Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Indiglo guages..

I know there was a post on the old forums on how to use the factory dimmer w/the indiglos.. Could someone post how to wire it up again..
Gracias

1. Find the light source that goes to the dimmer switch.

2. Ignore all previous posts about NOT using the factory dimmer that Dom and I have posted about

3. Wire the red wire to the dimmer switch, and use it instead of the conveniently included dimmer pot that came with the indiglos

4. Hook up the ground wire

5. Turn the headlights on and use the factory dimmer, thinking how cool it is, and watch the transformer cook to a crisp over time.

I hate to sound so rude and sarcastic, but it seems like Dom and I have posted on this ten million times and still someone ignores our posts and listens to someone who took the easier way out. It may seem cool to have it look stock, etc. etc. but the transformers were NOT meant to be powered that way.... this is why they have their own dimmer pot included with the kit. The included dimmer switch and indiglos are powered off of the transformer OUTPUT but the transformer INPUT MUST BE A CONSTANT 12 VOLTS. But... this is your car and your money... do what you wish with it.... but do not complain to me, Dom, or Brad if it should happen to fail.

-Jeremy

ok there is a long plug that connects into the back of the guage cluster. the 4th to last terminal is the power and the very last is the dimmer. splice the wires in the back for the power and dimmer and your all set to go. btw, had mine in since SZ and no problems.

I just put my indiglos in and I wired them to the two wires located behind the HVAC. A black and a blue and yellow one. I never read previous posts before about the instalation of these things. Could someone tell me if I did something wrong? I dont want my glo's to go kaboom. Forgive me for sounding like a broken record here.
Brian.

how can you crisp up the transformer with too little voltage?

I didn't think to use the factory dimmer with the indiglo gauges, but with the HVAC I did, only because I used the power connector for the HVAC panel which is right there anyway. No problems as of yet...but unless you give it more than 12v, I fail to see how it will fry

NONONO!!! DON'T wire them to your stock dimmer switch! It'll zap your dimmer switch, and could cause permanate damage.

mine is not wired to the dimmer switch itself....but again...unless you're feeding more than 12v, I fail to see how any damage will be caused.

I wish I had the technical data to put forth here, and I hope that Chris Hightower can at least back up one side or the other to give solid proof, but what people are saying makes about as much sense as a person not wanting to use their brakes to stop the car when they park, so they roll into the curbs. Yeah, you can do it and sure the wheels haven't fallen off yet, but you are abusing a system which was never designed to handle the load or the impact of the alternate stopping method, especially in light of the fact that there is a device handily provided specifically for that one task. When these gauges were made for the Contour, I do not believe for one second that the designers included the extra dimmer pot for fun or for those of us who owned Contours and had no dimmer switch for the dash lights. It would have been cheaper for Dom to produce and sell, and would have been a lot less hassle to install. However, the electrical engineer who designed this system saw fit to include the extra dimmer pot for a reason.... I do not see why it is so hard and painful to use this new dimmer switch. Also ask yourself why the new dimmer pot is on the output side of the transformer and does not trim the signal from the input power wire to begin with. Transformers to my knowledge (as well as some other electrical equipment) are designed to run off of a certain voltage- period.... and not just any voltage that the user decides to input. I hate to say this as I consider all of you to be like family, but I hope someone who has done this has their transformer fry so that these topics will come to a halt. A person has these made, tells you what not to do to guarantee maximum life and to help out those with a little less knowledge, and then someone comes along with no other proof than to say "it's worked for x amount of months and no failure yet." Totally makes that person's efforts look like squat, and IMHO is an insult to the person who was only trying to help by sharing his knowledge. I do not know it all, nor am I claiming to, but when the person who originated the whole deal throws up a red flag, I am going to listen to it until I have solid proof otherwise. Going any other way would be stupid and ignorant of me, especially when I knew better in the first place.

-Jeremy

I did not install mine in an effort to break anr laws or anything....it just so happened there was a 12v source right there so I used it. I had no idea the factory dimmer even controlled my HVAC's until I brushed the knob with my knee one night. Still...keeping the factory dimmer at it's maximum setting would output the "required" 12v. I'm no electronics expert buti've never melted anything by giving it too little power.

Think of you indiglo inverter as a small AC motor. To little voltage will cause the AC motor to run slowly... to slowly and the capacitors will not absorb the transfer of energy when the current reverses, which will eventually burn out everything around the stator inside of the electric motor. Same goes for a transformer. If you did hook into the factory dimmer, make sure it's at full brightness and do the adjusting with your new POT or it will happen to you. It's so easy to do it right, don't take a chance.