Autodimming mirror

[pwdrdayz]

Is there a way to switch the mirror so it starts out off every time you turn on the car... Or disable completely. I have really dark tint and don't like the dim mirror at night.

[gt_ltd]

cut the wire?

[pwdrdayz]

thank you captain obvious.

 

was thinking more along the lines of disconnect or maybe rewire so it starts off but can still be turned on.

[mbacis]

Not sure, but isn't the sensor for the dimmer right on the mirror, sensing through the rear winshield? If so, it sees what you see, if you're tint is blocking that much light the sensor shouldn't excessively dim the mirror. Along with that theory, shouldn't you be able to cover the sensor to prevent dimming?

 

Or, does it work in the opposite way? When it is dark the mirror dims in anticipation of headlights, where daylight would keep it undimmed?

 

Just as a thermos keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, how does it know?

[drewster]

on mine there is a button on the left that you press and turns off the dimming feature. You don't have this? When you hit the button the green light also disappears. Mine is the regular autodimming mirror without the homelink feature.

[laz]

+1 press the button, green light goes out, no more dimming, but I love the auto dimming, specially when some a-hole is behind me with fake HID's in a halogen housing!

 

X

[forestir]

...or cover the sensor with opaque tape.

[Guest *Jedimaster*]

What he wants is it to default to being off so you have to turn it on to make it work. That's the way it was on my GTP- better than having it on and having to turn it off, IMO.

[laz]

^^^ aaaaahhhhhh, that makes sense.

 

No idea. RTM?

 

X

[John M]

With no light behind you it should be in the "un-tinted" mode anyway.

[Brady]

Here's how the mirror works: It has 2 photosensors on it. One in front of the mirror, one behind it (the side you see). It compares the values read from both sensors, and if the sensor in the rear is brighter than the sensor in front, it dims the mirror. If you have tinted glass, you probably won't see it dim down very often, as there will be few times when the rear sensor will read greater than the front sensor. The times it does, you probably still want the mirror to dim at least a little, but I don't know.

 

Personally, I think the tint is the bigger issue in your case, so if anything, I'd just turn the dimmer off and if you want it on, then you can turn it back on and then turn it off when you're done. Afterall, it's a single button, as much or less work than flipping a lever on a standard mirror.

[pwdrdayz]

What he wants is it to default to being off so you have to turn it on to make it work. That's the way it was on my GTP- better than having it on and having to turn it off, IMO.

 

Thank you jedi. I felt like I was taking crazy pills.

[jazzymt]

Here's how the mirror works: It has 2 photosensors on it. One in front of the mirror, one behind it (the side you see). It compares the values read from both sensors, and if the sensor in the rear is brighter than the sensor in front, it dims the mirror. If you have tinted glass, you probably won't see it dim down very often, as there will be few times when the rear sensor will read greater than the front sensor. The times it does, you probably still want the mirror to dim at least a little, but I don't know.

 

Personally, I think the tint is the bigger issue in your case, so if anything, I'd just turn the dimmer off and if you want it on, then you can turn it back on and then turn it off when you're done. Afterall, it's a single button, as much or less work than flipping a lever on a standard mirror.

I find even w/a 25% tint in the rear window it's handy to have it auto-dim every now and then (and yes, it's fairly rare), and besides that, I'd *never* want to have to "turn it on" to get it to work, that would be annoying as chit, especially if I didn't have a tint.

[agctr]

Yeah look, I think the AUTO feature is a fantastic design and if the current GT didnt have it, we would be demanding to have it. To have the functionality to turn on and off is good and sometimes when I drive my current Subaru, I have the mirror in DAY mode at night mostly as I like to see what cars no only directly behind me are doing but also in the other lanes.

Ada///M.

[TSiWRX]

... but I love the auto dimming, specially when some a-hole is behind me with fake HID's in a halogen housing!

 

Saw a friggin idiot that managed to retrofit his previous-generation (we're talking ones with the flip-up, sealed-beam headlights) 'Vette with HIDs.

 

That sucker was glare city!

[jazzymt]

I guess the bottom line is this should work the way several other settings *should* in this car - they should not reset to a 'default' every time you turn the car off/on, but rather keep their last setting. That way you could just leave it off or on as you prefer eh?

 

I suppose you could hard wire a switch so that it was "always off" and then when you turned it on/gave it power, it would default to being on again.

 

Your only other option is you could run the mirror so that it always has power (instead of using an accessory 12v line that turns off with the car) and that way it always keeps its setting because it's always on, but I don't know how much the mirror draws...probably not much, but it could be as much as a map or dome light...enough to kill your battery in a few days.