[M3to335]

Ive had this gauge for a LONG time and am finally tired of it not dimming. After trying about 5 different wiring setups, I give up.

Is there anyone out there running an STRI Smoked Lense boost gauge that actually dims? What bugs me is that its so straight forward yet it doenst work This is by far the most simple wiring job ever.

Wiring
12v constant - off the integrated cellphone wire under the e-brake
12v switched - off the cig lighter switched wire
Ground- cig lighter ground (brown)
Dimmer - cig lighter dimmer

[M3to335]

Hmm, thats what I thought.

[nuxted]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ighlight=gauge

but you already looked at that

You try getting a replacement through the company? It may be messed up. Seems like a lot of people have some problems with these gauges

[rooster3.0]

My STRI wouldn't dim either. It also went crazy and read 30psi while I'd be stopped at a light. I notice a couple gauges don't dim right in our cars. I'm using a dynotune now, It's much more accurate and only uses the ground and switched power. Maybe Rixster can point you in the right direction. He managed to rig a dimming solution for his new gauge setup.

[e90AW335i]

Mine dimmed. Wire it up like Rixster said too....

[M3to335]

Wire it like he said to months ago? If so, that doesnt work.

[e90AW335i]

Red = 12v switch
Black = Ground
Yellow = dimmer wire


That is how I wired mine originally and it worked fine.

[M3to335]

Interesting, that is definately different then what it says to do. In fact, you left the switched wire on the gauge hooked to nothing and instead ran switched power to where constant was supposed to go on the gauge.

[Mr. 5]

I tried it to where I thought I knew how it worked but it works oposite of how you think.

Kyle is correct.

The red wire is for constant power, but I thought that I would connect the red and yellow together and I would get the brightest option, but ti doesn't work like that.

Here's the way it works.

-Red constant wire.
-Yellow to the light switch where the power is on when the lights are on. Once the headlights get turned on then the power will go to this wire and the light will dim. So, when the headlights are on-the guage dims; when the headlights are off then the guage is brighter in the daytime so you can see it. It's oposite to what I thought because I was thinking that power going to this would make it brighter, but not true.
-Black is ground.

When I had this guage, I only setup the red wire and left the yellow wire to nothing. This gave me the brightest output at all times.

[M3to335]

Assuming Kyle is e90 (above) then what your saying isnt what he is saying. He said red is 12v switched...not constant.

[e90AW335i]

Originally Posted by M3to335

Assuming Kyle is e90 (above) then what your saying isnt what he is saying. He said red is 12v switched...not constant.

Let me clarify:

Take the power wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the RED wire on the boost gauge.

Take the ground wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the BLACK wire on the boost gauge.

Take the dimmer wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the YELLOW wire on the boost gauge.

If that doesn't work than try different combinations, its not going to blow up the boost gauge or anything.

Hope that is clear enough.

[Mr. 5]

Yep.
This is perfect!

M3to335,
You have red hooked to semthig weird now.
Take the red wire and move it to a constant wire that is on when the car is on--cg lighter.

Yellow wire is the dimming wire.

Originally Posted by e90AW335i

Let me clarify:

Take the power wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the RED wire on the boost gauge.

Take the ground wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the BLACK wire on the boost gauge.

Take the dimmer wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the YELLOW wire on the boost gauge.

If that doesn't work than try different combinations, its not going to blow up the boost gauge or anything.

Hope that is clear enough.

[M3to335]

Originally Posted by e90AW335i

Let me clarify:

Take the power wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the RED wire on the boost gauge.

Take the ground wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the BLACK wire on the boost gauge.

Take the dimmer wire from the cigarette lighter and hook it to the YELLOW wire on the boost gauge.

If that doesn't work than try different combinations, its not going to blow up the boost gauge or anything.

Hope that is clear enough.

I could have sworn I tried that when I was talking to Rix about this a while back. I will try to detach the orange wire then hook my red up to the cig wire again. Its nice and bright now, but it couldnt hurt to have it dim. Here's for hoping!

