So i have the night mode feature turned on, but i dont think the headlight lead is connected. Is there a specific headlight lead that comes with the unit, like the speed pulse unit, or is a lead that is attached to a bunch of other wires. I need the night mode because it's way too bright. I hope you guys kind of get what im asking.
And if it is not a specific wire, how do you install the damn thing! lol
thanks a bunch guys in advance for helping a newb
orange/white illumination wire wire hooked up to parking lights if you dont have illumination at the radio harness
Yes there is a wire called ILLUMINATION, and generally you want to connect that to your illumination wire in your vehicle. This is a wire that is at 0V when the lights are off and 12V when the lights are on. If you have a "dimmer" wire in there, it might work as well, generally that dimmer wire is a fast pulsed 0v - 12v signal at 100's of times a second or so... it could also be just an adjustable voltage (depending on the age of the car).
Depending on the vehicle you have would be where you can tap off it. Generally cars with modern radios have that wire in the wiring harness to dim the stock radio.
There are 2 different brightness settings, one for day and one for night. I think you can set them to the same brightness. But I doubt that's you problem.
Got to MENU - SETTINGS - HARDWARE - CONNECTION STATUS
And look at the illumination line, does it change with the headlights? If so then you just need to set the brightness (which is set at the factory for very dim) or if it doesn't then you need to hook up that wire.
I have the night mode turned on but when i turn my headlights on nothing happens. The illumination wire tthat you guys are talking about, which wiring harness does it come on?
turn on auto mode
The illumination wire tthat you guys are talking about, which wiring harness does it come on?
From the Z1 I believe that it's in the main one with power and the speaker connections. It's orange and white.
I have the night mode turned on but when i turn my headlights on nothing happens.
turn on auto mode
Your choices are auto mode and day mode. I would assume when you say you have night mode turned on you mean auto mode like bobmun said?
Did you?
Got to MENU - SETTINGS - HARDWARE - CONNECTION STATUS
And look at the illumination line, does it change with the headlights?
If not then that wire is not hooked to the vehicle correctly.
it is on auto mode, i guess the wire is definately not connected at all.
The illumination wire tthat you guys are talking about, which wiring harness does it come on?
From the Z1 I believe that it's in the main one with power and the speaker connections. It's orange and white.
I have the night mode turned on but when i turn my headlights on nothing happens.turn on auto mode
Your choices are auto mode and day mode. I would assume when you say you have night mode turned on you mean auto mode like bobmun said?
Did you?
Got to MENU - SETTINGS - HARDWARE - CONNECTION STATUS
And look at the illumination line, does it change with the headlights?
If not then that wire is not hooked to the vehicle correctly.
thanks ducatti, i'm taking my car back to bestbuy's and have them connect the wire properly
Is this a common problem? I mean the installer not hooking up the illumination wire?
I seem to have the same problem. I plan to take it back to CarToys tomorrow and ask them to hook it back up but for some reason I expect pushback.
Very common. I don't know why. My ILL wire was right at the radio harness. Some are not, I would assume that if it's not at the radio's stock wiring harness most installers won't bother hooking it up. Either being lazy or ignorant of how important... but yes, it happens all the time.
WOW, since i had a day off today i decided to check out the wiring on the Z1 and see exactly what the guys at best buy did. Well, they connected the illumination wire from the headunit to the harness BUT they left the harness end not connected and they just capped it up 
MisFit informed me that the illumination wire from the civic was red and black. So i went ahead and connected it and Viola! works like a charm
WOW, since i had a day off today i decided to check out the wiring on the Z1 and see exactly what the guys at best buy did. Well, they connected the illumination wire from the headunit to the harness BUT they left the harness end not connected and they just capped it up
MisFit informed me that the illumination wire from the civic was red and black. So i went ahead and connected it and Viola! works like a charm
yeah those best buy people are idiots. Originally I had a double din unit in my 3000GT, and they told me after market double din units wouldnt fit. I said yes they would, and they looked at me like an idiot.
WOW, since i had a day off today i decided to check out the wiring on the Z1 and see exactly what the guys at best buy did. Well, they connected the illumination wire from the headunit to the harness BUT they left the harness end not connected and they just capped it up
MisFit informed me that the illumination wire from the civic was red and black. So i went ahead and connected it and Viola! works like a charm
yeah those best buy people are idiots. Originally I had a double din unit in my 3000GT, and they told me after market double din units wouldnt fit. I said yes they would, and they looked at me like an idiot.
Umm you are an idiot 
J/k, but you are a smartass 
hahahaha, yea sad to say though i work at best buy now though 
not in their car install though lol, the discounts kick ass!!!!
i just installed ducatti's flasher and i am soo happy!!!! took me 10 mins to figure out best buy's stupid mistake, then another 20-30 minutes to install the flasher. im a happy boy lol
BestBuy is worthless; they did the same thing to me with the illumination wire. Capped it on the harness end.
Thank God I didn't pay them for anything. They didn't complete the install since they wouldn't install the GPS receiver where I wanted it. Absolutely worthless.
If you're getting an install from a big chain, go HiFi Buys. A friend had them do some work on his car and it was spectacular. They re-did the work the BestBuy folks and then some more, and it looks spectacular. Hid the amp completely in the trunk (made a new fascade to hide it in one of the trunk sides) and just ya... awesome work.
BestBuy = Worthless!
Not all BBY's are worthless. It just depends on the installer... My BBy has a master that has been installing for 15 yrs. Some bby's are good others not as much... lol
Sounds like the famous ron gold.
I had mine installed at CarToys. They initailly didn't hook up the illumination wire at all. I took it back and they wanted to charge me $50 to hook it up. They said it was because of the way GM did the light control through the brain. After an hour of arguing they said they would hook it up. It now works with the headlight switch turned on but not when the automatic headlights come on.
I can hear the relay clicking when the headlight switch is turned on. So I'm going to listen to the clicking and find the relay... and then hopefully find the right wire to connect it properly.
I don't believe the installer really knows how to hook this up or I'd take it back again. I think I can figure it out easier than I can get them to.
Couldn't you tap in directly from the headlight? I don't know if the illumination wire can get too much power, though. One of the "install gods" on this forum probably has a better idea.
Couldn't you tap in directly from the headlight? I don't know if the illumination wire can get too much power, though. One of the "install gods" on this forum probably has a better idea.
Yes, you probably could, unless you have HID's which have very high voltage after the module going to the headlights. But if you have regular incandescents (or halogens) the power wire to the head light is just +12. It doesn't matter if that line can supply 1mA or 30 amps, the avic will "get" as much power as it was designed to tell it that it's +12. All it needs is a voltage level (with the ability to deliver a very little amount of current) and any wire that goes between 0V and +12V will work for the ILL wire.