights.

I would check your dimmer switch if you are having flickering problems.

Originally posted by smdandb2
Make sure you actually dont have the indiglos hooked up to a dim'able power source. You want them hooked to the park lights.

I would check your dimmer switch if you are having flickering problems.

would hooking them up to a dimmable power source fry them? that's how i had mine so that I wouldn't have to drill holes to mount the switch panel they came with. I always leave my gauges at full brightness (i have never had any problem with the dash lights in any car being too bright i dunno why everyone complains about this). I say I "had" them this way because now they don't turn on at all but it's too cold outside for me to tear my dash apart to rewire them. if i get a chance maybe i'll quickly wire them to a plug and plug them into my 12v outlet and see if they still work. they looked so nice (they were the one's where the whole thing doesn't light up, just the numbers and some circles and such. :( i miss them and it's so hard to see the gauges at night now.

my gauge faces decided to start glowing again yesterday.. good thing because it's currently -10ºC here and i'm not about to go outside to fix them. But is there actually danger in wiring them so that the can be dimmed with the oem dimmer? i figured that since they came with their own dimmer switch it's all the same.. aren't they all just rheostats anyways?

Originally posted by myndfi3ld
my gauge faces decided to start glowing again yesterday.. good thing because it's currently -10ºC here and i'm not about to go outside to fix them. But is there actually danger in wiring them so that the can be dimmed with the oem dimmer? i figured that since they came with their own dimmer switch it's all the same.. aren't they all just rheostats anyways?

As long as you dont dim the OEM dimmer, you should be OK. The power boxes are fairly sensitive to power.

Originally posted by smdandb2
As long as you dont dim the OEM dimmer, you should be OK. The power boxes are fairly sensitive to power.

i never dim the oem dimmer, but sometimes it accidentally gets dimmed (i have a 94, so the headlight switch/dimmer is a pull/rotate knob, and sometimes it gets turned a little but i just turn it back up.

i had a similar problem in my 93 last year, i replaced the headlight/dimmer switch and the problem was solved. turned out to be in the old one the coil had broke and was only making contact sometimes; hence the flickering.

My LED Needle Glow Kit, I got from import-intelligence.com says I can connect them to the factory dimmer control. However, I noticed about 2 weeks ago that the one for the oil was flickering and went out, and also the one for the fuel did the same thing. They would work when I first turn them on then after being on for awhile this will start to happen. Anyone know why? If I turned off the car and turn it on they would all be bright then the little ones for the (oil, fuel, temp,etc..) would dim, but the Tach and Speedo are fine. Let me know what you guys think? Thanks.

Originally posted by Y2J
My LED Needle Glow Kit, I got from import-intelligence.com says I can connect them to the factory dimmer control. However, I noticed about 2 weeks ago that the one for the oil was flickering and went out, and also the one for the fuel did the same thing. They would work when I first turn them on then after being on for awhile this will start to happen. Anyone know why? If I turned off the car and turn it on they would all be bright then the little ones for the (oil, fuel, temp,etc..) would dim, but the Tach and Speedo are fine. Let me know what you guys think? Thanks.

Your problem lies right here:

I got from import-intelligence.com

That's an oxymoron if I've ever seen one.

:E :E

Originally posted by myndfi3ld
(i have a 94, ...

Just out of curiousity have you put a fuse on your headlights circuitry yet... Might want to consider doing so.... Could save you a lot of time, money and damage...
-Doug

Hi,
I usually don't have any trouble adding electrical accessories to my Ranger, but these new glow gages are driving me crazy. I attached the ground wire to a common ground point I used for several other accessories, and connected the power wire to the BROWN wire on the headlight on/off switch. I also tried tying into the cig lighter power line and a different ground point,but the gages still won't work.Did I fry the power inverter? Is the brown wire a good place to connect for power? I am gonna give this one last shot before I heave these new glow gages out the window.....the only thing glowing so far is my red face from being P*^&* Off! Thanks!