[Vwdiesel] console gauges

[Roger Brown]

Scott Alexander wrote:
> 
> I picked up a console from someone else on the list recently and he was
> kind enough not only to send the complete pigtails on the gauges, but
> the next length of cable as well.  I'm assuming that I'll have to rig
> something up, but wanted to understand how the guages were intended (by
> VW) to be connected before I start inventing.
> 
> The cable is pretty long, so I'm surmising it runs into the engine
> compartment.  Part way along its length, a brown wire comes out of the
> cable and has a screw terminal.  Hooking things up confirms this is the
> ground and I'm guessing that that might have been intended to connect to
> somewhere around the fuse panel.
> 
> At the far end of the cable, there are two connectors that are limited
> to being no more than about 8-12" apart by virtue of the length of wire
> available after the wrapping ends.  One connector is a slide on and
> drives the oil temperature gauge and clearly slides over the top of the
> sender.  The other connector takes three pins.  One of these provides
> the voltage for the voltmeter to measure.  Another provides power for
> the clock.  The third provides power for the backlights for the gauges.
> Clearly, the voltmeter should be powered only when the car is on.  The
> clock should always be powered.  I was thinking that the backlights
> needed to be dimmable, but I could imagine VW having cheaped out and
> figured that they were far enough from the driver that simply having
> them come on when the headlights were on was sufficient.
> 
> Thus my question is where VW tapped in to get power for each of these.
> (Did they ever put consoles in Diesels?  If not, presumably the answer
> will apply to the GTI.)  Does anyone who has added a console to a Diesel
> have any good suggestions on how they wired it in?  I'm in the process
> of adding the Roger Brown tach and so will lose my dashboard clock.
> While the new radio has a clock, it looks like it's not particularly
> user friendly about displaying radio information and clock information
> at the same time.  And I figure the other two gauges will be good for
> some warm fuzzies.

I hooked my volt meter to the shut off solenoid atop the injector pump and my tachometer circuit is also powered by that source
as are all my other gauges:
	http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTricks/Tachometer/index.shtml#TachInstall
I did not have any connectors with the assortment of gauges I picked up, so I added a terminal strip in the console and have the
wiring run to there:
	http://www.4crawler.com/Diesel/CheapTricks/Images/CC_04.jpg
Ultimately, the wiring will be tucked behind the console and 2 more gauges added to the cubby hole in the center (oil pressure
and temperature) to complement the voltmeter, clock and EGT gauges in the console.

--
   Roger