dch95

For those who have been wondering, with a little time and effort, you can have the clock stay bright with parking/headlights on such as when driving during the day. I installed a simple 2 pronged toggle switch (on/off switch) right next to the dimmer control. The little black cover next to it, I removed and used a soldering iron to melt away a spot for the toggle to fit in perfectly and the cover/switch combo snaps back into place. Just remove the vent/clock/hazard/defroster button panel and snip the red/blue wire and splice both ends into the toggle. Wire from harness to one prong on toggle and the wire from clock plug in into the other toggle. The dash does not need to be removed and this only took me about 15 minutes once I got the little black cover and toggle put together. When the lights are off the switch does not effect the illumination but turn on parking or headlights and turn switch one way for stay bright and other way for it to go dim. Turns out that the red/blue wire is a 12 volt wire that sends 12 volts to dim the clock and once the voltage is removed (toggle on/off switch) the clock shines bright again. If your car has something next to the dimmer that my 95gle did not come with, I guess you will have to do this elsewhere but I did it there cause it looks stock this way. Someone else on this forum told me which wire to splice but I can,t seem to remember who it was but if you know who you are, Thanks!!!

supertool

I don't want to add another switch. Is there no way to make the dimmer switch to also control the clock?

dch95

I don,t beleive so. The dimmer switch is basically a variable resistor that controls the amount of voltage to the illumination system. Now unless turning the **** to full brightness removes this 12 volts then it will not happen because it,s the 12 volts from the red/blue wire that causes the clock to go dim. I could be wrong because if the dimmer **** takes away the 12 volt signal then it would work. I did not use a volt meter to test my theory but rather noticed that turning **** all the way one way turns everything off (except clock) and brightens everything (except clock) the other way.

supertool

I would think that if you connect the clock parallel to the other lights, you would get same dimming action.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Also, how do you open the dash to gain access to the clock wiring?

dch95

You would think that but if you notice, the dimmer does not affect the clock in any way at all. The dimmer gives voltage a little bit at a time to turn off lights then slowly make things brighter in small increments until at full brightness while the clock just has 2 different light settings and never goes completely out. That,s probably why it will not work cause all the other lights get a little voltage at a time but giving voltage to the red/blue just dims the clock.

supertool

Is there a constant 12V power supply input, a ground input and a dim input (high votage=dim)?
So if I cut the dim input off (do I need to ground it?) would that just keep the clock lit high?


[Edited by supertool on 02-21-2001 at 01:55 AM]

dch95

Cutting the red/blue (intermittent 12 volt/dimmer control) will keep the clock always bright. I checked this out myself to see if I was on the right track. I cut the wire then turned on my lights and the clock was still bright. But I don,t want it bright at night esp when my climate controls and stereo are dim so I added the switch next to the dimmer ****. It really looks as if it could have came from the factory that way.

dch95

Hope this helps!

deezo

iTrader: (3)

dch95, with no disrespect, you aircraft guys love switches. My uncle has an airplane and he has a switch for everything.

fast97maxse

I did the same mod not long ago,
and put the switch in the same place.

It worked out fine.
One problem though - I pulled the top part of the dash up [the bit with the air vents, the clock and first row of switches] to access the back of the clock,
and now I can't get the bottom part of the dash
to snap back into place.
Otherwise a fast and simple mod,
and you hardly notice the switch.

And I agree with dch95, the clock is either/or bright/dim -
I don't think it will tolerate a dimmer switch.