Elecrtical?
 

Well first the good. Started my truck for the first time and success it runs great. The bad, electrical. Here is my dilemma. I have the American Autowire harness I installed. I am running the dolphin/shark manual gauges. When I turn the truck on my gauges are on. I have tried everything I can think of but after 3 hours and same issue I took a break. The back of the gauge with volts/fuel/temp/oil there is a harness with a black, yellow, red, white, blue, green. I know the green is oil, blue is fuel, white is temp, black is ground. The red is + and yellow is + (light switch). This is what manual says. So if this is right I hook the red to 12v fused source and the yellow to???

My speedo gauge just has the 2 wires for the bulbs, red/black. When I hook the grey wire from American Autowire harness that says dash light clearly on the wire to the red wires, and the black to ground, the lights stay on.

As I am not a wiring guru, I have followed all instructions but this one has me perplexed. Any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I would think the yellow wire would be hooked to the AA gray wire, and the red would be a switch on 12v
and the red from the speedometer would need tied into the yellow
without instruction sheet I'm just guessing
can you check the AA gray wire to see if you can turn the power on/off with the switch?

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Sounds like you have the gauge lights connected to the wrong side of your headlight switch. Your gauge lights (yellow wire) need to be connected to a switched 12v source - IOW the output side of your headlight switch. I think American Autowire uses standard GM color coding, so the gauge lights (yellow) should connect to the brown wire out of the headlight switch (may be labeled something like Dash Lights, Park, Tail, etc). Use a test light to confirm.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Nope tried that one already. For some reason the grey wires labeled dash light are power when I hook up the battery causing the dash lights to be on. The switch does not turn them off either. I think I have hooked up every possible connection today. Guess tomorrow is another day.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Ok will give that a try tomorrow.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I'm not sure which kit you have from AA , but I was looking at their schematics, and it does show the gray wire for the dash lights...check that to see if it will turn 12v on/off with the switch

well ,I just saw where you said it wont...so scratch that...
like miracle says,,,check your switch wiring...are you using the AA switch?

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Here are some pics of switch and diagrams. The brown wires on switch are for tail and park light feed.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

mongocanfly. Tried the grey wires that are labeled dash light. When I connect the red wire or yellow wire to them the lights come on. Switch will not turn them off. In the pics above the switch and switch plug was set and included in the kit so I just plugged them in.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Yes. Switch and plug for harness included in the wiring kit. Bought the kit specifically for year of truck.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

that shows the dark green wire for the instrument lamp
somewhere its switching from green to gray...
does it leave the switch green and then change to gray at the connector?

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Did you use the Part #: 500467 classic update kit or the Part #: 30905 complete wiring set (original replacement) kit?

Also do you have the original headlight switch or an aftermarket switch?

Re: Elecrtical?
 

The green goes from the switch to the fuse box. No green out of fuse box. I am thinking that must be the relay and grey wires coming out of fuse box. I have 2 of them.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Kit 500467 and the switch came in the kit.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Diagram for the switch. I verified every wire is correct. It almost seems like the grey wires coming out of the fuse box labeled dash lights have constant low power. Light are on low. Then pull switch and they are bright. Confusing.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Hmmm..sounds like you got everything right...may need a call to AA next week..I've been looking thru my installation instructions...and i cant see anything you've done that stands out as wrong...

Re: Elecrtical?
 

there should be a pink wire in your harness marked gauge feed that is a 12volt ignition source that should provide ignition 12v to your gauges so the dash does not come on until you start the truck. the grey wire is gauge lights that comes from your headlight switch.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

This ain't that complicated. Any of those wires emanating from the headlight switch that are cold when the switch is off and hot when the switch is pulled could be spliced into the gauge lights. A test light will tell you which, but according to my GM wiring diagram for Dolphin Gauges either of the brown wires will work.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

The brown wires from switch to fuse box are for front and rear park lights. The green wire from the switch to fuse box them have 3 grey from fuse box for dash lights. I had it working fine earlier with no lights staying on. Got home and wanted to check again and yep they are back on at low voltage. I did notice that the hazard round silver fuse is getting warm. This is the 2 brown wires from the switch to fuse box. Any idea why that would be hot and could that be the issue?

Re: Elecrtical?
 

if you hooked into the park light circuit (brown wire),then you would have no ability to dim the dash lights.but the lights should work when you turned on/off the park lights..theres some issue there that's causing a problem..

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Thanks yeah 2 days of messing with this drives me crazy. You would think it was a basic easy install.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I'm wondering if your light switch has a issue

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I was thinking the same thing. Might just order one and try.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

that round silver thing you called a fuse is not a fuse its the flasher for the turn signals/4ways. I think maybe you are confusing the power feed for the gauges with the dash light circuit. according to the above pictures you have a factory fit wiring harness, that means your dash/gauge lights should be fed from the green wire coming from your headlight switch. I would use the tan wire marked CB to provide 12v to your gauges for their power, gauge power and gauge light power are 2 separate functions. with gauge light power hooked to green from the headlight switch you should have dimming and should switch off with headlights.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Well I found what wire is causing issue but no idea how to fix. Here is what I discovered. Bad switch or why is rear brown wire causing this?

