JoeyG

Just installed this new head unit into my 2011 F150. Sounds great. Looks great. Functions very well. My only issue is the brightness. It's doesn't seem to auto dim when I turn on the headlights. So it's WAY too bright at night. If I dim it manually it's not bright enough during the day. There's an illumination wire that is hooked up properly. Anyone else that has a pioneer have this problem. Can someone help me out? I can't find anything by google searching this matter.

troutspinner

Page 41 of your manual "Different Brightness/Contrast/Dimmer settings can be set for when the illumination switch is on and when it is off."

Link for your manual http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/St...nual092513.pdf

JoeyG

I've seen and played around with those settings. Do you have this stereo? I can't see where the "illumination switch" is doing anything. The screen stays exactly the same when I have lights on or off. Seems like a simple thing for such an expensive head unit. It says you can set if for when its on and off, but I don't see where to do that. It's all just one setting.

troutspinner

I had the AVH-P1400DVD so it was not as advanced but did trigger a dimming affect when I would turn the lights on. Did you try the setting with lights off and then again with lights on? Any difference?

JoeyG

Yes. Nothing works. Called Metra who sells the wire harness and they said the illumination wire is different than the dimmer wire. I guess that's for the buttons but not the screen itself. Emailed Pioneer. Waiting to here back. Thanks for the help!

JoeyG

Well I figures it out. For some reason the wire harness doesn't work with the illumination/ dimmer on my truck even though it has that orange and white wire that hooks up to the factory orange and whit wire. Basically I called pioneer who stated that wire is looking for a 12 volt connection when the lights turn on and no volts when lights are off. So I found a wire on a diagram I found on this site. The violet and gray to be exact. (Factory illumination wire) I located that wire which is up near the hazard light plug. Tapped into it with the orange and white wire from the pioneer. And wha-la! It works. Headlights come on = it dims automatically. I hope this helps anyone else out there! P.s. I called Metra who sells the harness. They are not very helpful.

Wyo11Scab

iTrader: (1)

Great. Thanks for the future help

troutspinner

Great to hear JoeyG. I am curious though, do you or did you have the base radio, No Sync, No Steering Wheel Controls?

My XLT did not have this issue when I was using the MSFRD1 or the Maestro RR I am currently using but I do have Sync and SWC. If my thoughts are correct, this would only be an issues with the base radio configuration.....which may help people troubleshoot if they run by this post.

JoeyG

I had the Xlt base stereo with sync and steering wheel controls on my 2011 f150. I used a ASWC steering wheel harness along with the Metra harness for the pioneer. I lost the ability to control my phone from the steering wheel but gained iron the stereo itself which has a new mic I installed. Apparently they make a more expensive part to keep that but I wasn't willing to pay the $200 for it. I opted for the $50 harness. I can still use volume and change station, etc. basically I lost sync. But in my opinion it wasn't that great anyways. The pioneer version uses Siri on my iPhone which seems to work much better. Plus it reads my text, I can reply, etc. the iPhone interstates much more easily now and I don't have to go thru a bunch of menus to connect it every time I get in the truck. Overall I'm pretty happy. Here is a pic:

norbert4bears54

Just installed it today. Love it.