Ls400 Dashboard Lighting

[Parrot of Doom]

Around dusk, when driving with the headlights on, the dash lighting has an annoying habit of going dim, then bright, then dim, then bright - always when going under trees, bridges, etc.

Is there any way to turn it off, or is it simply faulty?

[passman53]

Hello, is it all the dash lights or just the sat nav? I know the sat nav goes up and down according to the light level so as not to cause too much glare, but I didn't think the rest did.

Pete

[Mybikesacx500]

On my MkII the dash lights do this, can't turn it off, but I have a dimmer switch that sets the amount of dim, so you could turn that up so there is less difference between dimmed and daylight levels?

[steve2006]

Or cover up the little doomed light sensor on the top of the drivers dash with some insulation tape,this will also stop your autoheadlights working but I don't like this feature as the headlights can come on when you go under a bridge, also and if you are on a motorway that 38 ton truck will happily pull out into your lane as you have just flashed your headlights!

Just thought I seem to remember reading that the sensor on the series IV had adjustable sensitivity and you can turn the sensor to adjust this feature? Should be explained in the driver handbook.

[Parrot of Doom]

It's the whole dash. The satnav goes blue (for night), and the binnacle lighting dims down. When you leave the shade, the opposite happens.

I just wondered if it's supposed to be smoother and ramp up and down, rather than switching in and out.

[Redsteve]

Hello Parrot,

if you turn the little knob to the right of the steering wheel, that adjusts the brightness of the dash lights, all the way round to the right (until it clicks) it locks the dash lights into the daylight setting.

When it has gone dark outside (rather than dusk) just click the knob back to the left and the dash lights will go into night setting.

I hope this helps.

Steve.

[Parrot of Doom]

Thanks, but it somewhat detracts from the nature of the car that such a thing should be necessary. Is it really an inherent design feature, or just a fault? Other cars I've owned dim the dash lighting when the headlights come on, no matter what the ambient light level. That's the best way to do it I think.