Dimming interior lights when dark... Fix?

[Fawnbuster]

Is there a way to keep the interior dash (and infotainment) lights from dimming when it gets dark out? I prefer them bright and vibrant like they are during the day. I find it odd they dim at night .. First time I’ve seen a vehicle do that .

For awhile I thought the interior lights would dim as soon as the headlights would come on (when set to auto) but the other day I realized my headlights came on and my interior was still bright for a short while before dimming ..

Anyway to keep them bright at night?

You'd have to override the auto dim with the button on the dash. Don't think you can change the radio from white to black but you can increase brightness.

I've been an advanced evo instructor for over 25 years, keeping the interior lights dim at night allows your eyes to readjust faster plus helps your depth perception at a glance.

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[THLONE]

WOW is there a sticky on this site for all of these secret codes? Maybe the web site can auto footnote all of these codes so the mindless can read the posts without any thinking. I guess it is going to be "on a need to know" basis. Dont worry big brother will tell you what you need to know. Dont worry the computer will dim or not depending on what it thinks that you should have. Soon vehicles will have auto masks.

 

[Fawnbuster]

From an advanced driving instructor perspective, if you keep your dash lights lower but just bright enough to read at a glance, your natural night vision, acuity and depth perception will return to normal much faster. At 60 mph thats 88 feet per second, that can be the difference between hitting a person, an animal or a vehicle traveling without lights on etc. The faster you go the further you travel, everything plays a factor from your visions perspective, oncoming headlights, vehicle lights in your rear view mirror, bright interior lighting etc.

 

[micl9]

Interesting stuff on how complex the dash illumination has gotten! WOW
I always struggle with the cluster is too bright (reflections in the windows!) and the rest of the dash, especially HVAC controls too dim at night.
In my last truck dimming was still done with a resistive dial. I was able to isolate the gauge cluster and tie it to GND (max dimming/lowest light level) and then the rest of the instrument lights were controlled by the dimming dial. And no computer 2nd guessing everything!
I was hoping I could do something similar with my Ranger, but now its clear that its not possible. I suppose I could start cutting out circuits and rewiring....
Maybe my next mod!

 

[D Fresh]

Is there a way to keep the interior dash (and infotainment) lights from dimming when it gets dark out? I prefer them bright and vibrant like they are during the day. I find it odd they dim at night .. First time I’ve seen a vehicle do that .

For awhile I thought the interior lights would dim as soon as the headlights would come on (when set to auto) but the other day I realized my headlights came on and my interior was still bright for a short while before dimming ..

Anyway to keep them bright at night?

Old school analog gauges were unlit during the day and lit at night. They can be.

However, ALL lighted displays MUST be more bright during the daytime. This is because they must compete with the daylight to be seen. It's been this way since the first LCD on a car radio.


I can think of no earthly reason a person would want it brighter than the dimmer will allow at night. Not only is it jarring to the eyes, it's very unsafe.

 

[D Fresh]

my eyes actually hurt when the lights are too bright
i run my night time brightness at 1 bar on the adjustment in night mode.

the OP's only option (apart from jacking up the voltage of the screen to 240V) is to turn brightness to full. Mode - daytime, and auto dim - off.

He could also cover the light sensor with red SOLO cup, toss a tiny flashlight in there, and tape it down.

 

[micl9]

Old school analog gauges were unlit during the day and lit at night. They can be.

However, ALL lighted displays MUST be more bright during the daytime. This is because they must compete with the daylight to be seen. It's been this way since the first LCD on a car radio.


I can think of no earthly reason a person would want it brighter than the dimmer will allow at night. Not only is it jarring to the eyes, it's very unsafe.

Had to re-read OPs 1st post. I didn't realize he wanted it Brighter at night!
@RobmJ - are you saying you want ALL to be brighter, including the gauge cluster? Or just the switches/controls etc?

 

[D Fresh]

Had to re-read OPs 1st post. I didn't realize he wanted it Brighter at night!
@RobmJ - are you saying you want ALL to be brighter, including the gauge cluster? Or just the switches/controls etc?

