On the hot wire running to power the gauge, inst. say run hot wire to
switched source. Is there a reason I couldn't run it straight to fusebox or battery? Much easier than tearing into packed up factory harnesses under
dash. Maybe cause it would drain battery? Seems like it wouldn't draw anything unless truck was running...

 

We pulled the dash cover off and hooked the hot-wire up to my cig. lighter since I dont smoke and dont let anyone smoke in my truck...that was the easiest for us. Then just grounded it out...works great.

 

Yeah, I thought about that & think that I'll do that,too. Anybody know why
cig. lighter hot wire would be bad idea? I wasn't gonna use it cause it wasn't a swithched source. I guess only question I have is would it drain batt? I can't
imagine that since the alarm light blinks on the dash all the time when truck is locked. Lighter is right there & easy to access...

 

I've had mine hooked up this way for....wow, several months. Never an issue...truck has sit for 3 or 4 days without being driven with no battery issues.

 

The lighter is switched and only on when the key is in the on position. I use it for some of my gauges.

 

the install instructions from Geno's say to tap the hot wire for the cig lighter, many have it done this way, including me, and no problems so far

hope this helps

 

I have used the cig wire as well. Checked it before using and it is only hot when the ignition switch is on.

 

Is the cig lighter always a hot wire or does it shut off when the truck goes off.

 

it shuts power off when the truck is off

 

Ok, etg gauge up and running. I hooked it to a unused 4 wire plug that was just attached to a dummy plastic receptacle on the backside of the plastic
radio/ac/vent dash cover. It is to the right of and below the radio, kind of in the area where the plastic bag hanger/hook is. It has a switched hotwire to it. WHAT is this.. ?

 

On my '06 the passenger side cig lighter is hot all the time. Only the driver side is switched. Don't use the wrong one!

 

Going to take a guess that it is the on/off switch for the passenger air bag. Not all models have the switch installed but it appears to be pre-wired for the switch.