Cluster Brightness

[e30mpower]

Originally Posted by TECN1K

Not much to inspect, the rheostat is integrated.. but look at this tech for a 15 year old car. SMD Leds, plenty of spots for euro options (rear fogs.. wonder what the "other" dimmer wheel would control, see the spot next to it?)... really cool.

If I'm not mistaken the other wheel is for beam throw for non-HID cars which have auto-leveling.

[tavo80816]

Mine started doing this about 2 weeks ago.

[TECN1K]

I know for a fact that's a bulb. My E39 did that, you'll need a pack of these

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D03YYUG

[g300d]

^You can buy just bulbs for those, just replaced a few on a different car.

[TECN1K]

Instead of fogs - anyone wire them in as quad brake lights?

I bought the extra bulb sockets already

[g300d]

RB, I think I will replace mine as a preventative measure, with a euro switch while I am at it lol!

I have the factory hitch so I am guessing I have the tow module already. I hope so!

T, personally I get to thinking about wiring additional lights into the existing circuits with these trucks. With all of it passing through an expensive module, the thought of it breaking it gives me pause.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by g300d

T, personally I get to thinking about wiring additional lights into the existing circuits with these trucks. With all of it passing through an expensive module, the thought of it breaking it gives me pause.

Relays are a god send in those situations...

Some interesting ideas in here. Rear fogs... or quad brakes? Hmmmmm...

[TECN1K]

I messaged e30mpower, found a thread where he had the same issue - cluster brightness is still very, very dim with no adjustment (on the high cluster information display) at night/headlights ON. Headlights off - Full, normal brightness.

A while back, I replaced the headlight switch - and it fixed the problem.. for about a week.

It's back again, and after my 3rd headlight switch - still have the problem. One common trait we both shared here was we watched the cluster glitch out. Once in a while, when started, the info display would display german. "gurt anlegen" then english "fasten seat belt"

When the headlight switch is unplugged - full brightness all around.


I'm leaning towards a faulty LCM - is it worth trying a used one? I'm concerned with mismatched vin/mileage affecting my Tamper Dot.

Any advice?

[e30mpower]

Originally Posted by TECN1K

I messaged e30mpower, found a thread where he had the same issue - cluster brightness is still very, very dim with no adjustment (on the high cluster information display) at night/headlights ON. Headlights off - Full, normal brightness.

A while back, I replaced the headlight switch - and it fixed the problem.. for about a week.

It's back again, and after my 3rd headlight switch - still have the problem. One common trait we both shared here was we watched the cluster glitch out. Once in a while, when started, the info display would display german. "gurt anlegen" then english "fasten seat belt"

When the headlight switch is unplugged - full brightness all around.


I'm leaning towards a faulty LCM - is it worth trying a used one? I'm concerned with mismatched vin/mileage affecting my Tamper Dot.

Any advice?

It's NOT the LCM, with all due respect to everyone who has offered their input on this thread. From what I can tell, TECN1K and I both went from non-HIDs to HIDs with corona rings. I'm not going to pretend to understand the LCM's software, but I do know that it will detect over-or-under current situations and adapt accordingly.

I'm trying to think like the car. The ppl who designed and wrote the software for the LCM never intended aftermarket HID or corona ring upgrades, the LCM is seeing excess current being drawn and is adjusting interior ambient light levels to compensate. This makes sense in my head.

That's why I quit caring a couple of years ago, after spending nearly a grand trying to get it diagnosed. The best anyone could come up with was "It just wasn't designed for it."

[Ricky Bobby]

Did we go over this but if you un-tap your angel eyes does that affect operation at all?

I'm only theorizing because you converted to xenon's from halogens, something is funky