R--star

Last month I went to a company to place a new alarm system in my tib.
But now I found out that they didn't rewired my rheostat (and I can't find the connector!)
And I defiantly not going back there, 'cause it's 3 hours from my place.
So can anyone help me, I found some diagrams and that kind of stuff but I can't find the wiring for the rheostat.

The rheostat does have 3 connections.

Can anyone say what is, so I can wire it up myself?

Thanks!!!

radu_rd2

Here's a schematic. Black goes to ground, green/white goes to switched +12V, green/black is the variable ground that goes to all the lights (this is what you control with the rheostat).

R--star

Yesterday I was looking for some wires.
I found 2 green wires, the ass.... cut the connector off and taped the 2 green wires together.
I can't find a black one, but oke that's not that difficult to make.

Does someone have a pic of the connector, than I can see how I have to connect the wires.
I only saw green, but that was a quick look..

This weekend I hope to have a better look.

Just a mess what that guy made of it,grrr

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (R--star @ Jun 16 2009, 07:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Thanks for the diagram!


Yesterday I was looking for some wires.
I found 2 green wires, the ass.... cut the connector off and taped the 2 green wires together.
I can't find a black one, but oke that's not that difficult to make.

Does someone have a pic of the connector, than I can see how I have to connect the wires.
I only saw green, but that was a quick look..

This weekend I hope to have a better look.

Just a mess what that guy made of it,grrr</div>

frozen

If he did that, then he just bypassed the rheostat. Now I'm thinking if he did that, he had a reason to... Which is, he messed up and used 12v from the lights to control something on the alarm that would need 12v. He then realized that with the rheostat there at less than FULL, it wasn't working properly, so he bypassed it. I don't know much about alarms, but is there a display, or anything on the alarm that changes when you turn the headlights on?

R--star

He didn't used the 12+, because i got the green wires free. He taped it with some tape.
But I couldn't find the black (-) wire so I think he used that for the alarm.
The alarm doesn't have an display or something. An I can't find out what makes sense do use the rheostat wires.

It really doesn't make sense why he did it. I called him an he didn't know how he did it anymore :S


An if I see the diagram, I see only 12+ on the green wires.
Btw the are hanging free, I can follow them to the cluster above.

radu_rd2

As my schematic above shows, the rheostat does not control the +12V side of the lights, but the ground to the lights (green/black wire)

The black wire to the rheostat is just a ground, if you can't find it just get a terminal, screw it onto the metal plate around, and connect it to the rheostat as the ground.

frozen

The green wires not being connected to anything means nothing. There are probably 30 wires in that circuit, which all go to those green wires. I have a hard time believing that an installer would just cut some wires and short them out for no reason.

Radu, that's not how electricity works. When two loads are connected in series, you're creating a voltage divider. In this case, your lights are 1 load, and the rheostat is the 2nd load. That is how the lights are dimmed, by varying the resistance of the 2nd load. If you only have one load in a 12v circuit, and you measure voltage across that load, you'll read 12v. However, say you have two loads, both with are 10 ohms, connected in series. If you measure the voltage across one load, you will read 6v. Another term for voltage is potential difference, which is a bit more suitable for this application. Across the first load, you're not reading the applied voltage, you're reading the difference in potential from terminal A to terminal B, which will vary as you increase or decrease the resistance of the rheostat.

(Not trying to be a dick, just trying to spread some info)

radu_rd2

Yes but the "output" of the voltage divider is the green/black wire. The green/white wire is connected directly to +12V (switched of course). I have a full schematic that shows that if you need one to believe me.

frozen

I'm not disagreeing with you there. I was just trying to find a reason as to why he would need to remove the rheostat. I've also seen the diagrams on HMA, I got very familiar with them when I first bought my tib. If he tapped into the circuit after the bulb (Grn/Blk) then he would be seeing the voltage divider potential. He could have hooked it up and tried it with the rheostat dimmed, and it worked, and then stopped working once the brightness was turned up... Meh, it's stupid all around.
...Which makes me realize, I guess people do stupid things for stupid reasons. When I bought my car someone had cut off two wires in the fuse box and hooked up some other wires there instead (which were already powered)... None of the dash lights worked as a result. I guess some people think they are fixing something but are really doing nothing...

Hopefully this is the case. Let us know what happens Rstar

R--star

Thanks for replies, I decided to buy a second hand connector smile.gif
And finally I got it, so this weekend I will make start with it.
Hope he will do it when I finish it tomorrow (A)

I'll keep you updated, I will also make a pic of the connector (you never know if it could help someone else)

Thanks!!!