Audio 20 display dim/bright

[RSS]

What tells the audio 20 display to dim or brighten? As I drive along it seems to have a mind of its own, this morning bright sun and it decided the display should be dim, bit further on the display was bright again. Its not something that happens a lot as in flashing but anoying when you want to see the call ID or radio station. Is there a sensor on the dash or screen that might need cleaning/changing. Sitting on the drive and switching the lights on/off/on makes no difference to the display so I assume it gets the message to dim etc from something else. Looked in the book but found nothing, can anyone help?

 

[television]

What tells the audio 20 display to dim or brighten? As I drive along it seems to have a mind of its own, this morning bright sun and it decided the display should be dim, bit further on the display was bright again. Its not something that happens a lot as in flashing but anoying when you want to see the call ID or radio station. Is there a sensor on the dash or screen that might need cleaning/changing. Sitting on the drive and switching the lights on/off/on makes no difference to the display so I assume it gets the message to dim etc from something else. Looked in the book but found nothing, can anyone help?

I do not know what car you have but the sensor is often under the rear view mirror, or on top of the dash towards the screen.

If you have a convenience menu the function can often be turned off

 

[RSS]

Thanks for thr reply, my car is an e320 2004 model, I'll have a look at the menu printed in the manual to see if this can be changed.

 

[Diesel Benz]

Haven't figured out which sensor the car would use but isn't the sensor in the mirror present only on an automatically dimming mirror which is not standard on all E-class cars? There is another sun sensor for the 4-zone AC at the hood lid but even that is not present on all cars. On the other hand, all models have auto-lights where a sensor would be needed. Perhaps I'll look at that at some point of time. I've understood the rain sensor often being combined with a light sensor but I'm not sure if that is the case for all E-class cars.

On my W211 I felt the the dim setting being too weak. But I always thought it cannot be tuned. One could try the instrument cluster lights control, perhaps the ambient light control (but that would not exist on all cars?).

The odd thing I happened to find was from WIS where a section explained that on an audio 20 CC the lights can be tuned with the rocker switch (see document GF82.60-P-3115-04TB).

 

[whitenemesis]

I still haven't found the light sensor the car uses to dim / brighten the COMAND screen and the cluster. These change independantly of the headlights (auto) or the position of the headlight switch (manual).
In fact the COMAND changes independantly of the cluster as well. I know how to adjust / set the COMAND screen but would still like to know where the sensor is that feeds these units

 

[Diesel Benz]

I still haven't found the light sensor the car uses to dim / brighten the COMAND screen and the cluster. These change independantly of the headlights (auto) or the position of the headlight switch (manual).
In fact the COMAND changes independantly of the cluster as well. I know how to adjust / set the COMAND screen but would still like to know where the sensor is that feeds these units

Have you tried to cover different parts of the radio face? Perhaps it has a sensor of its own. In any case it would be important to adapt to the light falling on the radio display and that can be different from other parts of the car. Just a guess again, too lazy to dig the documents.

 

[television]

Just sit in the car tonight in the dark with the engine running and with a narrow beam torch shine it around, you will soon find it

 

[Diesel Benz]

The interior lights that are external outside light dependent appear to be controlled by the light sensor at the rain sensor. Might be difficult to test with a torch and simultaneously watch after the radio but you might want to try if the radio is using the same signal.

The rain/light sensor produces a two stage CAN signal, "day" or "night". Odd if some devices turn to night mode differently from the radio, or would it be just a delay function at each unit being a bit different?

You might also want to test specifically the make-up lamps, interior lamps and exit lamps. Those should be controlled by the light sensor too.

 

[whitenemesis]

Just sit in the car tonight in the dark with the engine running and with a narrow beam torch shine it around, you will soon find it

Or get arrested

 

[abueloeddie]

Invisible display after a Bluetooth ( Parrot) H/free connected

How do I return the Audio 20 display screen to its original brightness?

The fitting of a B/T "Parrot" hands / free kit left the radio / CD screen dark and only visible in complete darkness. The radio engineer has also removed the Audio function from the centre of the speedo and left it inoperable.

Any advice would be gratefully received

 

[davidjpowell]

Easy answer is mr engineer get back here now. I wonder whether he has failed to reconnect the canbus.

 

[Diesel Benz]

How do I return the Audio 20 display screen to its original brightness?

The fitting of a B/T "Parrot" hands / free kit left the radio / CD screen dark and only visible in complete darkness. The radio engineer has also removed the Audio function from the centre of the speedo and left it inoperable.

Any advice would be gratefully received

You could have posted a new thread for that question instead of continuing on an almost four year old on (with a bit different topic).

You seem to have the CAN-bus issue which makes your case different. Have a look at the wiring for the phone kit. They probably stole the speaker cables from the head unit and made a mistake with the rest of the wiring.

Does the radio turn on and off with ignition?

 

[abueloeddie]

Let there be light!

Thanks for all replies and apologies for not posting in fresh topic.

I've alerted the Audio Engineer and will present him with the car for him to correct his failings, bright and early Monday morning.

BTW ..Wot's a "CAN bus"

The Radio turns off and on independently

 

[davidjpowell]

Modern radios are more 'integrated' into the cars brains than ever before. The canbus communicates between usually via fibre optic cables.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controller_area_network

 

[Brian1946]

Modern radios are more 'integrated' into the cars brains than ever before. The canbus communicates between usually via fibre optic cables.

Controller area network - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks for that info. Every now and then I learn something interesting on this site.

I can't say that I fully understand the Wiki article, but interesting nevertheless.

 

[abueloeddie]

To learn something new....

Hear Hear! Brian 1946!

The electronic take over of in car entertainment came just too late for my feeble brain to assimilate. The '04 Plate Mercedes that I have recently bought seems to be the epitome ( for me at least) of hi tech gizmos (mostly) all working quietly away in the background, whilst I just sit there and drive!

Thanks for all information...

 

[abueloeddie]

To learn something new....

Double entry

 

[abueloeddie]

Just tidying up this query as being solved.... a trip to town and an hour for the audio engineer to spend sorting out some wrong connections had everything back to proper working order....

Thanks for all help.