2nd gen cluster

Ha...definitely don't make it any sort of priority. I have my new switch arriving Friday and I can see/test then if that solves the dimming issue. If not, I'll have three dimmers and the same functionality as if I would have just left the original one in there!

 

I can understand mine not working properly with the 3 wires (although that should be able to be overcome). But not @FredB32 bc he has the same cluster, switch, and the 4 wire setup as others that haven’t had any problems. That’s what doesn’t make any sense to me at all

 

Im rooting for you that this one works!!

 

Set up a tip jar for all of your efforts! Lol

 

The wiper from the dimmer pot is going into an analog-to-digital converter in the cluster. The cluster is definitely digitizing that signal. Next thing to do, if this isn't on CAN, would be to see if there's a driver for all of the dash lights which are affected by the dimmer.

Jeff should easily be able to find this message on his bench setup if it exists, though. I'd do it, but my truck is still apart as I'm finishing off this new board to trick my cluster while the RPi boots.

 

I mean...$45 later I am too! Otherwise I've apparently started my own collection of Toyota rheostat dimmers :| :| :|

 

I'm definitely not any sort of electrical technician here...but reading that diagram, is the horizontal bars between all of the connections representing the computer/CAN setup?

i.e. there's some sort of A/D or D/A conversion going on in between here?

 

I’ve been able to return both of mine thankfully!!

 

With the cost of gas and the time it would take me to return them, I'd probably recoup about five bucks in the grand scheme of things. Not even worth the time. I'll toss them in my misc drawer if I ever have another Toyota where the rheostat fails. I'm guessing the odds of that ever happening are pretty infinitesimal, but I'm prepared!

 

Bro.. you got that absolutely right...no idea how he fit the black pins in the holes and also fit the tiny wires through. I planned on doing this but then figure out this is daam near impossible and stopped. But now I see how they connect up the wire on the board to the wires on the black pins.

But look at post #297 I think I'll copy what this bro did and should be able to get this to work. Kinda a pain in the arse but can be done.

 

Knowing the dimmer is just a potentiometer that is varying resistance, I don't see how it would matter what dimmer was used as the A/D converter is reading the resistance/voltage and creating a digital signal I assume. I am going to try to dim mine from an extra potentiometer I have laying around. My assumption is it will still work.

I am going to hook up 2007 cluster up and play with the dimmer a little. Unfortunately I don't have the one with the locking tail cancel switch.

 

@FredB32 @Musicmasterd12 Do either of you guys have Techstream? In the instrument cluster section it shows the Rheostat %. Would be interesting to see if the truck is recognizing changes to the Rheostat just the cluster is not reacting to them.

In both your cases, do the illumination lights on all the dash buttons still dim with the wheel? They will all be amber still but if they are dimming properly with the headlights on and dimmer wheel movement, that would mean the optritron cluster is just not responding to your working dimmer.

 

Have you got it to work? I'm having the same issue. Even followed the video and still nothing.

 

I tried to get Techstream but couldn’t get the driver to download and after hours of trying gave up and sent it back. So I don’t have it

but yes the lights dim on everything but the gauges with both style rheostats in my truck

 

Hope this helps. These are screen shots from the video. You guys can solder the jumper pins on the board and solder the wires to them but leave room for the clip
reader adapter to sit on top of the jumper wires.

 

Google lead me to this, which I wish I would have read a few days ago. https://www.tundratalk.net/threads/...h-automatic-dimming-function-at-night.751498/

As Casey mentioned weeks ago, I believe you guys with a dimmer that is not working is because your truck does not have a solar sensor. I would bet very highly the cluster is looking for a CAN signal from the solar sensor to allow it to "DIM" and not be in day mode anymore. The forum post above talks about the guy adding the solar sensor.

This explains why some dimmer switches are working for people and not for others. The ones it works for have the solar sensor already from the factory (not base trim trucks)

If the truck has no solar sensor the Optitron will never know if its Day/Night mode and is defaulting to day mode which will not allow the dimmer to work. The fact the dimmers are working on other dash buttons tells you the Optitron is just not responding to a working dimmer. I am very confident adding the solar sensor would allow for dimming.

Found in another forum talking about Optitron gauges.
"When you're in "day" mode, the lights are very bright and cannot be dimmed with the dimmer switch that's located near your left knee (on US models). When you're in "night" mode, the lights are noticably dimmer, even with the dimmer switch at it's brightest position. In "night" mode, you can also use the dimmer switch to adjust the lights to the desired level."


