Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio Headunit too bright even with dimmer.. solutions?

Question posed in topic..
The Headunit is too bright even with the dimmer turned down..
I turn the dimmer down far its good but dash too dark... etc..
is there a way to maybe step it down?

A resister(or additional dimmer) in the dimmer control
wire to the stereo? would that work.

How do I know what kind to get, etc?

Thanks
Eric

It's the stock headunit right?

You might try a variable rheostat, RadioShack # 271-265. It's a 25-ohm 3-watt unit.

Put it in series with the illumination + wire and the headunit. Adjust it so the headunit brightness is the way you want. If you use the Metra harnesses (into car, into OE head unit--get them at Best Buy or Circuit City) you can do this without cutting ANY wires in your car.

RadioShack also carries some .47 and 1 ohm 5 watt resistors which you could use as well. You might need multiple resistors in series to get the amount of dimming you want.

Alternatively, you could use a variable dimmmer rheostat from just about any car in place of the RadioShack # above.

Actually its not a factory unit, but it does support dimming..
just doesn't quite match the factory brightness around it..(ok its waay off)
Thanks for the info..

I've never seen an aftermarket head unit that supports dimming. Which one is it?

Thanks for the info agian.

Actually its for my parents Van, I have one in my astro, its a GM direct fit JENSON and its probably as low end as you can get.. but its got a CD player.. and thats what I needed it for, my rents van has a tape and cd player.. not bad for $99 smacks... lol..
I'm fixing theirs tonight... hey and have a good night.

I looked up a couple of Blaupunkt units that support dimming today, but it was on-or-off dimming, not variable-with-the-dashboard-control dimming.

The Kenwood KDC-6007 in my car is already dim, it doesn't need additional dimming. It's hard to read in the sun. I was thinking about replacing the backlight bulbs with high-brightness green LEDs but I wonder if that'd really help.

Hey well I bought that switch, and a knob for it... and well
it hardly made a difference... you could see a difference... but not hardly enough... oh well, I'll be attacking it again in the future.. but my parents are on their way back to Florida so I have to wait till spring..

Probably the radio's illumination circuit doesn't draw enough current for a 25 ohm resistance to give enough of a voltage drop to dim the display sufficiently.

If you get a chance to play with it some more, try adding a 50-ohm or a 100-ohm resistor in series with the rheostat--RadioShack #s 271-133 and 271-135 respectively. These come in 2 packs, so if one isn't enough, add another.