I've been lurking this great forum for a while, trying to decide which HU to get, and was able to avoid a lot of issues due to your help. So hello and a big thanks!

Anyway, I bought a brand new AVIC Z120BT two weeks ago, and had it professionally installed. Last week I took a road trip, and could not get the map to dim at night. It is set to "Automatic" Navi settings, and the only other choice is daytime. This is really the only issue that I've had, and so far have loved the unit. The installer even managed to keep the steering wheel controls in my 2004 Mercedes C240 functional.

If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know.

Mike

hi

the illunination wire from the car's lighting harness probably hasn't been connected

So I probably need to take this back to the installer to fix... Good to know.

Yup the dimming is instigated when you turn on your lights

Do you have Daytime Running Lights? If so, it is not as straight-forward. If your headlights are always on, your display will always be dim - too dim for daytime use. That is - once the installer corrects the ILL wire connection.

BTW, I believe that the setting you referred to only controls whether the display inverts (dark landscape instead of light/white) when in night mode (as detected by the ILL wire), I don't think it affects display brightness per se.

I was playing around with this, setting it to "Daytime" instead of "Automatic", and the map didn't invert at night (when the headlights were on), but the display wasn't as bright when the headlights were on.

Do you have Daytime Running Lights? If so, it is no as straight-forward. If your headlights a always on, your display will always be dim - too dim for daytime use. That is - once the installer corrects the ILL wire connection.

This is true, an easy way around this is to hook the ILL wire to the dash clock or something else that either dims or comes on when you turn on your headlights at night (the lights behind your heater controls also come to mind). I don't have daytime running lights but was feeling lazy when I hooked up my ILL wire so I just tapped into the dash clock. Works perfectly.

My car does have daytime running lights, and I understand the issue. I've talked to my installer, and he said to bring it in and he'd get it working correctly. Isn't that the problem with modern cars? Everything is automatic, so it's a PITA to figure out the simple stuff!

BTW, Even if all that happens is the landscape changes to a darker color, that would be great. Right now it's like a huge white light on my dashboard.

Mike

My car does have daytime running lights, and I understand the issue. I've talked to my installer, and he said to bring it in and he'd get it working correctly. Isn't that the problem with modern cars? Everything is automatic, so it's a PITA to figure out the simple stuff!

 

BTW, Even if all that happens is the landscape changes to a darker color, that would be great. Right now it's like a huge white light on my dashboard.

 

Mike

can't remember the exact settings but it will dim when your lights are on and can be set to show the night sky on the nav screen

hook the ill wire to an ash tray light or cig.lighter light and it will work fine. most cars use can bus communication to do things. and aftermarket plugs are not always accurate for ill. jim then put it in automatic

You can also connec tit to the parking light. Parking lights are not usually on with daytime running lights.

I also have daytime running light, and it's kind of annoying that I have to manually dim at night - otherwise I don't see a thing from the display in daylight...

I was thinking about to buy a light sensor (my car does not have one) and connect it to the ILL input on the HU (with a relay if necessary), so it could change the color scheme and dim as necessary. But until now I haven't found a suitable and cheap solution...