Ok guys after a lot of research I found the VSS wire on my Cadillac CTS 04 and tapped into it. I had to remove the speedometer cluster....

Well I can't find what wire I can tap in the Illumination wire too.......

I even got a multimeter and found wire with current while headlights were on and when I found one I switched off the headlights to see if the current went away but was unsuccessful in finding a wire to tap in the illuminationwire.... any ideas?

Also any idea on the reverse wire?

Shouldnt your illumination wire already be at your OEM stereo? Gonna have to find a CTS forum to find that i'd imagine.

I picked up my reverse wire in a harness in the engine bay, also, probably a CTS forum could help.

The easiest thing to do likely is to tap into a tail light wire. Headlights are tricky as DRL's screw things up, but your tail lights are only on when you turn on your headlight switch, or in a Caddy if your lights come on automatically. So I would try to find one of the tail light wires. You are essentially looking for any wire that has current flowing through it when you want the screen dimmed.

The cigarette lighter bulb may be the easiest one to tap into, as it's right by the unit.

Ok guys so I finished the install 2 days ago and decided not to connect the Illumination wire or the reverse wire because I was just going to do it later.

Well I have the map to Auto when it comes to Night and Day and even though the Illumination wire is not connected my system changes at night to night mode and at day to day mode. Weird huh? Maybe its set by time. So what is the purpose of the illumination wire since mine is dimming automatically without the wire?

Also I dont see a need for the reverse wire unless I install a backup camera which I think is too expensive.....

I'm not sure about a Caddy but I installed a unit in my Silverado which is also GM and if you have an auto-tinting mirror then you should have a reverse signal going to the mirror. I found a wire in the pillar on the driver's side in my Silverado.

The illumination wire should be in the original wire harness for the stock head unit. (unless it either didn't have back lit buttons or they were always on)

And yes the day/night mode is based on the time. However, the screen dimming is not so if you want your screen to dim at night then you will need it.

boberto00 what wire are you talking about in the drivers pillar. I'm trying to help my brother install his AVIC D3 in a 2006 Silvarado (no onstar) and can't figure out the Illumination. Mine in my 06 Civic works fine but I can't remember (which I'm sure its different) what I done. He is also going to connect a back up camera to it. Don't it need the reverse wire instead? Thanks!

The wire in the drivers pillar has +12v only when the truck is in reverse. In my case it was a light green wire I think, be sure to check with a multimeter before making any connections. (This wire is only there if he has an auto-tinting mirror.)

I'm not sure how the D3 works with a backup camera but with the F-series, if you put the vehicle in reverse, the screen automatically displays the video from the rear-view camera. If he is not connecting his camera to the D3 then he may not need the reverse wire in the driver's pillar.

The illumination wire is in the wire harness that plugs into the factory radio which you are of course removing. I'm not sure which one it is but it is usually best to get a harness for after market radios.

The unit doesn't change night/day by the illumination wire that's all done by a timer, the only thing that is controlled via illumination is the brightness level.

So you could just leave the illumination wire alone anyway. Doesn't do much as you can see.

It's too bad it took so much effort to figure that out, amazing there is no oem illumination wire to the head unit anyway, I've never heard of that as most oem stereo's will have some sort of lights turn on when you hit the head lights.

The unit doesn't change night/day by the illumination wire that's all done by a timer, the only thing that is controlled via illumination is the brightness level.

 

Seriously??? What are they using as a "timer"?

So I decide to drive to Edmonton, Alberta in July and my unit goes to night use at 9:00 p.m. when the sun is still up? Something doesn't sound right here.

I think with the F-series it is done based on the time ,which it gets from satellites, in whichever region you are in. Not sure why it decided to turn on night mode at 9pm but maybe further south in Alberta it was darker already at that time. If you go far enough north in Alberta in the summer it actually never gets totally dark all night.

Or maybe if it does pick up the info from satellites it was just incorrectly entered info just as some parts of the GPS and or maps are sometimes off a bit.

I think with the F-series it is done based on the time ,which it gets from satellites, in whichever region you are in. Not sure why it decided to turn on night mode at 9pm but maybe further south in Alberta it was darker already at that time. If you go far enough north in Alberta in the summer it actually never gets totally dark all night.

Or maybe if it does pick up the info from satellites it was just incorrectly entered info just as some parts of the GPS and or maps are sometimes off a bit.

It probably gets it from the sunrise and sunset calendars; these are static tables and decide each day when sunrise and sunset are based your geographical location and since this unit knows your GPS location, it can (again, probably) do some mathematical calculations to figure out what the proper times are.

Ok, just been reading here about the illum wire and day/night mode and dimming. My unit doesn't dim.. at all. I have the nav side set to "auto" and it pulls time from sat.. time is accurate on the unit .. but the screen brightness doesn't change when the headlights/dash lighting comes on with the headlights or by any sort of time reference. Any Ideas? I tested the illumination feed when I installed it, and it gets a solid 12+ v when the lights are on.

Go into the settings > system settings > display and change it to whatever brightness you like, then turn your headlights on and go to the same place and change it to what you would like it to be when the lights are on.

.. hmm.. tried that in exactly that order.. didnt seem to work. I'll see about doing it again (when its not so damned cold out ) .. and see if it takes. Is there a logic file built into the os that allows it to work that way? I really have alot more searching to do here.. lots to know. Thanks for answering the newb question!

Not sure why it didn't work, or how it works. All I know is that with the lights on, I set the brightness to what I would like it to be with the lights on. Then with the lights off, I set it to how I would like it with the lights off.

You may have to go back to the main screen between setting the two. I didn't have to but others here have said its nessesary. Which AVIC do you have?

Oh its actually settings > system settings > picture adjustment

I have a F700bt. I ran through the procedure that you described again last night.. and went back to the main screen between settings.. still same. No change. I just keep it set at what is comfy at night and for the most part its ok during the day unless the sun and/or glare is right on it. I'll have to dig into this further. Anyone have a pin out of the harness and connector? .. I'd like to verify that if I can find a accurate diagram. Mine didnt come with much for documentation when I received it.

06 Cadillac STS is radio harness Yellow(dimmer) + trigger IDK what kind of cadi you have but just let me know also the reverse also helps with not only the camera but the nav as well better tracking when on the move if you know what I mean Reverse wire is LT GREEN + trigger under driver side rear seat

... oh, nah, no caddy (would be nice ) lol.. its in a toyota. I verified the lighting feed wire before I put the unit in the dash .. so it gets +12 on the orange wire when the headlights are on. I need the pinout for the F700BT harness where it plugs into the back of the unit. If I can get that I can completely verify the hardware connections and start bangin around with the software. I had read somewhere that the F700 didnt have dimming capability.. but that doesn't sound right to me.. anyhow I'll keep diggin and report what I find Thanks for all the feedback! any other Idea's I'm all ears.

I have a F700 as well. Dimming works fine.

I've just installed a 700BT into a 06 Jetta. When I turn on my lights, the display gets a bit brighter. Not exactly what I had expected. I have to use a PAC adapter to interface with my car's computer so the wiring is really straight forward. Still, this doesn't seem right. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Figured it out. Turns out to be a U.S.E.R. error. Didn't realize that the very same illumination intensity control gives independent control over the display brightness with lights on vs with lights off. Just adujsted the display to what I wanted with the lights off then, turned my lights on and made the adjustment again for what I want with my lights on.

Viola! It works fine. Nice little unit.