Anyone know the easiest place to tap into the parking light wires on the interior? Using the illumination wire on the tach causes my VEI gauge lighting to pulse.

 

Sorry about giving you the 2nd gen info in the other thread. Didn't realize you had a 1st gen car. What year is your car?

 

I think you should try a relay on the tach illumination wire. If it can trip the relay, you can use it to trigger a full 12V source.

The parking lights and license plate light are connected directly to the BC1 computer (not so convenient to deal with). If you are willing, the wiring diagram says the parking lights are pins 7 (black/blue wire), 11 (black/green), 29 (grey/violet), and 42 (grey/yellow) on the 54-pin connector X254. It's an off-white connector on the bottom of the BC1, behind the side panel in the passenger footwell.

 

No worries you've been more than helpful, appreciate it.

Build date: 06/2002 R53

@rkw, thanks for the info. Any pics/diagrams by any chance? What relay would I want to use? Seems like that would be simpler than running a wire all the way to the passenger footwell.

 

Looks like rkw took care of the wire locations. Relay might be a good option too like he recommended. Although I wonder if the gauge flickers from the dimmer, would a relay do the same?

 

That was my thought as well. I don't see how a relay would react differently but I'm not an electrical expert. I think I'll just try tapping into one of the wires at the BC1.

 

If you tap into the BC1, it might be a tiny bit easier to access the license plate light because it's in the X253 connector on top (pin 4, grey/yellow wire).

The relay was just a suggestion and I don't know if it would be successful. The dash illumination is on a dimmer, which might prevent a relay from triggering. BTW, did you already try turning up your dash illumination to maximum?

 

Thanks for the tip on the license plate light wire. Turning the dash illumination to maximum increases the time between each pulse but doesn't get rid of it. At the low light levels it doesn't even trigger the nighttime lighting feature on the gauge.