Oddest complaint I've ever heard.

 

[Motorpsychology]

if there ever is an industry that studied this at max, it would be the airline industry.
This is a link to a study that details the concerns of lighting.
its a boring read in whole, but at 1.1 they get into how your eyes function and gives an understanding on what bright lights in dark = bad.

https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/308315/1-s2.0-S2352146519X0006X/1-s2.0-S235214651930345X/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=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&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20211029T164425Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTY7X62PKV5/20211029/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=39bfc8b61f9970672446a4e7539b791cc34ef230a3e4a7b8cca52a300d9b7894&hash=0fb305cdb205e8ad55585ba068b4df3d46a497de1688ee95c38e93871465557c&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=S235214651930345X&tid=spdf-c36ffa2d-df98-4b83-a7ac-7d2fc547bc73&sid=135fc477445a364f4d390589bb29462e2665gxrqa&type=client

yup yup,
I would guess that if crash scene investigators would note the level of brightness of the various displays in vehicles involved in crashes during darkness, there would be a strong corollary between full bright and, "I didn't see the person/animal/debris until too late."
My wife does this with her Mariner, using the dash lights as ambient interior lighting- "Well I just feel safer if the car is not so dark..."

 

[D Fresh]

if there ever is an industry that studied this at max, it would be the airline industry.
This is a link to a study that details the concerns of lighting.
its a boring read in whole, but at 1.1 they get into how your eyes function and gives an understanding on what bright lights in dark = bad.

https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/308315/1-s2.0-S2352146519X0006X/1-s2.0-S235214651930345X/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=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&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20211029T164425Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTY7X62PKV5/20211029/us-east-1/s3/aws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=39bfc8b61f9970672446a4e7539b791cc34ef230a3e4a7b8cca52a300d9b7894&hash=0fb305cdb205e8ad55585ba068b4df3d46a497de1688ee95c38e93871465557c&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=S235214651930345X&tid=spdf-c36ffa2d-df98-4b83-a7ac-7d2fc547bc73&sid=135fc477445a364f4d390589bb29462e2665gxrqa&type=client

Funny you point that out.

My limited schooling is in avionics. It was an instrumentation class which first pointed out to me that the lighting was brighter in the daylight hours.

It's counterintuitive initially. But once you think about it, it makes sense.

 

[Trigganometry]

Now you know why they wrote the song decades ago “I wear my sunglasses at night” ?

 

[D Fresh]

yup yup,
I would guess that if crash scene investigators would note the level of brightness of the various displays in vehicles involved in crashes during darkness, there would be a strong corollary between full bright and, "I didn't see the person/animal/debris until too late."
My wife does this with her Mariner, using the dash lights ambient interior lighting- "Well I just feel safer if the car is not so dark..."

Unfortunately, I don't think most agencies care enough about public safety to investigate that far.

 

[Traneman]

I used to be a Reserve officer, and one of the officer said that for best night time viewing is dim your dash at night.. I've been doing that for 25 plus years, and I can see much better out further ahead vs a bright dash.. I some time turn off my Sync screen when I'm out on the open country road at night. Has saved me a couple of close calls of hitting a deer.

 

[RobmJ]

Old school analog gauges were unlit during the day and lit at night. They can be.

However, ALL lighted displays MUST be more bright during the daytime. This is because they must compete with the daylight to be seen. It's been this way since the first LCD on a car radio.


I can think of no earthly reason a person would want it brighter than the dimmer will allow at night. Not only is it jarring to the eyes, it's very unsafe.

You make it sound like it’s blindingly bright lol . Its just a little brighter and would not impair anything. Dramatic AF.

 

[D Fresh]

You make it sound like it’s blindingly bright lol . Its just a little brighter and would not impair anything. Dramatic AF.

There was no "drama" in that post, unless my use of the word "very" is what you're calling "dramatic AF?" I was simply explaining to you how vehicle lighting work in the 2000s.

If you don't want the answer, don't ask the question.

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