Looked through all the FAQ's....EL gauge swap question - Honda Prelude Forum

evan93si · 02-16-2005, 11:14 AM

hey guys,

I know that this topic has been beat to death, but I already looked through all the FAQ's and i just had one question.

I got a set of EL gauges, and the inverter, and about 3 inches of wire and the small harness/clips that go into the back of the gauges.

Now, i know it's really easy with the whole harness, but I only have those clips and a small amount of wire running out of them. Is it now just a thing of cutting all the old wires and rewiring them/matching up the colors from the old wires to the new wires?

I saw the pinout guide on the FAQ's, but i think that is for if you dont have the cluster clips/pin harnesses. So how should i procede if i have those clips.

thanks for your help guys

-Evan

trident · 02-16-2005, 02:07 PM

Hey, if you want to do it right, you need the wiring diagrams from a 96 prelude, and whatever year prelude you have now. If you are queesy about doing a lot of wiring, and looking at wiring diagrams, then I would not suggest you do the swap without a full EL wiring harness. I have both sets of wiring diagrams, and it took me many hours studying them to get the wires to the right places. Unfortunately it's not as easy as matching colors. You will need to splice wires, and in some cases add wires. Helms makes the supplemental wiring books, and they should still be available for about 30-40 bucks a piece.

UWNTSUM · 02-16-2005, 03:03 PM

there's a wiring diagram in one of the faqs... all i did was cut, and solder... had to extend 2or3 wires.. other than that it was cake. Most of it was matching up the colors... but if u can, i would take the time to solder and shrink tube... this ensures a good connection.

evan93si · 02-16-2005, 04:01 PM

thanks guys, yea those wiring diagrams atleast that most FAQ's had, didnt have like...two seperate colors to match, it was like "speedo wire" to the yellow wire etc. Does anyone have a link that says something like "yellow wire" to "red wire" or something of that sort? thanks for the help guys, just the list "diagram" on the FAQ's i couldnt really understand, it didnt seem like it was wire matching, it was pin out matching.

UWNTSUM · 02-16-2005, 06:42 PM

i'm assuming you do not have the complete 94-96 wire hanress? Do u have any of the connectors? Like did they give u a cut harness? If not you will have to do it the hard way. Meaning lookin up in the helms to find out what pin goes to what color.

evan93si · 02-16-2005, 07:47 PM

I do not have the complete harness, there is about 3 inches of wire coming out of the connectors on the gauge cluster. So is there a diagram that shows which new wire goes to which old wire? instead of just working with pin outs? Because i shouldnt have to change any of the pins right? just resolder wires together?

UWNTSUM · 02-16-2005, 09:27 PM

if u have a cut harness, it should be very simple. just look at the wiring diagram on the FAQ. i know at 1st it seems a bit confusing, but if u take some time to look at it you will figure it out. Just look at the connectors with the left over wire hanging out... each connector has a certain amount of wires... use that as a guide to figure out what connector is what. That is what i did to install mine.

evan93si · 02-16-2005, 09:49 PM

Ok, so i have been looking at it trying to figure it out:

(UPDATED)
Harness H

1. Yellow -- power
2. Pink -- speedometer
3. Yellow -- Power
4. Red/Black -- dimmer wire
5. Black -- ground
6. Orange
7. No wire
8. Light green (you need to splice the wire from the dash clock harness & run it to the pin) -- trip mileage memory
9. Red/Yellow
10. No wire

Harness J

1. No wire
2. No wire
3. No wire
4. Green/yellow -- right blinker
5. Red/blue -- high beam

Harness M

1. Blue/silver spots -- tachometer
2. Black -- ground
3. Red/yellow -- high beam
4. Green -- left blinker
5. Blue -- SRS

So, i might just not be getting it, but i just dont understand this. How does this help me match the two diff. sets of wires together? I am assuming these are the wires that correlate with the function of the wires of the original console, but i need to know what color the (For instance: tach wire, or ground wire) is, instead of knowing the function, because i do not have a helms. does anyone know how the wire colors match up?

evan93si · 02-16-2005, 09:50 PM

sorry if it sounds like i am a gauge swap noob that doesnt know what he's doing, it's because i really dont know where to start on this, just tryin to get some help, thanks guys

UWNTSUM · 02-17-2005, 12:09 AM

its fine to ask questions... that is what this board is here for to help one another out... You will get a better understanding of how that diagram goes once u take out ur existing cluster. Basically, on your existing harness that is plugged into your analog cluster u will be cutting that and tapping the wires off the cut harness from the El gauges to that. All you need to do is find the correct color wire and tap it to that. The info on the right handside of the colorscheme is just explaining what that wire does/controls.

evan93si · 02-17-2005, 07:45 AM

ok ok, i think i get it now! let's see if this is right: because i might be trying it today:

Example:

Harness H

1. Yellow -- power
2. Pink -- speedometer
3. Yellow -- Power
4. Red/Black -- dimmer wire
5. Black -- ground
6. Orange
7. No wire
8. Light green (you need to splice the wire from the dash clock harness & run it to the pin) -- trip mileage memory
9. Red/Yellow
10. No wire

This means that on the H harness of my NEW el gauge clip.....the pin number that i attach the OLD yellow wire to is the 1 slot?

So it would go (old analog gauge wire color: yellow) Goes to (new EL gauge pin number 1)

and so on? just want to make sure that the colors listed are for the old gauges, and the pin numbers are for the new gauges.

Also.......i have never checked but are the exsisting (analog) Harnesses split up into 3, and it just requires rewiring the exsisting group of wires, or will i have to cross some wires over from diff. old harnesses?

thanks for all the help guys, this is awesome

UWNTSUM · 02-17-2005, 10:30 PM

Yup u pretty much got the idea... u will understand more once you pull out ur analog cluster and look at ur harness. then it will be more clear.

evan93si · 02-17-2005, 10:55 PM

cool, i am doing it this weekend, i'll keep you guys updated!

UWNTSUM · 02-18-2005, 02:04 AM

guys? hmm i don't see anyone else replying but myself.. unless i count as 2 people hahahaha! good luck

Kieffer87 · 03-01-2005, 12:05 PM

IVe wanted to do this for awhile now this is good stuff! How does the digital odo work? As far as being accurate to your odo. Just deal with it or is there a way to set it?

UWNTSUM · 03-02-2005, 04:45 AM

It works... depending on how much milage the previous car the el-gauge was pulled out of is what will come up when u plug it in. It will count on from there.