Can anyone tell me if when they turn their light switch to side lights whether or not the dash lighting (Spedo and rev counter) come on? If I turn mine to the side light position the interior lighting comes on but the dials don't light up, if I turn it to side lights and pull it out for fog lights everything lights up as you would expect. It just doesn't work for side lights. Also the side lights don't seem to dim in sidelight mode, they stay at full DRL brightness but the single marker LED does come on. Not sure if it's something i've done as i've have made some VCDS changes or if it's supposed to do this. I can't remeber if this worked before I made the VCDS changes. Any help would be appreciated.
7
Instrument lighting in side light position
- Thread starter Macker87
- Start date
Macker:Yes, the dash lighting should illuminate when you select the "side lights" (we call them "parking lights here).
Not sure about the VCDS changes that you made, but you will find the answer to your suspicions in the CodingLog.txt file in the laptop that you used for the the tweaks. If you are not aware of how to use this file, I wrote a short paper on the topic which you can find on the VWW site. Not sure how many changes that you have made with your cable, if there are lots, then the Coddinglog.txt file can be a bit daunting to review. If it is a large file, then post it somewhere where I can download it and I will parse it for you into a more readable format
Cheers
Don
Thank you for the reply, i've not made any major changes. I've just turn on things like the beep when locking unlocking and changed the coming home lights from dipped beam to fogs. I did however change the light sensor activation threshold in the coding screen its was on 40% earlier activation so changed it to 20%. Do you have any idea which controller or setting change would have caused this? I'm guessing central electronics as thats where most of my changes were done. There doesn't look to be anything obvious in the coding txt file. At least nothing that relates to parking lights
Macker: Your are correct that the exterior lighting in the mk7 is controlled by the BCM, but the dash lighting is managed by the control module at hex address hex17- Instruments.
Perhaps you have a faulty rotatory light switch. If you can post the CodingLog txt file somewhere, I'll have a look at your changes and see if I can deduce anything
Don
Thanks again Don, i've now solved the sidelight issue but still unable to solve the dash lighting issue. Do you think it's worth comparing the original auto scan before any changes to the most recent and see if the coding matches (for 17-instruments)? If it's different would be a case of just changing it back?
GolfMNE
Ready to race!
- Location
- Montenegro
With switch on side lights position, only instrument needles light up
I've just noticed that the dials are actually working but seem to be in light sensing mode (same as they are during the day) as when I shine a light on them they light up then fade down when the light is removed. It just seems as if they are in day mode and not the night mode (fixed brightness).
Fanis: Yes you are correct, My picture was taken with the engine running (see rev-counter). If the ignition is not on, the needle indicators only light-up. But this only happens if the key is left in the lock first (I.e. the "S" switch is engaged). If the side lights are illuminated with the key in the lock, the needle indicators illuminate and they will stay illuminated for a period of time after the key is subsequently removed. But if the sidelights are just turned-on without the involvement of the key, the needle indicators don't light-up
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Macker: Hello. Something real strange with your instrument cluster illumination.
Not sure if you are aware, but the instrument cluster in a mk7 has a phototransistor that is installed in the centre of the cluster just below the MFD. It operates all the time to modulate the illumination level depending on the light in the cabin.
It does this by using two lighting "curves" called:"dimming_characteristic_curve_adjustment". The phototransistor as a curve for increasing light levels in the cabin (the "X" curve) and it has a separate curve for decreasing light levels (the "Y" curve").
Have you made any adjustments with the VCDS cable to adaptation channels in the 17-Instruments control module?
Don
PS:I'm still happy to examine your codinglog.txt file if you want
Don, yes i was aware of the transistor which controls the brightness. However in headlight mode the light level isfixed as far as i'm aware and adjusts when the lights are off. Also I haven't made any changes to the instrument control module and the coding matched from the original auto scan. So i'm guessing there must be something thats changed in centeral electrics?
LAGTI
Newbie
- Location
- South East
I just picked up a 16 S a couple days ago and I noticed this issue yesterday myself. In side light mode the cluster does not iluminate. The side markers and all the accessories buttons illuminate but the cluster does not.
RacingManiac
Drag Race Newbie
- Location
- MI
Ditto...
The cluster only lights up when the headlight is actually on. The parking light mode does not put the cluster on.
OK, so it seems that our mk7s down here in the very deep south (ours are Rest-of-World models) have the instrument lighting illuminated when the rotary switch is on "Parker" and the mk7s from the USA (yours are NAR models) don't have this facility. My suspicion is that the answer may lie in the adaptation channels settings in the BCM (because this control module manages the operation of the car's lighting and I have not been able to find any reference to dash panel illumination in relation to "parking lights" in the Instrument control module at address hex17)
Not sure if anyone here has a VCDS cable, but I've posted below a list of all the adaptation channels in the BCM (09 Cent Elect) that relates to "parking lights". Please note that the first two cars are from Australia and the remai9ning vehicles are from USA.
If anyone with a NAR model has an interest to pursue this matter, it's just a matter of looking for different settings between the two countries and experimenting (I think). I've "greyed-out" the settings that are the same for all vehicles - so there aren't that many channels remaining to choose-from. Might be a handy tweak instruction that someone here can develop for use by forum colleagues that are American mk7 owners!
Cheers
Don
Not sure if anyone here has a VCDS cable, but I've posted below a list of all the adaptation channels in the BCM (09 Cent Elect) that relates to "parking lights". Please note that the first two cars are from Australia and the remai9ning vehicles are from USA.
If anyone with a NAR model has an interest to pursue this matter, it's just a matter of looking for different settings between the two countries and experimenting (I think). I've "greyed-out" the settings that are the same for all vehicles - so there aren't that many channels remaining to choose-from. Might be a handy tweak instruction that someone here can develop for use by forum colleagues that are American mk7 owners!
Cheers
Don
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