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AIM MXS Strada (Link) Auto Dim


Lobezy

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Hi There,

I have the Link MXS Strada dash in my s15 and I am having some dramas with the auto dim feature on the dash. it seems as though the sensor is not picking up much ambient light in the car as it has dark tint and small windows along with the screen shade to limit glare. 

I have already sett the threshold to 20% however it is dimming the screen when it is much too bright still. Is there a way to facotr the luminoscity sensor's scale? Or will this need to be a firmware thing from AIM? To be honest it used to be fantastic when i first installed it but since the last few firmware updates it has not been as good with the auto dim function.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great :)

Cheers,

Trento

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Is 20% the lowest threshold you can set at present?  I have only ever used one in a race car so have never tested the brightness function personally.  I suspect this is all hardcoded functionality that we dont have much access to, but I can certainly put questions and suggestions to Aim.  

If the sensor wasnt sensitive enough to achieve what you want, would it be suitable if they had some software control that would allow you to change to night mode based on one of the analog inputs (connected to head lights for instance)?.

What does the luminousity channel display when at the approx light level you want to switch to night mode?

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  • 3 years later...

I cannot believe that dimming the display from an input attached to the headlights is not already a feature. I would jump straight on the input dimm option if it were available. 

some more dash templates too, as there is a huge lack of things like boost gauges etc in the currently available ones. Such a good piece of hardware, just let down so much by not being able to make your own layouts. 
 

im actually considering moving to a dash that allows the user to create the ui.

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7 hours ago, Dano.Mano said:

I cannot believe that dimming the display from an input attached to the headlights is not already a feature. I would jump straight on the input dimm option if it were available. 

some more dash templates too, as there is a huge lack of things like boost gauges etc in the currently available ones. Such a good piece of hardware, just let down so much by not being able to make your own layouts. 
 

im actually considering moving to a dash that allows the user to create the ui.

Not sure if the Link versions have the ability, so what I'm about to post might not apply to you guys, but the AIM version does allow you to add their CAN remote button interface, which gives the capability to control the screen brightness somewhat (i.e. between full brightness and Auto) via button control on one of the built-in CAN networks on the device. I have it on my MXG, and use a steering wheel mounted button on a 5 button pod to toggle between Full Screen brightness (my typical setting for day driving) and Auto (my typical go-to for night driving, since it auto-dims the screen at night). The other 4 buttons on my button pod duplicate the buttons on the MXG.

I have the remote button interface linked to a small button pod attached to my steering wheel, and a curly cord going from the button pod to the remote button module mounted under the dash/steering column area. My particular switch pod has 5 buttons, so I have it linked to the AIM interface such that It gives me the ability to remotely press all 4 buttons located on the MXG, and each press of the 5th button toggles the screen brightness between Auto and full brightness on my dash.

The AIM remote interface itself has 6 button inputs (inputs 1-4 duplicate the buttons on the sides of the MXG, input 5 controls the screen brightness, and input 6 resets the odometer). I left off input 6 on my setup since resetting the trip meter isn't something that I do often, and finding a 6 button switch pod that fit neatly within the confines of my steering wheel was proving to be a pain in the posterior. 

Drawback of the setup is that it requires not just the remote interface, but also requires you to purchase a data hub (if you don't have one already), as well as a suitable switch pod/panel/buttons for it all to work. It likely will also require you to purchase AIM's auxiliary harness to get access to the 12V outputs, which isn't particularly cheap. 

If you were feeling adventurous, you could in theory use one of the MXG's 12v outputs to trigger a relay that would provide a momentary (non-latching) output which would essentially do the same thing as the button on my button pod does for the screen brightness button, which in effect would allow you to toggle between a headlamps-on screen brightness setting and a headlamps-off screen brightness setting when you twist your headlamp stalk to turn on or off the headlamps.

For this to work, you would need a free 0-5V channel on the dash that monitors the status of the headlamps (or a channel expander hub if you don't have any free channels on the primary or secondary harnesses), a sensor pigtail that you can splice into the dash or your stereo headunit wiring to monitor for perhaps a headlamp LED or the circuit that controls the dash LEDs that light up at night, a free 12V output channel on the dash (which I think might require you to purchase AIM's auxiliary harness), the remote button interface, a data hub for the AIM remote button interface to patch into the dash (if you don't have one already), and a 12V momentary relay, and some time to wire everything in.

You would need to link the activation of the 12v output to the status of a channel you add to the dash which monitors when the headlamps are on and off. When the dash detects that the headlamps are turned on, you would use one a free "alarm" would trigger the relay, which would in effect be like pushing the button on the appropriate channel on the Aim remote button interface, which in turn will change the screen brightness. You would then need another "alarm" to trigger the relay again when the headlamps are turned off to change the screen brightness again.

So technically very possible, but probably not worth it from a $$ standpoint if you are just after the ability to dim the dash, and don't already have all of the other bits and pieces needed to get it working laying around doing other things like I do. Enabling this functionality on my MXG would only require me to purchase an appropriate relay and spend some time wiring it in. For now, I'm okay just hitting a steering wheel mounted button to toggle between full brightness for day driving and Auto (when the brightness is too much at night), allowing the screen to dim. Might put it on my to-do list down the line for when I'm bored.  

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