I have read on other posts about the ILL wire but I am making a new post because I think my problem is slightly different. I got the system 'professionally' installed and I was told that the day/night setting of my car wasn't going to work because the polarity of my car and the one of the Nav unit were not compatible. Forgive my ignorance but I believed what the guy said; however, I thought that I could live without the automatic dimmer but at least I could use the day/night setting on the touch screen...

... it turns out that that doesn't work either!

I called Pioneer and they told me that the day/night setting on the screen will not work either unless the ILL wire is hooked up.

Obviously, I took it to the shop and I got the same response from the guy. At the end, I decided that I am going to take it to a different location to see if I can find someone that would know how to hook it up right. I already paid for installation and I shouldn't have to pay again to get it fixed.

Is this polarity issue true? My suspicion is that I may not be able to automatically use the day/night setting through the auto dimmer but at least I should be able to use the day/night setting on the screen.

Thanks for any help/advice you can offer!

what vehicle?

It is an '03 Altima. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Radio Illumination = red/blue polarity = + Located at the radio harness

sounds like your getting the run around. Maybe a defective unit that cant be connected properly. Maybe some other user can shed some light on the subject since I cant recall working on an altima myself. But, it should be as simple as connecting the illumination wire.

My suspicion is that I may not be able to automatically use the day/night setting through the auto dimmer but at least I should be able to use the day/night setting on the screen.

The day/night setting only disables the night setting. So that if you turn on your lights during the day (i.e. because of fog), you can still get the 'day' version of the map. At least, that's how I see it.

BTW, I drive a Pathfinder and I can't imagine that they'd be that different (often, it seems, you can just swap OEM radios from one to the other). If it's really a polarity issue, maybe you could get someone to hook up a relay or something that would reverse the polarity.

Just my .02.

There may be some confusion here between dimmer and illimination. Both can be open for interpretation, depending on who you talk to.

Typically I see illumination as a wire that once the parking lights are turned on, goes from ground to 12 volts. This is what is typically used for aftermarket decks to "dim" them at night. Theres only two states--bright (lights off on car)- dim (lights on).

Dimmer will usually work in a similar manner. Sit low (ground) when lights are off and then high when lights are on (12 volts) with the difference being that it is adjustable (thing rheostat) and the voltage will vary when the lights are on depending on the position of the dimmer switch/knob. This is typically not used on aftermarket decks, but is on factory decks and dash lights to adjust the brightness of the lights when the parking lights are on.

You could talk to someone else and they could see it differently (vice-versa) So what we may have here is a bit of confusion on terms.

To throw another wrench in there, on some vehicles they have negative dimmer/illimination and then you have to use a relay to swith the polarity to a positive trigger for an aftermarket deck.

Chris.

Sounds like someone is pulling your chain. Done several avics in altima's from 02 to 06 not one has given me a problem with using the illumi nation wire behind the radio. By the way any installer worth a damn would just run a tap from the +parking light wire in the vehicle if the ill wire didn 't work or was not existant. Then again some people are just too lazy to go one extra step.

Yes nissans have a negative dimmer, but a positive illummination wire.

Thanks for your help. I will take the car to the installation guy and I will tell him what I heard here. Now I have some good information I can use.

Sounds like someone is pulling your chain. Done several avics in altima's from 02 to 06 not one has given me a problem with using the illumi nation wire behind the radio. By the way any installer worth a damn would just run a tap from the +parking light wire in the vehicle if the ill wire didn 't work or was not existant. Then again some people are just too lazy to go one extra step.

 

Yes nissans have a negative dimmer, but a positive illummination wire.

Your scenario about where to get an illumination tap is valid on most vehicles. But there are a few where tapping into a park light, etc just won't work either. We just went through this on a Lincoln LS. All the lights are multiplexed and have power to them at all times. It uses the ECM in conjunction with the GEM, REM, etc to control the lights. Once the computer sees a signal from the switch, it orders a module to ground the light being commanded. Therefore, you can't just hook into one of the lights. It always has power there and is just waiting for a ground. What we ended up doing was using a feed off the ash tray light. That was conventionally wired. We also had the same problem with a reverse signal. We never got that one resolved. Mulitplexing (aka twisted pair) is such a great idea, but it sure screws up conventional wisdom when it comes to these sorts of things.

03Aviator very true. I was however talking solely about the altima. I too have felt the pains of multiplexed lighting and having to get creative as to where to get a valid signal from. I've even gone as far as going directly out to a parking light itself.

I just wanted to let you know that I took the car to a different location and they hooked it up correctly with no problems. I can definitely confirm that the ILL wire works just fine for '03 Altimas. The auto dimming works great!