Need your ideas on a How To Do it - SpeedHut Gauge Install

[Jim_Gruber]

I am hooking up my SpeedHut Gauges in Bugsy and need some ideas. Each LED in the Gauges have a separate Power and Common Ground Wire. I counted no less that 10 Ground Wires and 6 Power Wires I need to tie together. Soldering iron is ready to go but what can I use to tie together all of the common wires from each gauge. These are itty bitty wires. I thought about a Brass Washer I can strip wires back on, add a layer of solder to begin with on the brass washer, wrap the wires around the brass washer and then add a layer of solder. Use a small bolt to tie the wires from each gauge together and connect to a common ground or common Power Source. Heat Shrink over all to prevent something shorting out.


Either that or a solder type lug, good luck trying to find something that is not insulated, and solder each one together. or a copper/brass washer solder each wire individually to a single washer and then a brass bolt to hold the stack together, Heat Shrink over all. Since gauges need to come out when dash is recovered this Winter I need a way to easily put it together and then take it apart. Thinking caps on gents. Oh and something I don't need to mailorder. Summer is going quickly, need to be back and driving.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Temporary solution ... wire nut then heat shrink and follow up with a zip tie. Then mail order something that you can tinker with in the winter months.

 

[TEM666666]

Would it be too much work to buy a bunch of 2pin JST connectors, 20awg wire and make your own wiring loom? It will be the cleanest and neatest installation and easy to remove. Build it all on the bench nicely on both ends and plug and play in the car.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

Not sure what a JST connector is, need to look that one up. Trevor wire nuts I hadn't considered that much in the way of a "Hey Ya'al watch me do this..." engineering solution. But now a possibility.

 

[Gerard]

...or Molex connectors. These are also small pins, but easy to crimp and solder, especially for small gauge wires. Molded plugs, both male and female, are available in many combinations, so you could do 3 sets of 2, 2 sets of 3 of even 6 all in one connector. These are pretty easily available, even at Radio Shack stores (used to be anyway).

Would it be too much work to buy a bunch of 2pin JST connectors, 20awg wire and make your own wiring loom? It will be the cleanest and neatest installation and easy to remove. Build it all on the bench nicely on both ends and plug and play in the car.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Computers used to use molex connectors ... maybe they still do. But brick N motar computer stores that sell components are pretty rare as well.

 

[dklawson]

How small and delicate are these wires? Have you got any pictures? Does each LED already have a dropping resistor so you can connect them directly to 12V?

 

[maxwedge5281]

jim I know this is no help but my gauges from speedhut were daisy chained with snaps. only a couple of power wires and maybe ground for the entire group...and those wires are very small! did you order the gauges without connectors?

 

[Pythias]

I would .... ..... get some butt splices in 14, 12, and 10 AWG. Put the tiny wires in one end, using the butt splice that fit them best. The wires sound small enough that you could use a single but splice to crimp ALL the tiny wires together, then have a #12 wire come out the other side that you could use for your grounding point.

 

[dklawson]

... my gauges from speedhut were daisy chained with snaps. only a couple of power wires and maybe ground for the entire group...

That's why I asked my questions. If the LEDs do not already have dropping resistors to operate on 12V, then you have to daisy chain a few of them to get the right voltage OR you have to add dropping resistors for each one OR you have to add a different value dropping resistor when you tie all the grounds and all the power wires together.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Given that they are sold for a 12V application I'd wager that they already include a resistor. Easy enough to test.

 

[Jim_Gruber]

OK so I went to MicroCenter Store in Columbus today while at Lunch Time. I found some small 4 Pin Connectors M/F that I can use to create a quick disconnect. These are Low Amperage Connections normally used on a PC board. In addition Color Coded Head Shrink on each side will allow me to make sure Yellow Heat Shrink Cable on the end connects to the Yellow Heat Shrink Cable on the other end. Will still need to tie all of the grounds together but I can at least solder everything to make it a permanent fix. I'll make sure Power Cables are set up differently than Ground Cables so they can't be reversed accidentally


Gauges I have do not have wiring daisy chained together w snaps. 1 resistor came in the Tach Box and it was for a different Coil on Plug Configuration. Not for an LBC type of application. I think I've got it now and I don't need to order it.


Heading for Put-In-Bay Road Race Reunion on Monday the 28th. Under 2 Liters, on the Airport on Put-In-Bay on Lake Erie. Hay Bales and Road Racing like it used to be. Nothing newer than 1962, perhaps 1965. Kids are back in school, will be quieter on the island, and last year there were 7,000 spectators there. Racing is on M & T, I can only stay for Monday. Racing begins at 10:00 AM and ends at 5:00. A little dinner on the island, catch the ferry back to Port Clinton, OH. Home by 11:00. Cedar Point on Sunday as well, Roller Coaster Capital of the Country. Going to be a fun weekend. Bugsy will not be going this year. But maybe next year.