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BMW 5-Series (G30) Forum iDrive, Audio, Bluetooth, Phone, Cameras, Electronics + Coding Brightness knob not working?

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      11-25-2017, 03:17 PM   #1
wheresmy5
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Brightness knob not working?

Losing my mind here. I? was able to adjust the brightness using the dimmer knob to the left of the steering wheel but now this dial does nothing to adjust the screen and cluster brightness. I'm sure there is a setting somewhere I? need to change. Any ideas?
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      11-25-2017, 06:25 PM   #2
wheresmy5
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Still don't know what caused this, but after I restarted the car the knob worked again.
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      11-26-2017, 02:38 PM   #3
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I now understand what happened. I had the windows tinted in the am, and when the car was returned, it was still daytime. In daytime, it appears that the brightness knob does't actually do anything. When I restarted the car, it was dark outside; in the night, the brightness knob works as expected.

My question is, how do you brighten the screen in the daytime?
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      06-07-2018, 04:07 AM   #4
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i've been told that if you coded your instrument cluster to "Alpina Display" the brightness knob will no longer work.

perhaps Almaretto can help me confirm if this is true.
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      06-07-2018, 04:30 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Donald View Post
i've been told that if you coded your instrument cluster to "Alpina Display" the brightness knob will no longer work.

perhaps Almaretto can help me confirm if this is true.
I have coded to the Alpina dials and can confirm the brightness knob does work - at least for me.

I'll have to check the daytime vs nighttime query, though...
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      06-07-2018, 07:15 AM   #6
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Just checked and cannot alter brightness of the Alpina console in the daytime via the knob, but it does change automatically depending on the ambient light (e.g, bright sunshine, dark underpass, etc).

You can change via the knob at nighttime.
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      06-07-2018, 08:58 AM   #7
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I though I saw a beta option in coding to separate the dash brightness from the other lights to allow selective dimming of the "bright" Alpina display without overly dimming the ambient lights, etc.
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      06-08-2018, 12:37 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wheresmy5 View Post
Still don't know what caused this, but after I restarted the car the knob worked again.
I think the dash illumination is governed by a photo sensor and it may override the slider switch on the dash...
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      03-27-2019, 10:07 PM   #9
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Probably still losing my mind but at least not about this anymore. My car is doing the same thing. The brightness knob works in the garage but when I pull it out into the sunlight nothing. Thought I was crazy or something changed after coding other stuff but looks like BMW designed it that way, crazy. I owe someone an apology for thinking it was something they did. I'm sorry. No names. 🙏
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      03-28-2019, 02:13 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saporitj View Post
Probably still losing my mind but at least not about this anymore. My car is doing the same thing. The brightness knob works in the garage but when I pull it out into the sunlight nothing. Thought I was crazy or something changed after coding other stuff but looks like BMW designed it that way, crazy. I owe someone an apology for thinking it was something they did. I'm sorry. No names. 🙏
"#¤%&/
I thought I was losing my mind..
During the whole winter I changed the brightness up and down due to the sun/dark periods... It worked regardless of the light outside... The past days I felt it was too low and wanted to bring the brightness upp but nothing happens... not down either...

Then during the evening yesterday it worked again.... wtf
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      03-29-2019, 02:55 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Donald View Post
i've been told that if you coded your instrument cluster to "Alpina Display" the brightness knob will no longer work.

perhaps Almaretto can help me confirm if this is true.
Alpina has nothing to do with it. There is sensor in cluster and coding must be adjusted for IC, HU, and controls.

Quote:
Originally Posted by saporitj View Post
Probably still losing my mind but at least not about this anymore. My car is doing the same thing. The brightness knob works in the garage but when I pull it out into the sunlight nothing. Thought I was crazy or something changed after coding other stuff but looks like BMW designed it that way, crazy. I owe someone an apology for thinking it was something they did. I'm sorry. No names. 🙏
That can be software related.
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      03-29-2019, 06:45 PM   #12
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And, in my opinion, the sensor is calibrated by someone high on cocaine. The brightness changes inexplicably. I love the bright setting, but sometimes it just goes dim, even in bright sunlight. I have to take off my sunglasses to see the display. This is the only thing I dislike about my car.
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      05-04-2019, 08:40 PM   #13
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Funny, a year and a half after creating this thread for my previous 540, I have the same issue with my new 540 just picked up today. Surprised that they hadn't corrected this (it's absolutely a poorly implemented feature) in the 2018s or 2019s. Luckily, an easy DIY fix... time to code that same parameter...
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      05-11-2019, 09:07 AM   #14
wheresmy5
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For anyone else annoyed by this, I can confirm that coding the dim_variant parameter to "old" fully resolves the issue in the G30. The idrive brightness is now fully controllable via the menu, irrespective of fluctuations to ambient light.
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      05-11-2019, 09:24 AM   #15
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I always find it interesting as to how many things are configurable and the fact that at some point there must have been some meetings to go through all of these settings and sign them off.
Some are market specific or due to regulations some such as this?

Wonder why these option are even here in the first place if they appear to not be offered as an option anywhere.

Would love to know the train of thought behind all of this from the bmw engineers
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      05-11-2019, 09:38 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AP View Post
I always find it interesting as to how many things are configurable and the fact that at some point there must have been some meetings to go through all of these settings and sign them off.
Some are market specific or due to regulations some such as this?

Wonder why these option are even here in the first place if they appear to not be offered as an option anywhere.

Would love to know the train of thought behind all of this from the bmw engineers
It might be a programming call. I'm sure they don't code every version of idrive from scratch. Instead, they add to the existing code. What legacy bits remain can be accessible via OBD coding. In other words, they're not adding anything, it's just what accumulates after many years of revisions/patches/upgrades.
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      12-04-2019, 09:26 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wheresmy5 View Post
For anyone else annoyed by this, I can confirm that coding the dim_variant parameter to "old" fully resolves the issue in the G30. The idrive brightness is now fully controllable via the menu, irrespective of fluctuations to ambient light.
But the main issue is with the instrument cluster and this doesn't solve that problem. At least for me. iDrive screen has a good brightness regardless of the outside lighting but I'm having issues to read the instrument cluster around 5-6pm during sunset since cluster goes into night mode but there is a bright light outside.
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      12-04-2019, 10:22 AM   #18
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I know what you mean , the red is perhaps a little dark at that short period of the day as the sunsets or rises.
I recall my f10 being the same but the e39 as it was an analogue display was fine as the white was as bright as ambient light was and when it got too dark the red backlighting took over.

I think it's fine but agree taking things to the nth degree that it might be a bit better
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