No Dashboard Lights

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pendletonae

Member - Posts: 3

Joined: December 17, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 19, 2004 at 7:59 PM / IP Logged

I am putting a Sony CDX-4000X into a 1997 Dodge Ram 1500. My speakers are good, constant, iginition wires all good, but for some reason my dashboard lights will not turn on when I turn on my headlights. Checked the fuse and it is good. Any help would be apprecaiated.

tech460

Copper - Posts: 118

Joined: December 16, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 10:18 AM / IP Logged

Did you use a wiring harness and if so, what did you do with the orange and ORANGE / white wires?

pimpincavy

Silver - Posts: 880

Joined: May 20, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 11:25 AM / IP Logged

Do your tail lights and parking lights work? I had a similar problem in my old cavalier. Its possible you tapped into the illumination wire by accident.

pendletonae

Member - Posts: 3

Joined: December 17, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 1:48 PM / IP Logged

No Harness, here's th whole story somebody already installed it (unprofessionally) and had cut the harness off conecting it wire to wire. I'm trying to fix it now. There is no orange wire from the stereo, the orange wire from the truck is unhooked at this time.

tech460

Copper - Posts: 118

Joined: December 16, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 2:14 PM / IP Logged

You probably have burnt your rheostat (dimmer) in your vehicle. With a digital multimeter test the wire you connected to ground with the lights on and the dimmer in the middle. You will probably find that the ground will go away. If so, correct the ground, cross your fingers and check your lights again. Chances are high unfortunately that it is burnt.

jeffchilcott

Platinum - Posts: 2,483

Joined: April 11, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 2:19 PM / IP Logged

well that orange white wire is your problem, that your dimmer wire. I am not sure if this wire needs to see 12volts or ground, maybe someone else can chime in here

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tech460

Copper - Posts: 118

Joined: December 16, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 2:37 PM / IP Logged

If you were to use a harness, the orange wire would give out 12v when you turn the lights on and stay 12v no matter where the dimmer was placed. The ORANGE / white gives out 12v also but will lower it's voltage depending on where the dimmer was placed. All the way down it will show zero volts. Both rest at ground and can trick you when not using a harness. One of the many reasons to use a harness.

pendletonae

Member - Posts: 3

Joined: December 17, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 4:34 PM / IP Logged

Okay let me clearify a little more. I have two wires I am contending with. Coming out of the truck (no harness) I have a black wire with a yellow stripe (this lets me dim the lights) and an orange wire (this keeps the lights on with no dimmer. Both will turn on my dash lights, but they turn on regardless of when I turn the actual headlights on. As soon as I turn the ignition the dash board lights come on. So regardless of if my headlights are on or not, the dash lights are on. I want to know the correct way to wire it so the dash lights are only on when my headlights are on, like it's supposed to be.

tech460

Copper - Posts: 118

Joined: December 16, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 5:35 PM / IP Logged

OK. Black / yellow is illumination and orange is dimmer. Both these wires give out 12v and do not require 12v like people mistakenly think. If you put 12v to the orange wire you will fry your rheostat (dimmer) and maybe more. If you test that wire with a multimeter and it does not show 12v when you turn on your lights, check your fuses. If all fuses are good, then you fried your rheostat. Now understand, if you fry your rheostat, putting 12v on the orange wire will illuminate your dashboard cluster less the dimmer. Same thing with the black / yellow wire. In your situation, you already checked the fuses so you damaged something. You need to troubleshoot the lighting circuit and find out if the rheostat is bad or something else like an interface module. If you cannot do this, you will have to pay someone to.

pimpincavy

Silver - Posts: 880

Joined: May 20, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: December 20, 2004 at 6:57 PM / IP Logged

I will share what was done in my old cavalier just for the hell of it...

A previous owner had cut the wiring harness, and for some reason cut the grey dimmer/illumination wire. To fix this problem they ran speaker wire from the wire to the back tailight where it was then wired to the tailight in some way. The parking lights, dash lights and taillights were on whenever the car was on. Now that is a ghetto repair.

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