[stevep]

I've got an Alpine IDA-X001 head unit that I just installed. It looks great and I'm happy with it. It has a "dimming" feature that I would like to hook up, but instead of hooking it up to the lights, I would like to hook it up to a switch so that I can "enable" or "disable" it as I please. What I was going to do was connect the "dimmer" wire from the head unit to a (single pole?) on / off switch, and then connect that switch to an accessory such as the cigarette lighter under the radio. Am I correct to figure that would then let me turn the dimming feature on / off manually? Are there any problems with this idea that I'm not considering?

(The instructions say to connect the dimmer wire to the instrument cluster illumination lead, but I don't want to do that for 2 reasons, first I drive with my lights on in the daytime and I'm afraid that it will be to dim for daytime viewing, and secondly I'm looking for what would be easiest, and keeping all the wiring right under the head unit seems pretty easy.)

 

[mudpuppy000]

You might be able to use a pot on there too, and vary the dim level. Depends on how the head unit reads the dimmer wire.

 

[BuckeyeNavy]

not sure how the dimmer works on that particular HU but if you found the dimmer wire in the harness, install instructions should tell you which one it is, or a haynes manual, you could just run it to a switch and interrupt it as you please. From what I understand its nothing more than a low voltage wire that triggers the radio the same way the amp power wire works. Does that make sense?

 

[stevep]

Buckeye that's what I thought. Thanks. Here's the install.

Switch is in the outlet above the accessory plug. (I only had one acc. outlet there...seemed like a good spot for it.). Switch works perfect, basically just completes the circuit when it's switched into the "on" position, and the unit dims. SWEET.

Here's a pic or two....