When I have everything connected correctly the dash lights stay on low power, tail lights off and brake lights work. Pull light switch out and can dim and adjust lights but taillights are bright and no break lights.

So I checked all wires on switch. Found that if I disconnect the rear brown wire then dash lights do not stay on but tail lights are on and still have brake lights. When I pull switch out dash lights work and can adjust and dim.

It seems this one brown wire is causing the issue? 2 brown wires on switch. One to front and one goes to rear. Now I don’t have headlights connected yet but wouldn’t think that would cause issue? Wires are just run to the front of truck right now.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Thanks yes after tracing wires the brown wires from switch simply go to front and rear lights. The green wire from switch goes to fuse panel where 3 grey dash light wires exit. I have these hooked to dash light for speedometer and also yellow wire for oil/temp/gas/volt gauge (marked light switch +). I have tried using orange 12v power wire and pink 12v ignition wire to supply power to gauges with same results for both.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

orange 12v is probably a switched battery connection, that means there is power on that wire whenever the battery is connected. pink 12v is ignition switched 12v the power on that wire should shut off with the ignition. orange is usually the hot side 12v feed to the stop light switch, that must have 12volts always so your brakelights work engine on or off.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Yes I ended up using pink 12v ignition for power to my oil/volt/temp/gas gauge. No idea why the brown wire to rear lights is causing issue with dash lights staying on when connected to headlight switch. Disconnect and dash light works fine.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

How do you have your tail lights wired?

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I am running led tail lights. They are 3 wire. One grey, red, white. White is ground and have the grey and red together. Then yellow wire from harness is left rear and green wire from harness is right rear. Brown wire labeled park lights runs to rear from switch and is tied into both lights.

So basically have red/grey on each light connected to yellow/brown for left rear and green/brown for right rear. White for both grounded to frame.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I had to draw it out ..is this how you have it?
assume the blue is your white ground
right light----red/green---gray/brown---(blue)white grounded to frame
left light-----red/yellow---gray/brown---(blue)white grounded to frame

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Yes. I have tried every color connection. Now you have me thinking it could be a tail light issue. As you can tell wiring is not my thing. For right now just have trailers led taillights I am using.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

you aint alone..i hate wiring...
try disconnecting one brown taillight wire at a time at the light and see if it has a effect on it
since disconnecting the brown wires to the taillight fixes the problem , it may be in the light

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Yeah I have tried just using one light. When I have it hooked like your picture the tail lights stay on. I even tried gray/green gray/yellow and brown red. Same issue even brighter. Dash lights not on but now tail lights stuck on. I am sure it is something simple just a pain in the a$$ to me.

You would think 3 wires coming from harness to rear. Yellow (left rear)green (right rear) and brown (from switch). Tail lights have red, gray, white. Evidently something I am missing. After 3 days I am about over it.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Found this on line.

On a three wire pigtail that's being used on a stop/turn/taillight, the red wire carries the brake/turn signal circuit, the black wire carries the running lamp circuit and the white wire provides the ground connection.

If that is correct then red would be connected to yellow and green from harness. Black or in my case gray would be connected to brown wire and white is ground.

Problem is my lights stay on when I connect the battery????

Also found this. Wonder if my flasher relay is the issue?

Using Automotive LED Lights is a bit different than using incandescent automotive bulbs. You can expect the wire colors and power consumption to be a bit of a surprise. Being that LED lights use far less power than standard automotive bulbs, if you plan to install LED lights as blinkers/turn signals, you should replace the standard thermal flasher relay with an LED or electronic flasher relay. LED bulbs use such little power that they won’t create enough heat to trip a standard thermal flasher.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

if the running lights (brown wire)are staying on then the only way they'll get power is thru the light switch...
which has me thinking switch
sounds like your red/yellow red/green isn't causing a issue...which don't go thru the light switch....
its just the brown from the switch to the taillight
do you have a meter or test light? unplug brown wire from switch and with switch off check for voltage from that pin to ground

Re: Elecrtical?
 

you might even try unplugging all the wiring on the light switch...except your 12v power and the brown wires and see if there is still a issue..if there is no issue, then start plugging the wires back in 1 at a time until the issue starts again

Re: Elecrtical?
 

Will give that one a try. I did email American Auto Wire as well to see if they can turn me in right direction. Like I said 3 days of this and I am still stumped. Thanks for the advise.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I think it is your LED tail lights. They do not provide enough resistance for the switch to work properly.

According to my Kwikwire Instructions, you need to add a resistor to each LED wire circuit, or change to an 'Electronic LED Flasher'


I would disconnect your tail lights, add some 1157 bulbs (2 filament) and see how it works.

Re: Elecrtical?
 

I was thinking about the LEDs to, but I think the issues they cause is when the blinker is on and wont blink from not enough resistance for the blinker relay..the blinker and taillight are on different circuits
But who knows...It may be affecting it somehow

Re: Elecrtical?
 

hmmmmmm, different circuits... good point.

I know that electricity will do strange things when not enough resistance, and maybe it is all happening at the light switch.


for peace of mind, I would add some standard 1157 sockets and bulbs and see what happens.

I know a guy who added those little red LED's to the bedrolls on his 54, and he needed the resistors to make it work