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Prosport Boost Gauge Not Lighting up after engine start


BillyJoe

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Hello all..

 

Been dealing with a gremlin in my boost gauge install circuit and I'm pulling my hair out. Hopefully you guys can help me out.

 

Here's the story:

 

Bought the Mechanical Performance boost gauge (white/amber) from Prosport and the installation was a breeze. I hooked up the electrical connections for the LEDs directly to my fusebox per johnAWD's example (below).

 

http://jsalmi.com/car/boostgauge/35_power.jpg

 

The only difference was, since this gauge has the option of changing led color to amber when the headlights are on, I have attached both the 12v accessory wire (needle pointer led) and the white wire (powers the white led for daytime use) to the same ACC fuse. So essentially, two wires are coming off that fuse. The wire used for activating the red led is tapped into the ILLumination fuse. I am grounded on the bolt that is holding the handle for the hood latch (right under the in-car fuse box).

 

The problem:

This setup worked for 5 days. Awesome gauge, clear and near-perfect color matching to our factory gauge lights. However, all of a sudden the leds do not light up any more after engine start. None of them - pointer led, white led, and red led. I have no messed with any connections.

 

Now here is the odd part. The ONLY time the gauge WILL light up, is when the key is in the ACC 1 position. Turning the key further to the ACC 2 position (when the factory gauges do the sweep and all the dash lights come on) and after engine start - the gauge turns off. When i turn the engine off, and turn the switch the other way back to ACC 1, the radio is still on, but the gauge will not light up. It ONLY lights up when i turn the key from the OFF position to ACC 1.

 

I checked the tapped fuse with a voltmeter/multimeter with the key in ALL positions, and it shows 12.39v in ALL positions (of course 14.3v after engine start). I even checked the voltage at the splices where I joined the wires (extended to reach the fuse box) and they all read the same voltage. I have NO idea why the gauge will ONLY turn on during ACC 1 and not any other times.

 

I also tapped the two wires (needle pointer led, and white led) into the Cig Lighter fuse, and SAME Occurance. I know all leds are working because they ARE lighting up and obviously my ground is good too since they are lighting up.

 

I tapped into the cabin fuse box because i thought it would be an easy source, but i have no idea why this is doing this and why the gauge was working perfectly for 5 days after the install.

 

I've tried pretty much everything besides actually taking out the gauge and directly hooking it up to the battery terminals, but that won't prove anything since i know the LED's work.

 

What might be in the gauge itself that will cause this? Any safety mechanisms? I thought this mechanical gauge was pretty simple and these wires are just running LEDs.

 

Note: I am using the same gage wire as what was installed on the boost gauge.

 

Thanks ahead of time for any help..:confused:

 

I called Prosport, they said it is definitely a wire issue. If i don't get this resolved, I'll probably make a video of my troubleshooting and send it with the gauge to help explain my issue (since i think this is pretty weird). Hopefully, they will be able to help.

 

Stanley

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The gauge has no idea what position your key is in so obviously something is changing with the key's position.

 

I'd start with another ground point. Your gauge may be grounding through the ILL circuit until the car powers it up at the other key position. At that point there is no longer a path to ground and the gauge won't light.

 

An even quicker test would be to disconnect the wire connected to the ILL circuit and see if that changes anything.

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Still not working right.... Same thing happening even when I remove the illumination fuse connection.

 

When the gauge lights up on ACC 1 and I disconnect the ground cable, the lights shut off, but when I reconnect the ground cable right away, the lights do not come back on.

 

Again I thought it was a simple circuit to ground so when ever I touch the wire to ground the led should light up. In this case, the led will light up when it first gets power and if anything interupts it, it will not light up again until the ignition switch gets turned to off and back to ACC 1

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i just bought a blue/white prosport electric gauge, after install the blue light worked fine, the next morning it wouldnt turn blue anymore *yay* i have the wire (orange) hooked up to the illumination 10amp fuse, the 2 other power wires and one from the boost sender are on the power wire from the clock. grounds are on a metal bar i found behind the dash. what i figured out was if you have the headlights ON when you start the car or put in in ACC the gauge wont turn colors, if you have the lights off when you start the car they will change from white to blue with your headlights. i dont know if this will solve your problem, but if you havnt tried it, give it a shot!
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  • 3 weeks later...
I received the second gauge, letter came with it said that it was replaced with a new one. I hooked it up the same way, always start it up with Headlights OFF, it worked flawlessly for 5-7 days and now same thing is happening (see original post). I'm fed up, and now searching for a different brand.
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Ryan, thanks for being concerned with this problem. I have sent Glen three videos on the on exactly how I hooked it up and how I tested (using an LED strip) the circuit. Ask him to review the videos.

 

Stanley

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 years later...

Recently got a couple of the EVO voltage gauges, with RED/BLUE option. Many of their other gauges are wired similarly. If the headlight wire has voltage on it when the unit is turned on, it will default to only the BLUE color. The only way to prevent this is to delay the headlight voltage wire by a short time. You can make a little delay circuit of about 0.1 second, with an LM555 8-pin chip and a couple of electrical components.

 

I have it working just fine on my test bench. It all fits into a little bulge in heat shrink tubing. If your lights are already on when you start the car, the gauge shows BLUE while it "boots" up, then goes to RED. Problem solved for $2 in parts and some basic soldering. Can be added to existing wiring behind the gauges. PM me if you want one.

 

The doofus engineers at Prosport should have included this in the design. The gauges look great, though, and operation is now perfect with this mod.

 

The little fob draws almost no power. I have been talking with a guy at Prosport about making these mods to new versions of the gauges, along with a voltage adj pot, user accessible, to dial them in perfectly.

 

Pictures of FOB in action here:

 

https://4455projects.shutterfly.com/pictures/14

 

White and Black go to the same power leads as on the gauges. Red goes to orange headlight wires on gauges. Done. I found that it works with the circuit delaying only 0.1 seconds (modified the prototype from a 1 sec delay). I will make them up with that smaller delay, so you don't notice the delay nearly as much when the headlights are switched on. When you power up with the headlights already on, the gauges show BLUE while it "boots up," then goes to RED. After that it works as it should with switching headlights on/off. If you let me know which gauge you have, I will label the wiring to let you know how to hook it up.

 

You only need one of these FOBs for all the gauges in your cluster. Just connect all the headlight wires to it. This is my hobby and enthusiast solution to "cure" these Prosport gauges. Cheers.

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