Where's the easiest place to access the dash illumination wire?

Hmm, I know what you mean about wiring diagrams. Did you think about just meeting it at the fuse box? I imagine that you can do it this way with a lot less hassle.

The fuse box under the left-hand side of the steering wheel? Yea, that's where I was going to aim. I just can't tell if the rheastat controls the voltage before or after the fuse box. I want the dash dimmer to control the gauges.

Hmm, good ?. You got me on that one. This is out of my area of expertise anyway, I'm really into audio, but wiring is wiring. Maybe give your local Honda dealer a call and see if they could help you out.

at the dimmer knob. Very easy to get to.

cryogen97 said:

at the dimmer knob. Very easy to get to.

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Should I try to get to the back of the knob from below, or do I have to pull the knob? And, once I'm in there, do I want to connect the red/black wire to the gauges, or the red one? From the looks of Helm's, the dimmer is a three prong switch, with a ground (black), a wire coming from the under-dash fuse box from the battery (red/black), and a wire that comes from (from?) the gauges. I can't tell which one I want to power the gauge lights. The gauges are already grounded, so I just need a power wire that is controlled (dimmed) by the dimmer knob. Thanks for the help/info, guys!

VTECnicalAccord,

Yea, out of my area too I just drive the damn thing!

i wanted to do the same thing so i hooked it up to the knob but when i did it it worked in opposite way as the dash. when the dash was brite the gauge was dim and when i turn the dash down the guage got brite so i hooked it up right to the batt. and kept it at that.

teg94ls said:

i wanted to do the same thing so i hooked it up to the knob but when i did it it worked in opposite way as the dash. when the dash was brite the gauge was dim and when i turn the dash down the guage got brite so i hooked it up right to the batt. and kept it at that.

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LOL, that's pretty funny, since I did the same thing exactly, and my gauges did the same thing exactly. Dash lights up, gauge lights down, then vice-versa! I wonder why...

Anyway, I'm going to install a separate dimmer and just run the gauge lights off of the full power dash light switch.

mine did the same. I had it that way for about 8 months. I hooked it up to the constant power wire now. I like the independant brightness control better.

cryogen97 said:

I like the independant brightness control better.

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Yea, I think that's what I'm going to have to do.

I think your lights dimmed oposite because you hooked up the wrong lead. A rheostat (the dimmer switch) has three leads, live and two grounds. When the knob is turned one way, the power on one ground goes up, and the second goes down. The opposite happens when the knob is turned the other way.

I'm pretty sure this is the case, but I'm not absolutely sure if the dimmer is a rheostat, but I think that's most likely the case. Though it's kinda odd three of you all did the same thing (no offence).

Naoki said:

I think your lights dimmed oposite because you hooked up the wrong lead. A rheostat (the dimmer switch) has three leads, live and two grounds. When the knob is turned one way, the power on one ground goes up, and the second goes down. The opposite happens when the knob is turned the other way.

I'm pretty sure this is the case, but I'm not absolutely sure if the dimmer is a rheostat, but I think that's most likely the case. Though it's kinda odd three of you all did the same thing (no offence).

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You are completely right about the three leads. The color options that Honda used to mark the wiring diagram were just misleading, but the mistake was completely my fault. I'm going back in to swap the wiring around based on the comments of others (which agree with yours) and we'll see if that does it. THanks again guys!

yeah keep us posted i want to see if it works i might go and change mine if it does.

Dude...just go buy a .99c power finder. Remove the panel uderyour steering colum probe the wires coming from the light switch while turning the lights on and off. Once you hit the wire that lights up when you flip the switch splice there. Viola! I have installed quite a few indiglo's that's how I know.

Here's an update...

Don't use the ground wire at all on the dimmer switch, unlike what the Autometer instructions would suggest. If I had known more about how the dimmer switch works, I wouldn't have made the mistake.

The short answer is... use the red/black wire from the dimmer switch as the ground, and the red wire as the power wire. Ignore the dimmer ground completely. Everything works fine now