Yalls.


I'm wiring up a voltmeter mounted by the shifter. I want the gauge to be powered with the ignition ON or in accessory mode (preferably ignition). I looked in my manual to determine which fuses in the fuse block will be live when key is in accessory mode, RADIO was my first choice. I tapped my wire into each of the legs in the radio fuse (i believe it was fuse 29?) but each one showed power even with keys out of the truck. Does anyone know which fuse I need to tap into to power the gauge when the key is in ignition?

Also, if the guage is powered 24/7 would I expect to drain the battery within like 3 days? Or is it okay to have it powered all the time? It's just a small iEquus analog voltmeter with a 90 degree sweep.

99 Ranger 3.0 4WD 5spd

Thanks!

 

Fuse 29 is hot all the time, it is for the radio but it is for the clock and radio presets, which needs power 24/7

Fuse 20 powers the radio when key is in RUN or ACC.

You should also use an inline fuse for the volt meter.
Pull out fuse 20 then turn key on and see which contact is hot, thats the "power" side of fuse, other side is the "Load", in this case the radio.
Hook your inline fuse to the "power" side.

Got that fuse information from here, 1999 Ranger Radio wiring diagram: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech...dio_Wiring.pdf

 

Where do i tap into for backlight illumination for the gauge? Which fuse is hot when the parking lamps are on?

 

Illumination isn't fused per say, light bulbs are fuses, if they short they burn out.

Since there is a dimmer function for these, I would tap the radio illumination wire in above diagram, light blue/red stripe wire.

Or you can go to the dimmer control but not sure where that is on a '99

Looks like any Light Blue/red stripe wire will work, lol.

Here is the 99 diagram

 

And where am I to find these alleged red and blue wires? I'm assuming a standard wire splice would be in order to secure backlight illumination at night?

 

You can get it from the fog light switch near the radio, or the radio itself. When I installed my volt meters, I am pulling the power from the cigarette lighter directly, and have a relay turn on the meter whenever the radio swith on by using the amp turn on circut off my after market head unit. My other volt meter runs fused to the second battery and the relay kicks it on as well

 

How do i get to the red and blue wire behind the head unit? I have an aftermarket deck.

 

I just wanted to confirm that fuse 20 is the one to wire into your gauge for keyed power. The RIGHT side of the fuse (facing the dashboard fuse panel) is the leg that you tap into for keyed power.

 

If you want to tie into the after market radio plug, it should be the orange or yellow/white that is listed for illumination dimmer.

But red/blue will be in the factory plug before you adapted it to your head unit harness.

 

Im probably gonna tap into a headlight wire for power. I have an HID kit installed. I will tap into the harness at the headlamp and draw from it

 

Head light switch "ilumination" wire, Light Blue/red stripe, would be the one, not the power wire.
Look at drawing.

There is also a wire in the steering wheel harness for the button back lights.

You will want the back light on the dimmer, trust me, it will irritate you that you didn't spend the extra 10 minutes to do it.

Yes just splice it to to the wire

 

Cant I just pop the **** off and pull out the headlight switch and wire into that? Or does it require me disassembling a bunch of ****?

 

You've got to pull that piece of the dash off. Head light switch comes off from the back side

 

Something to be aware of. That blue/red wire is voltage based dimming, not current based. Keep that in mind if your gauge isn't set up to handle this.

If it doesn't support dimming, the light blue and black wire is for instrument illumination. I used this for a mod or two of mine.

To get to the instrument cluster bezel, you need to remove the radio bezel and the lower shin guard panel, which is what your hood release is bolted to.
The radio bezel is removed by two 7mm bolts on the bottom side in the HVAC area.
The shin guard panel is removed similarly. Four bolts. Those I use a torx on because no socket I have, metric or otherwise, will fit them.
Once those are removed, pull firmly but carefully, metal clips will come out.
At this point, you'll likely see a rusted piece of metal. You can paint this if you want. There's four or five 8 mm gold bolts holding this plate on. They're on pretty good, at least they were on mine.
Once that's out of the way, there's more bolts yet to be removed. Along the bottom of the instrument bezel there's two black 7mm bolts, one on each side of the steering wheel. They're pretty obvious. After those, there are three bolts up in the cluster area long the top. Also 7mm.

Once those are out, the bezel will come free with some gentle pulling. Pull your tilt column down as far as you can, if equipped. Sounds like you have a manual trans so no need to move that non-existant column shifter.
Once the bezel is off you now have access to the headlight switch. Two phillips screws hold it in place.

When you're done, simply follow the steps in reverse order.