Radio dimming???

[f-two-fiddy]

I've never been able to get Ford radio dimmers to work with aftermarket radios. What am I doing wrong???

I use the wire listed as lighting onthe factory harness, but no dimming!

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Really? No one has any advices for this prob?

 

[riotwarrior]

Most aftermarket units that I have worked with don't dim but that's just my personal experience as an installer. There usually isn't an actual way to add that option as they are not wired for it.

What are you using for a radio/deck does it have provisions for lighting?

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Yeah, I've got an Alpine 9850. It does list dimmer on the head unit wiring harness. I've got that wire hooked to the Ford dimmer wire, nothing dimming.
Even if I could just get it to dim when the headlights are on.

It's so damn bright that I've been covering it up at night so it doesn't blind me.

 

[Fordsandguns]

My cheap pioneer blinds me too. It doesn't have a dim feature listed so I hardly ever use it at night.

 

[The Warden]

The few aftermarket radios I've seen that have a "dimming" feature only kinda sorta work...basically, when they get any sort of signal from the instrument light wire, they go to a lower brightness level. However, it's only slightly dimmer (and IMHO too bright), and you can't alter the intensity with the rheostat like you can with the factory radio. Not very impressive IMHO, particularly considering that it should be easy to implement a true dimming system.

OTOH, having dealt with a number of aftermarket radios, I have to say that I've never found one that I was impressed with from an interface standpoint...it's almost like they go out of their way to make them difficult to perform relatively simple tasks with (such as adjusting the clock, adjusting bass/treble levels, or turning off that stupid screensaver ), compared to factory radios. The only reason I run an aftermarket radio in my truck is that I want CD/mp3 player capability, and I'm taking extraordinary steps to keep the factory radio in my car...

 

[riotwarrior]

If it has a dimmer wire...check to see that it is a variable voltage input or ground....ford uses a variable ground iirc...check for voltage or cotinuity to ground on the ford wire....

 

[The Warden]

Thanks, Al...didn't even think of that aspect of it. That's worth checking out...

I just wish that there was an aftermarket radio that wasn't so bling-y or gimmicky but still had good sound and mp3 capability...

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Yeah, I forgot about ford using variable ground. But i'd imagine most vehicles use the same?

I'll check that.

 

[redstang410]

Most aftermarket radios have only a bright and a less bright level of light.
My understanding is when the headlights and interior dash lights are off, it is bright out , so the radio defaults to full brightness o you can see the rdio easily.
When the dash lights are on, the radio should be at the less bright setting to prevent glare when driving.
So most radios, you connect the illum wire to a wire that has positive voltage when the park lights are on.
The usually do not work with the interior light dimmer switch.

 

[boosted power]

Redstang is correct. The aftermarket head unit should dim the display when the "dimmer" wire gets a +12v signal.

Sometimes they won't see enough voltage to dim if you have the dash lights turned down really low.

 

[riotwarrior]

Redstang is correct. The aftermarket head unit should dim the display when the "dimmer" wire gets a +12v signal.

Sometimes they won't see enough voltage to dim if you have the dash lights turned down really low.

If the light wire is of the variable ground there IS NO voltage applied to the wire! Thus you will not get a dimming signal to the deck...

 

[boosted power]

Unless something crazy is going on, my '94 definitely sends a variable +12v through the dimmer wire. It dims correctly if I turn on the lights, but if I turn the cluster all the way down it will brighten back up.

 

[The Warden]

Unless something crazy is going on, my '94 definitely sends a variable +12v through the dimmer wire. It dims correctly if I turn on the lights, but if I turn the cluster all the way down it will brighten back up.

My '84's the same way...and, when I turn the instrument lights on, my head unit does "dim" a bit (although not as much as I would like).

 

[f-two-fiddy]

Right now I'd take any dimming, compared to the eyeball searing blue nova that alpine deemed necessary for this model