I just had my z110bt installed, and the installer left the illumination wire dangling. I went back two days later and had him hook it up because the screen is so bright at night.

I have a 2005 avalanche (onstar and bose, I have the adapter to keep both), when he hooked up the illumination wire he hooked it up to the illumination wire coming out of the harness. however lights on or off screen stays the same, also when I go the connections screen with the lights on or off the illumination always says off.

Any suggestions on whats wrong?

You don't need the illumination wire. Adjust your brightness settings through the menu settings. It's in your book.

You do need that wire if you want the unit to switch from day to night mode when you activate your head lights.

You do need that wire if you want the unit to switch from day to night mode when you activate your head lights.

At night, Is the screen supposed to turn dark with the roads lit up, or does the daytime screen just become dimmer?

If the unit is wired corretly the map landscap will turn black when you switch your headlights on. The brightness of the screen will dim if you have adjusted the brightness settings while the headlights are switched on. So the answer to your question yes.

I kinda wish the screen would always use the dark map... and just dim when the lights are on...

I know there is an option that will make it always use the daytime map... just wish they would have thrown in the option for always nighttime map too...

It may be possible to trick the unit with a relay or some other means. Unfortunately this will be beyond my install knowledge but I am sure if you post a thread inquiring about the possibilities of this someone with the knowledge will chime in.

I just had my z110bt installed, and the installer left the illumination wire dangling. I went back two days later and had him hook it up because the screen is so bright at night.

 

I have a 2005 avalanche (onstar and bose, I have the adapter to keep both), when he hooked up the illumination wire he hooked it up to the illumination wire coming out of the harness. however lights on or off screen stays the same, also when I go the connections screen with the lights on or off the illumination always says off.

 

Any suggestions on whats wrong?

It is more than likely you do not have a illumination wire in the harness. I have a a Pontiac G6 which is in the GM Family and my wiring harness doesn't have a Illumination wire in it. so my installer had to connect the Orange/White Wire wich is the Pionner illumination Wire to my parking lights. Now when my parking lights or head lights are turned on the Display turns to night display and when my parking lights are turned off it turns to day display wich is page 92 in the manual. Also check to make sure your map settings for day/night dispay is turned to automatic for the display to change between day and night wich is page 46 in the manual.

Hope this helps

The brightness of the screen will dim if you have adjusted the brightness settings while the headlights are switched on. So the answer to your question yes.

Here's something interesting. In my car (2002 Z06) the dash panel adjustmentdimmer does the exact opposite to control the brightness of the radio.

Thats sounds like a polarity issue with the dimmer switch.

there is usually a wire on your adaptors. if not hook the wire up to a wire that lights an ashtray or a switch near the head unit.some units use digital signals for illumination in radios. but a light will work. jim

It may be possible to trick the unit with a relay or some other means. Unfortunately this will be beyond my install knowledge but I am sure if you post a thread inquiring about the possibilities of this someone with the knowledge will chime in.

You can of course just connect the illumination wire via a switch to +12. That way you can just use the switch to change between daylight and nighttime settings at will....

It's been a while since I have used my F90BT and I am still waiting to see whats going on with a possible Z120 before I buy the Z110. In the meantime, I am using a POS Kenwood DNX8120. Do the Pioneer units not have a "sync with nav" option for the dimmer? If not, I guess I've finally found something that the Kenwood does better than Pioneer. I was thinking that the F90BT map turned to night mode at sunset like the Kenwood does and dims the screen as well... But like I said, It's been a while. This would be very annoying for me as I don't use any of those crappy interfacing devices and I would not enjoy searching for a wire to hook the illum wire to

90bt has illumination wire same as z110 ... jim

So let me get this straight...if I have an illumination wire coming from the after market car harness, I can hook this up to the power harness of the Z110bt to make it auto change to night time mode.

Also, does anyone know whether doing the bypass necessitates hooking the ground, parking break, and mute wired to chassis of car, can I just hook it up to the ground wire of my harness and ground it to the chassis of the Z110bt. I had some install issues with the last Z110bt I ordered, even after I have hooked up several of these units...and I am chalking it up to a faulty unit. Any help will be appreciated.

Yes.