[cwood]

the american autowire harness headlight switch has a reostat (sp?) type rotary mechanism. When I tried one of the guages through it there was no variability in the light level. Am I missing something or is the switch not working?

 

[Need For Speed]

most likely not wired correctly. double check

 

[cwood]

To just try it I had the ground on a guage to ground and the power feed to the guage from the screw on the rotary portion of the headlight switch. What other way would there be to wire it?

 

[Ozona]

I don't know about the brightness lvl ont he vintage gauges, but on the carbon fibers there's no need for a rheostat and associated wiring if you don't want it. FYI

 

[Zulu]

It is the way that you wire that affects if it will work. the power must come through the rheostat.

I had to redo mine, cannot remember the intricacy's though. I will go out and have a look.

 

[Zulu]

With terminals up and pull part facing you, the main power goes to top right, the park and main beams will be on left middle (you do have to jumper this to get parks to stay on with main beams) and the dash lights come off the rheostat on bott left.

Should be easy to test on a batt charger and volt meter.

I was looking under the dash upside down, so hope this is correct.

 

[cwood]

I had pwr to the switch from the panel, then went out through the screw on the rheostat. I must be missing something.

Ozona...your point is that at full level they are not too bright at night?

 

[Zulu]

Aren't there two screws on the rheostat ??

 

[Rickster]

I would think that you could do the same test without a battery, and just use the OHMS reading instead? Resistance should move up and down while adjusting the rheostat...

 

[Larry N. Johnson]

The Vintage AutoMeters are not too bright at night.
No dimmer here.

 

[Ozona]

Larry is right.

On my Autometer Carbon Fibers there is clearly NO need for a dimmer. If you want to use one you'll have to get brighter bulbs for the gauges. For sure. A total WAG on my part, but I'd guess that autometer uses low wattage bulbs to avoid heat problems inside the plastic gauges.

 

[Ken Bush]

Zulu... any chance you can post a pic with the wires labeled??? I'll be hooking up the headlight and turn signal wiring this weekend so that would help...Ken

 

[Tim Whittaker]

I have the vintage gauges and needed a rheostat. Otherwise, at night, the glare off the windshield was more than I wanted to deal with.