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

Take the red wire and move it to a constant wire that is on when the car is on--cg lighter.

Your verbage is killing me You said move it to "a constant wire" thats "on when the car is on". So, you just described 12v constand and 12v switched as the same thing Its cool. I get it.

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by M3to335

I could have sworn I tried that when I was talking to Rix about this a while back. I will try to detach the orange wire then hook my red up to the cig wire again. Its nice and bright now, but it couldnt hurt to have it dim. Here's for hoping!



Your verbage is killing me You said move it to "a constant wire" thats "on when the car is on". So, you just described 12v constand and 12v switched as the same thing Its cool. I get it.

Maybe it's me but it just makes comiplete sense to me.
First off: Why would you add a wire from a boost guage to a wire that is on when the car is off? You don't want power to go to a boost guage when the car is off do you?
Maybe you consider what I just said to be constant?
I guess that is the pure definition of constant but I think of it like this:

The cig lighter is constant when the car is on.
The dimmer cig lighter wire is switched only when the headlights are switched on. Comprende?

[RiXst3r]

Originally Posted by M3to335

I could have sworn I tried that when I was talking to Rix about this a while back. I will try to detach the orange wire then hook my red up to the cig wire again. Its nice and bright now, but it couldnt hurt to have it dim. Here's for hoping!

Ya, I thought I already had you try that? well, I hope it works!

Honestly I really hate STRI gauges... I know several people that do fine with them, but those things about made me want to pull my hair out... I had almost half of them show up DOA from my original group buy... And then to make things worse, nobody would take returns on them because no-one had them in stock

[M3to335]

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

Maybe it's me but it just makes comiplete sense to me.
First off: Why would you add a wire from a boost guage to a wire that is on when the car is off? You don't want power to go to a boost guage when the car is off do you?
Maybe you consider what I just said to be constant?
I guess that is the pure definition of constant but I think of it like this:

The cig lighter is constant when the car is on.
The dimmer cig lighter wire is switched only when the headlights are switched on. Comprende?

Its cool, yeah, I understood before we even had this conversation. Just realize, by definition, when you say "when the car is on" that means switched power.

The reason why I, or someone else, would want to run a wire to the boost gauge when the car is off, is beause STRI has it like that in the instruction guide. Possiblily it uses that constant source as a means of remembering your last peak boost after the car has been turned off. Seems stupid, but its there for a reason.

[e90AW335i]

Originally Posted by M3to335

Its cool, yeah, I understood before we even had this conversation. Just realize, by definition, when you say "when the car is on" that means switched power.

The reason why I, or someone else, would want to run a wire to the boost gauge when the car is off, is beause STRI has it like that in the instruction guide. Possiblily it uses that constant source as a means of remembering your last peak boost after the car has been turned off. Seems stupid, but its there for a reason.

The gauge I had didn't have peak recall. Also, the VEI gauge that I now use has peak recall and I still use switched power.

Did you try the wiring setup that I recommended?

[RiXst3r]

Originally Posted by e90AW335i

The gauge I had didn't have peak recall. Also, the VEI gauge that I now use has peak recall and I still use switched power.

Did you try the wiring setup that I recommended?

VEI gauges have non-volatile memory to store its settings, etc... because of this, it doesn't need constant power.

Other electric gauges need constant power to keep their settings.

[M3to335]

Originally Posted by e90AW335i

The gauge I had didn't have peak recall. Also, the VEI gauge that I now use has peak recall and I still use switched power.

Did you try the wiring setup that I recommended?

I have been super busy and havent gotten around to it. Most likely tomorrow after work I can give it a whirl. Im 99% sure Rix suggested this setup a couple weeks ago and it didnt work. Since I have peek recall it maybe a different story.

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

VEI gauges have non-volatile memory to store its settings, etc... because of this, it doesn't need constant power.

Other electric gauges need constant power to keep their settings.

Looks like I still need to keep constant power.