VDO guage problem

Help! - I have wired oil Temp, pressure and volt gauges picking up an ignition live from fuse box and earthing directly to rose above fuse box - however, battery gauge only works when side lights are turned on and pressure / temp gauges only work with dipped headlight - neither are connected to the headlights?? - I'm baffled - can anyone help!!

have you tapped into the blue/grey wire from the headlight switch?

What you need to do is look at the fuseboard FAQ in the atrchives and work out what wire you can tap into for a switched live.

Ill give you a clue, its black and goes from pin 15 on the ignition switch

I have tapped into blue light wire from Cig lighter and earth for lights which work fine - for gauge power I have picked up a spare pin on the ignition side and earthed direct to rose - should this not work?

So just to confirm you have picked up an igition live from the fusebox for the gauge power and blue/grey wire for the illumination of the gauges?

You've not picked up a "spare pin from the ignition side" - it sounds like you've connected to a pin which is +12V only when the lights are on. Which pin, and what kind of fusebox is it (what shape are the fuses)?

It should be possible to find an ignition live after a bit of searching with a, ummmm, voltmeter.

if its the later style blade fusebox not all the 'G' spare pins are ignition live, some are lights on etc as you have found. move them to a different pin