Time to take a poll of working dimmer switches and if they have the solar sensor. I would bet every not working one is a truck that doesn’t have a solar sensor

 

I added the solar sensor before the optitron gauges. My headlights dim automatically now but alas the gauges still don’t dim

if only it truly were that simple!!

 

I have a sequoia SR5 with automatic headlights (solar sensor). My Optiron gauge should be back from milage programming next week. I’ll test the dimming feature.

 

I do have Techstream, and actually need to go back in since adding the Techstream is undid some of my previous changes like silencing the seatbelt warning (don't worry, I'm a rabid seatbelt wearer, it's mostly for the short jaunt to the storage unit after I unlock the gate to get into the facility). I'll see what I can do about that in the next couple of days and circle back.

From memory, I believe the other lights all dim...but I can check later today.

 

I haven't got back to that the last couple of days, but my new heat gun should be arriving sometime today, and I'm hoping simply pulling the chip will help me without trying to solder all those godforsaken threads we're calling wires.

I will give it another go once I have some time - I picked up a lighted "helping hands" thing from HF with the magnifying glass that should help me quite a bit as well. I get the concept of where the wires go, but there's not a lot of metal there to solder to on the outside ring once they're scraped, so I may have to go the route of soldering to the pins themselves.

 

I'll add again...I get the concept, but visually it's a jump to go from the above to this. There's literally ZERO explanation of where the wires are actually soldered to underneath the pins, you sort of need to infer that they're soldered to the pins rather than the board itself, which makes logical sense, it just would have been helpful to see that vs. going from Step 1 to Step 4 and voila...here's your adapter!

Also, there's no explanation at all of actually adding the pins...and there's 4 sets that need to go on, and have wires soldered to them, so it seems reasonable that there's a LOT more going on here than what you see.

With that said, it's still helpful to have this info...I'll just need a little time to process and see if I can actually physically DO it!

 

It also took me a bit to figure out that in this pic (again, no explanation at all) the bottom pins are already on the board itself (the wider set facing down and away from the camera). I think maybe knowing that now, you can solder to the pins, making things 100X easier, and also to the pins one by one as you put them in the remaining holes to fill the gaps that will be in there with the tiny wires.

Also, sometimes talking through all this gets my brain juices flowing and it all starts to come together, which is how I'm feeling right now LMAO

 

You're making it harder than it is. Those are just standard headers with some stranded 30AWG. Can go from top or bottom. Can also solder bridge the 0.1" pitch holes if needed. Here's a different pic to help you visualize.



Also, to answer the wiring diagram CAN question, there isn't any documentation of what all is on the bus. That block within the cluster seems to be a bus with CAN feeding it, but what happens internally isn't known. I wish there was a repository of CAN messages with IDs, but to figure out what you're looking for, you have to invoke the action and sniff the bus. The dimmer pot is fortunately an easy one to look for if it's on there.

 

I get it...this obviously isn't my field of expertise, but my point was without an explanation it was a leap if it's something you've never done before (as seems the case for most of us here). I have a plan of attack to give it another try pretty soon though. Maybe tonight pending my schedule.

Your pic is helpful too...but again, first time doing this so an explanation in the video would have been helpful. I'm not at the point where it's that intuitive quite yet!

 

Totally get it, that's why I uploaded the pic. I've very recently had to start getting into electronic/hardware design, with a grand total of 3 hobby grade boards and 0 commercial under my belt. You'll figure it out.

 

I do appreciate it. I tend to be one of those "oh...I can do that" people, and often it's a steeper learning curve than I've got in my head. It's something that's always held at least a low level of interest for me as well, although I haven't ever taken it to the next step. Trying to figure out where to slot it in against my other dozen+ hobbies...well, who knows.

 

Alright - confirmed that the third attempt at using a different rheostat failed as well to dim the cluster with the headlights on. So...I'm not sure where to go from here. It's really not any sort of deal at all to dim them manually if I feel it's needed, just a bummer that it wasn't as easy as we'd hoped.

 

I had ordered another one from an actual tundra, just to make sure as well, and it came in today. It did not work either, which is the outcome I expected.

Not sure why others have had success and we haven’t, jealous of them, but it’s not the end of the world. Just frustrating to not be able to figure out why or to get it fixed to be able to function properly. Esp when adding steering wheel controls, auto headlights, and the optitron gauges has all worked fine otherwise.

 

The auto headlights might be something on my radar...but I've had them on other vehicles and never used them. How difficult of an install was this?