Stereo Wiring - Illumination

[weitau]

I just installed a Pioneer head unit.  It's great, but the display is too bright at night, and it's a pain in the ass to change the brightness each time.  So is there a way to hook it up to the factory wiring so that the display will dimm?

Here are the respective wires:
Pioneer - orange/white, their directions say to connect to "lighting switch terminal"

Nissan - two wires:
Illumination Control (rheostat)
Lighting switch

Any ideas will be appreciated!

[gschroeder78]

I just hooked up my JVC head unit to my S13. Some stereos don't have the option of dimming so basically your stuck.  One thing you could try is connecting the other illumination wire instead of the one you have. I don't know if that will work but if it really bothers you it might be worth a try. BTW, if it does work, let me know.

[chickenmanq]

All you have to do is trace the dimmer switch for your instrument panel and hook it into that.  Or, get a separate 12v dimmer and wire it into the orange/white.  damn, feels good to post again.  Haven't been around for a while.  Just fiddling with the 63 and trying to get Eleanor sold.

[weitau]

Thanks!  I'm going first put in a 1/2 amp fuse to the radio's orange/white wire, and then connect to both of the Nissan illumination wires.  

Hopefully one of them will work.  
Hopefully I don't blow out the radio...

I will keep you guys posted.  I'm going to try this tomorrow.

[weitau]

OK, I didn't blow the radio, or any other fuses!

I hooked it up to both, tested them, and I like using the "illumination rheostat" better.  See pin I in
Radio pin out diagram (http://www.carstereohelp.com/wireharnessNissan1.htm)  

With this connection, the radio dims each time the parking lights are switched on, and gets brighter when they are off.

Using the "lighting switch" (pin D), the radio dimms each time the engine is on.  Not useful when I'm driving in the daytime, and can't read the radio display.