Digidash ilumination

[Voodoo]

A while back, I wired up the digidash just to check everything worked. All browns to ground, al blacks to +, the dash did the self check. Then, I connected both green/gray wires to +, and the halogen bulbs lit up. But now, I did exactly the same thing, the dash self checks but the halogen bulbs don't come on, all I hear is something inside the dash clicking like a relay. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong, or did I bust something? Mind you, it's not fitted on the car yet.

[Dom]

You only need to connect the grey/green wires to +ve if you want to use the dimmer control on the dash.

I personally left these disconnected so the dash would be at full brightness all the time.

Try just connecting the Black wires to +ve and the Brown to gnd and it should light up. If it doesnt, you've either got blown backlight bulbs or a bad connection on them.

[lee may]

I take it you are using a battery charger the second time round.

I did the same and got worried, Put it on a battery and it will be fine

[Dom]

Ummmm - battery chargers dont normally kick out the 10-14 volts the digidashes usually run on - if you've used a car battery charger, they can kick out up to 20 volts (sometimes more) under the low load of a digidash (around 1.5 amps).

You may have blown the halogen bulbs if its gone over voltage.

[Voodoo]

Actually it's the other way arround lmao
I used a battery charger the first time (a very old one my pop has lying around), and now the car battery... How can I check the bulbs? And what's the clicking sound I hear coming from inside the dash?

[Dom]

The clicking in the dash is a relay. It is used to switch between the full 12 volts to the bulbs or bypasses this and switches to whatever voltage is at the dimmer switch on the rest of the dashboard.

The dash should light up with only the Black and Brown wires connected - if it doesnt I'd say the bulbs have blown or have been wrongly inserted.

Firstly you can visually inspect them - take them out and hold them up to the light - they are suprisingly fragile and I have ruined one by letting it drop off my desk onto a hard surface. The glass survived but the filament was broken instantly. You should be able to see the filament (very thin bit of wire) unbroken from the left to the right - if there is a gap then the bulb is useless.

Take the bulbs out and reinsert them - they should be rotated 90 degrees when inserted for them to work.

If you have a test meter, test the continuity between the two connections on the bulb - it should read around 2 ohms (practically short circuit), if you get an open circuit then the bulbs are useless.

Hope this helps

Dom

[Voodoo]

Thanx Dom, will check! I don't have a test meter but can borrow one from work on monday.
Cheers!