I a set of whiteface glow gauges from procarparts.com off of Ebay. They worked first at fine, then they cut out. I went back into the dash, worked again. Then just cut out yesterday. Sometimes they just start working all the sudden. What could be wrong? I ran the power through the normal switch so the indiglo color would come up when the normal lights did. I dont understand why they keep cutting out... I dont think anything is fried....

 

Sorry for some of the typo's.... forgot to edit it and i typed too fast =)

 

did you solder the connections, or just crimp/ twist them... that could be the source of an intermittent connection

 

Nope I didn't solder the wires together. How do I do it? I remember watching my grandpa do it a long time ago, but I forget... and Intermittent? Means Bad?

 

intermittent would mean the wires arent making good / constant contact... so it could cause the flickering

i would do some searches on soldering to find out how to do it... but to do it right you need a soldering iron (not gun), and some electrical rosin core solder (not acid core)

you can pick these both up at radioshack

then twist the wires together, plug in the soldering iron, get it hot, tin the tip, by first melting some of the solder on it to cover the tip, and then wiping it off with a wet papertowel

then hold the tip at the back of the wires, and hold the solder on the front side... the iron will heat the wires, and when the wires are hot enough to be soldered they will melt the solder and it will flow into the joint... flow enough solder so its shiny and covered, but not so much that its dripping off.. and then remove the heat and dont wiggle the wires for a few seconds so they can cool down

 

Always solder connections and heat shrink them.
If they're not crimped well, you will have intermittent problems and be chasing your tail all over the place.

 

Thanks guys for the info. Should you even solder stereo wires and such?

 

YES! Take some spare wire and practice on it before going near your car...about 10-15 times and you'll have it no problem.

 

1. Never ever use crimps
2. Never ever twist and tape
3. ALWAYS solder and heatshrink.

Go to Princess Auto... or any electronics store, and pick yourself up either a cheapo wall-socket soldering iron, or a butane one. I've got one of each, and I use them about once a week for either my car or my friends cars.

Anyone who works on their own car MUST have a soldering iron readily available

So after soldering, come back and let us know if it helped Good luck!!

 

Oh and if you need to buy solder, buy electronics solder instead of the plumbing solder (one will be very thick, the other will be very thin). Buy the stuff with the Rosin core. It makes it very easy to solder.

 

oh and soldering is really really easy, its like welding on a much smaller scale.. and.. well now that i think about it it's really different than welding.


oh well this post had no point whatsoever.

 

Soldering is actually nothing like welding, but anyway...

Getting a good solder joint takes practice. It is very easy to make a nice looking joint that is an electrical disaster.

Take a look at http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm

 

There is NOTHING WRONG with a PROPERLY performed crimp. It requires a real set of crimpers, not a 3.99 Auto-parts store one. Buy one that performs a double crimp.


For a detailed how-to and a source of QUALITY Connectors and Crimping tools go to:

http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Page7.html

http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Ec...rimpTools.html

 

Quite true. But you you think that 90% of people here make proper crimps?

 

That is why I am sharing the information.

And I absolutely DISPISE a poorly done solder joint!

 

Thanks Aaron Cake for that web page. I'll go out and buy the stuff and start practicing. But now, what is heatshrinking when you guys talk about that?

 

http://www.teamnovak.com/How_to/How_...der/solder.htm

Heat shrink is used to provide mechanical protection and strain relief on harness, it also provides a cleean finished appearance.

Here is a selection of QUALITY products:
http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Page6.html

 

electronic nubs

 

any pics or links on the white face gauges, im interested in some!!

 

yea i always crimp using electrical crimpers.... but everyone says its not as good as soldering.... but soldering in the engine bay is something i cant see myself doing..... and when i crimp i usually do a pretty good job.... like when i connect to wires with a stright tube and crimp it.... the wires will break before my crimp job does... but im always told that, thats still not nearly as good as soldering... is this true?? sorry if its kinda a ramble..

 

Crimps are more prone to poor connections than soldering... like stated earlier in this thread.

 

agreed