I'm not very familiar with electrical systems in trucks so I needed to get some advice. I know basically enough to make sure that I unhook the batteries before trying anything that has to do with anything electrical in my truck........

I am needing to get power to my new electric fuel pressure gauge in my 02' CTD. I was wondering what is the best source to tie into in the truck to get power to the gauge & best way to do it.

Also I needed to tie into the circuit that controls light dimming too so I can control the brightness of the gauge & I was wondering how to go about this.....

Any help or suggestions is appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Might try a search here for additional details, but I used the power going to the light by the cig. lighter. I think it is orange. Provides power and dims with other lights.

 

x2 on the cigarette lighter. it is igniton switched. you access it's power supply from the fuse panel on te dr side of the dash. just pop the panel, read the map and find it. it should be a mini fuse. get a mini fuse tap and voila - you have a power source for your gauge!

 

thanks for the information guys....should i use the same way to tap into a source for the dimming function on the gauge.....

 

That light (cig. lighter) is dimmed by the switch that dims your instrument cluster. Once you get power you will have the ability to dim the light in your gauge just the same as the others. No other connection required.

 

thanks....i was just wondering about it because the gauge that I got has a connection on the wiring harness for dimmer.....

but you're saying that if I tap into the cigarette lighter only for power with a fuse tap that I will be able to control the brightness through the dimmer switch?

do I just not run a wire for dimmer connection on the wiring harness?

thanks again for the help.

 

Okay The cigerette lighter Is a fused ignition on power source that will work jsut don't be running any high draw accessorys in the socket, it may monkey with your guage a little. The easyest place to find power for guages is the fuse panel, buy a fuse tap as siad befor and use a test light to find a fuse thats key on power. As for the dimming light controll I just pulled the light switch out turned it to park lights on and turned the dash lights to full bight. Then used the test light to find powered wires on the back of the switch, find a powered wire then turn dash lights down, should be able to dim the test light with the dimmer switch when you find the right wire, then just tap that wire.

 

I got my fuel pressure gauge installed. Everything works great. I tapped into the Cigarette lighter fuse for ignition on power & I had to tap into the Illumination fuse to use the dimming feature. It was fuse number 5 (5 Amp) on drivers side fuse panel labeled ILLUM. Works great.

Only thing I'm not so sure about is my fuel pressure. I seems to stay at about 12 when idle. When driving normally though it seems to stay at about 12-14 psi. Only thing I'm concerned about is that is sometimes can drop down to 6 or so if you get on the gas pretty hard. I'm not to sure if that's normal. It pops back up to 12 though when you get off the gas....

 

At Napa or Carquest you can buy 'fuse taps' in the electrical connector section. They make splicing into a pronged fuse easy. Come in packs of 5 or 10, for about a buck. Just make sure to step up the amp rating of the fuse. If it's a 15Amp, jump it up to a 20Amp and so on.