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I've been looking at ways to wire my VDO gauges and have read various ways to do it in the archives. With my setup, a 3-gauge DIN panel replaces the head unit, so no more stereo in my B13.
What about buying a $10 '84-'94 Nissan stereo harness adapter and sourcing my juice from that?
You get a 12v switched power source, plus dimmer wires for lighting, all using the factory fuse.
The factory tape player is broken, and the rare cubby-spot Nissan/Sony CD player also died a year ago. In the Ozarks, AM/FM fades pretty quickly, too.
The G20 took over daily duty, so new gauges got the nod over a new head unit.
The senders just got hooked up, and the gauges are now mounted in a dead knockoff of the chriscar installation. Now I just need to wire everything without burning down the car.
If the stock radio harness will run a head unit, they should power three gauges fine, right?
I'd just tap the cig lighter as suggested above. That way the gauges power when the car is in the accessory position.
Since you've mentioned, though, I'm curious if there's an input on most gauges, for dimmer control. I haven't looked at my gauges thoroughly yet, but it'd be awesome if it's possible.
I bought a $7 Nissan stereo harness at Wal*Mart and pruned all but the Accessory (switched 12v) and two dimmer wires. The harness did not have the second dimmer pin, as aftermarket head units apparently don't use it, so I yanked one out of another slot and moved it over.
It made wiring the power and dimmer a snap. Literally.
Almost everything works beautifully. The voltmeter and water temp gauge show everything at spec. I just have to see why the oil pressure gauge is not getting a reading from the sender.
Nice I just wired my gauges into the cigarette lighter yesterday. Didn't really care about the dimmer function, but just in case, I pre-ran wiring from the pillar pod to the back of the headunit, should I decide to dim the gauges.
I just wired my gauges into the cigarette lighter yesterday. Didn't really care about the dimmer function, but just in case, I pre-ran wiring from the pillar pod to the back of the headunit, should I decide to dim the gauges. 
