Gauges for day and night
 

Hi,

Just picked up my second miata. This one came with a Greddy turbo :) So far, I have no complaints except for the installed a/f and boost gauges. They are fine during daytime, but after dark I find them bright and annoying. I had to keep my hand over the a/f gauge because it was literally blinding. Do you have any recommendations on new gauges that (1) match a stock cluster, (2) are not too bright or even dimmable with the cluster, and (3) are accurate. Ideally, the a/f gauge would dim down when the lights come on, like most radios do when you turn the lights on.

Thanks
Ben
91 base, 54k miles, turbo, intercooler, bov, msd ignition

Just a thought on the dimming issue, you could wire the light in after the stock dimmer switch so that you could adjust the brightness of your current gauges.

Another thought on the dimming issue; pull the bulbs and see if you can get dimmer ones with the same base if you don't want to screw with the wiring.

Thanks for the responses. I hadn't considered installing less intense bulbs... I'll get on that, but the biggest problem to me is not the background lighting, but the led markers on the a/f gauge. They're too bright at night because they don't dim down.

Might want to just replace that gauge with something more useful. Granted a narrowband fed A/F gauge can show you really lean or rich, it's not really useful for any real tuning. Some people keep it for the pretty lights or modify it for a wideband hookup, but you'd probably get more info from another gauge such as water temp/oil temp/EGT/etc...

Agree here.

On the positive, you could sell the "A/F gauge" to pay for the new one.

i wired my guage to the dimmer switch.

i popped the dimmer switch out of the dash, and put a multitester on each of the three wires coming out of it. by turning on the parking lights and adjusting the dimming knob, i found the one that adjusts. i tapped the lighting wire from the gauge into that wire.

yea but if he dims the a/f guage the stock cluster gets lighter too.

maybe window tint and just leave the daytime on during the day.but remember to turn off the lights or the battery dies.done that before.

I wired up all my guages to the dimmer. The A/F guage has a switch to turn it on an off.

Location can also be to blame. If the A/F guage is in the A-Pillar move it to an eyeball vent or the center console.

Thanks for the feedback fellas... seriously.

I decided that I will replace the existing a/f meter with an led readout for one with a standard needle.

Will an A/F gauge with a standard needle respond fast enough? I too agree that a narrow band A/F gauge is not very useful while a wideband is perhaps the most useful gauge for tuning.

I'm not trying to whore my auction here because 10 million people are seeing it on Ebay right now BUT I just put my XD-16 A/F gauge up for auction at $80 less than what they normally cost. It may be a good option for you and at the price it is definitely a good deal.