Alpine HU too bright - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Benzadmiral · #1 03-26-2007, 09:51 AM

This past week I finally gave in to the 21st century and replaced the original head unit in my W202 (a Becker?) with an Alpine 9881 CD receiver, which will also play MP3s and WMAs. The unit is great, but . . .

. . . the 6 buttons on the unit (for source, band, and track movement) are too bright at night! A sizzling blue, like outdoor Christmas lights!

The manual only mentions how to dim or increase the contrast on the LCD display, including setting it so it dims when your headlights are on. I've done that. But is there any way to dim these bright blue searchlights? It's very distracting. I'll call Alpine's tech support, of course, and check with the installers. But has anyone had a similar problem, and did you find a way to fix it?

Failing a tech fix, could I stick a strip of dark window tint, trimmed to the right size and shape, over the button pad without ruining anything? Or should I just exchange the unit for something else?

lalilulelo · #2 03-26-2007, 05:22 PM

I have the same problem with my alpine head unit. The 6 blue lights are very bright at night. Any known fix for this would be great to know. Anyone have any ideas?

Carson357 · #3 03-26-2007, 05:39 PM

some units have a wire you can connect to a headlights on 12v source that when on will dim the display, my sony unit has that

Benzadmiral · #4 03-26-2007, 05:56 PM

Carson, the Alpine's dimming setting dims just the LCD display, not these bright control buttons. Do you mean that your Sony will dim *all* the controls when the headlights are on?

I'd hoped a manual setting existed for the unit, but the owner's book mentions only what the "auto" setting will do (dim the LCD display when you switch on your headlights). It doesn't mention any way to set the dimmer, except to choose "auto", which dims it when headlights are in use, and "manual", which leaves it undimmed during headlight use.

Benzadmiral · #5 03-28-2007, 10:55 AM

I stopped at the local branch of the store yesterday. They had no suggestion on how to dim the lights, so I asked for a piece of scrap window tint. They gave me one, which turned out to be big enough to cover the blue lights twice. Good thing, too, because one piece of limo tint wasn't enough! I had to put on two layers!

It's much better now, looks good in the dark. Once I drive it this afternoon, I'll know if my jury-rigged tint fix looks okay. (There's also the question of whether the tint will begin to peel.) If I don't like it, I'll return the unit and get something else, I guess. They had a nice Kenwood that didn't look like a video game, but didn't have fusion-powered control buttons, either.

Note to stereo buyers: Might be a good idea to shop for your new head unit at dusk, just in case. . . .

neptune · #6 03-28-2007, 06:21 PM

Good solution with the tint. We've been thinking about replacing the head units in both the 240D and my 242ti but new units are just so bright and multi-coloured they don't match our older cars. And we're picky. Might have to try your tint idea.

To answer your question above, I have a Sony that is about five years old now in my car, and it does dim the entire unit (display and control buttons) when the headlights are on. I think it also has three settings for the dimming, off, on, and auto.
But five years is a long time in the car audio business, new Sony's may or may not do this.

think_different · #7 03-28-2007, 11:20 PM

I had this same problem with my alpine. I found a post on another site where a guy actually changed out the LED's, but that's not for me.

So instead, I dissasembled the faceplate (detachable face), and darkened the 2 offending LED's with a magic marker.

I know it sounds ghetto, but it actually worked just fine. The light still shines through them, except now it's shining through dark limo tint, so it's much dimmer and blends in better with the rest of the head unit's lighting.

If you want to do it, lay the face down on a towel and remove the phillips screws on the back. Be sure to keep track of where they came from because they are not all the same. You'll also need to pull off the volume knob.

With the faceplate still facing down, pry off the back cover and flip it over to reveal the circuit board. You'll see the 2 blue LED's as little clear squares under where the blue buttons would be. I blackened them with a wet marker and then reassambled everything.

Here's the link to the other site that talks about this problem:
http://www.gbmini.net/wp/2007/01/changing_blue_to_amber_on_an_alpine_hu/

I should add that this unit does connect to the dashlights for automatic dimming, but the blue LED's seem to go from outrageously bright, to just a little less outrageously bright. They were way too obnoxious at night compared to the rest of my dash.

Benzadmiral · #8 03-29-2007, 10:02 AM

Well, I drove yesterday afternoon with the newly-tinted stereo buttons. In the daylight, unfortunately, the tint completely masks the buttons! If I hadn't known which was which, I wouldn't have been able to turn the unit on, scan for FM stations, or change to the CD mode. In the sunlight, also, it looks cheap and jury-rigged. I'm afraid this has got to go.

Think_different, I like your suggestion. However, if I fiddle with the LEDs (you meant dabbing the marker on the LEDs, not the buttons, right?) and don't like the result, or if I screw up the faceplate, I suspect the store will give me some flak about the unit being damaged.

However, they have a 30-day exchange policy, so perhaps I'll go with Kenwood or JVC. Ah well, thanks for the tips!