Dimming dash lights

Martin-Notts

Martin-Notts

Hey,

I'm having a basic issue with my interior electrics.

When the headlights are on, the internal LCD and dash light dims significantly...any idea what might cause this? It dims the same whwther it's sidelights or main beam. Could it be the battery? The car starts fine.
Any ideas on this?
 
Stupid question, but to the right of the steering wheel there's a jog wheel that's controls how bright they are. If its down low, when you turn your lights on the dash will dim.

Have you turned the wheel to brighten it up?
 
I didnt know there was this function?! I'll take a look

...Although surely if ti was turned down, it'd always be down, not just when turning the headlights on?
 
yes that's fine as when the lights come on its night time so it does not need to be as bright so dims, but you can make it brighter.
i have a different issue which i been ignoring that the light seems to flicker with the base of the radio. i think at the time i urned radio off and still does it so it just flickers anyone else experience this?
 
Dmonk197 said:
yes that's fine as when the lights come on its night time so it does not need to be as bright so dims, but you can make it brighter.
i have a different issue which i been ignoring that the light seems to flicker with the base of the radio. i think at the time i urned radio off and still does it so it just flickers anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...

Could be the alternator. That is a sign of the initial stage of them packing up. It sounds like it works fine under small strains but if you turn on more electrical devices (in your case the radio) it can not cope meaning some items do not get enough power. Which may be a cause for your lights to flash. Is it your dash lights or head lights?

Do not take my word for gospel but could be it. Take it to a local garage they can test your alternator quite easily. (Don't go to Halfords they will diagnose it as battery issue and when it may not be)

Could be your battery is on the way out and not charging properly too. As I said local garage can diagnose one of these two problems quite easily.
 
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When you turn the lights on the car assumes that it's dark, so it dims the radio and dash lights - a bit like your iPhone's auto brightness feature. There's no need for the lights to be on full brightness when it's dark.

If you want them brighter though, there's a wheel switch to the right of the steering column next to the cruise control / ESP switches.
 
colwill197 said:
Could be the alternator. That is a sign of the initial stage of them packing up. It sounds like it works fine under small strains but if you turn on more electrical devices (in your case the radio) it can not cope meaning some items do not get enough power. Which may be a cause for your lights to flash. Is it your dash lights or head lights?

Do not take my word for gospel but could be it. Take it to a local garage they can test your alternator quite easily. (Don't go to Halfords they will diagnose it as battery issue and when it may not be)

Could be your battery is on the way out and not charging properly too. As I said local garage can diagnose one of these two problems quite easily.
Click to expand...

everything seems to work fine, i notice it most on the display next to the revs, speedometer, where the MPG etc info is.
 
Sounds like it could be your alternator/battery I would get it checked by a local garage if they are nice they will do it for free takes 10 seconds. Flickering on LED's can be caused by too little power or changes in power I think. Dont hold me to that been a while since I did A level Physics.
 
Dmonk197 said:
yes that's fine as when the lights come on its night time so it does not need to be as bright so dims, but you can make it brighter.
i have a different issue which i been ignoring that the light seems to flicker with the base of the radio. i think at the time i urned radio off and still does it so it just flickers anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...

mine use to flicker with the music, it did it the whole 5 years i had the car, nothing never went, probably a loose connection back of the clock
 
there is a bit of a fault with the clio dash flickering especially on the centre display....

mines done it for ages!!!

a new set of clocks cures it....

if it was the alternator then as you revved it the lights would go brighter - they will do this to some extent even on a good set up as the alternator wont supply full voltage until the revs are up around 1500-2000rpm
 
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colwill197 said:
I'm not saying it is but if LED's have lack of power they do flash rather than dim? Or am I wrong?
Click to expand...


That is how you dim LEDs, they are made to flash which gives the illusion of dimming. Hard to see with the human eye. But I could see that a lower voltage and an irregular charge could cause them to flicker
 
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