Alpine stereo too bright!

[eljefino]

I had a stereo once that had this bright crackhead red/blue flash mode by default, whenever the battery was disconnected. Supposed to make it stand out in best buy or whatever. I could turn off the flashing via a deep submenu but it was still too bright, particularly this round porthole around the volume control.

So I pulled the faceplate off, masked it off, removed the volume knob, leaving the potentiometer head in place. Then I sprayed black paint over the translucent plastic. Let it dry, put the knob back on, and it was quite a bit better.

Most aftermarket stereos, at least the basic $89 CD headunits, seem marketed at the paper route and prom queen set.

 

[Aldaris]

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Just consider yourself lucky that no crackhead punks ripped it out of your car yet, breaking the side window and doing $700.00 worth of damage (NOT including the head unit!!). Mine only lasted 6 months from installation when this happened.

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all that toyota bashing came to a head when that happened, I bet!

 

[Benzadmiral]

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There MAY be a dimmer lead on that stereo which, when when connected to a source of 12V (the dashboard illumination circuit) dims the buttons.

From the manual:

Illumination Lead (Orange)
This lead may be connected to the vehicle’s instrument
cluster illumination lead. This will allow the backlighting of
the CDA-9883 to dim whenever the vehicle’s lights are
turned on.

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No, there is a dimmer illumination feature, and it's properly hooked up. But the only thing it dims when the headlights come on is the LCD display (94.3 FM, etc.). Not the fusion-powered buttons.

 

[brianl703]

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No, there is a dimmer illumination feature, and it's properly hooked up. But the only thing it dims when the headlights come on is the LCD display (94.3 FM, etc.). Not the fusion-powered buttons.

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That's just a poor design, then, which reinforces my belief that those who design these things never use them.

 

[brianl703]

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Just consider yourself lucky that no crackhead punks ripped it out of your car yet, breaking the side window and doing $700.00 worth of damage (NOT including the head unit!!). Mine only lasted 6 months from installation when this happened.

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This is why, when I put a CD player in my 1988 Mustang GT, I got a Mazda one from a wrecking yard for $35. It fit perfectly and nobody will touch it since it says "Mazda" on it.

Oh, the buttons and display dim with the dashboard dimmer control

and they match the green dashboard..

 

[dailydriver]

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Just consider yourself lucky that no crackhead punks ripped it out of your car yet, breaking the side window and doing $700.00 worth of damage (NOT including the head unit!!). Mine only lasted 6 months from installation when this happened.

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all that toyota bashing came to a head when that happened, I bet!

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W T F are you trying to say here?? NOBODY brought ANYTHING about makes/marques into this thread, yet you INSIST upon doing just that, even when it has NOTHING to do with the thread. Now you know why this site gets the negative/domestic bashing rap it does on other sites.

BTW; I DO NOT bash your precious TOYS, I merely defend my car according to my own experiences with ownership. Something which is akin to a felony on here, it seems.