Nashua_Night_Hawk

I can turn it on/off with the litlle button that reads Auto. But really, I cannot see any real difference in the dimmer? like I do not see LCD-like contrast...

So how do you know it is working?

I tried to use a flash light to flood the light sensor and try to see if it will dim the light... however, I think my eyes are compenstating more than this dimmer.. that is I cannot see a big difference. It was rainning outside, Does rain affect the dimmer?

Thanks.

mantis23

Off the top of my head, one way to see if the Rear View mirror is working. The difference is pretty obvious, to me anyway.

1.) Get 2 cars,
2.) park one behind yours,
3.) turn on the high beams,
4.) flip the dimmer switch,

Repeat step 4.
You'll see the difference.

Doc.Booty

The dimmer is subtle, but it works. It's meant to be like that - you can still see perfectly, but the headlights from the car behind you are not nearly as bright. I love it.

Nashua_Night_Hawk

Actually, I did that too.. I parked my Sienna like 30 feet behind my CLS and turned the high beams.. jumped in my CLS and started to flip the dimmer switch on-off. I could not see a difference to my eyes. However, it was rainning so I do not know if this affect the dimmer.

spdy0001

I noticed that when I have mine activated the lens looks kinda blue like the side mirrors. Also the other cars headlights just look like two dots instead of a exploding circle of light.

LiQiCE

hmm, I've never turned off the dimmer on my mirror before, but I noticed that most halogen lightbulbs have a funny greenish tint in my rearview mirror ... it makes them a lot softer and very easy on the eyes. In the sideview mirrors unfortunately they're still just as bright!

My auto-dimming mirror might be different though because its the On-Star one (although I would think the mirror itself would work the same).

rickm

Since my windows are tinted pretty dark, the only time I can see that it works is when my sunroof is open and sun comes in through it, it turns kind of green (if I catch my reflection in it, I look a sick green color from it). On as aside mirror note, I have a Land Rover which has a mirror which looked and felt awfully familiar to me. When I checked the back, it's the same manufacturer but different model number - the Rover's has 2 maplights built into it. I've been thinking about replacing the Acura's with that one since those maplights are nice pinpoints instead of flooding the whole car with light like ours do.

6speedctrlfreak

my rearview mirror doesnt work (green led doesnt light....no dimming effect) since I got my new windshield installed about a month ago. Need to get it to dealer for replacment

blackmagiCL_S

I have 20% tint on my back window so I have never "seen" it dim either. I always wondered if it was working too. I'll have to try the sun roof idea. Nashua...tint the windows! Problem solved!

FPAEP

you just have to give it a while, like 30 seconds for it to dim. Mine works excellent. I can really see a big difference when I press "auto"

acuraman32cl

im pretty sure it doenst work in park. one day i was looking out my back mirror while in my garage (watching kids behind me) and then put it in reverse and then the mirror dimmed. i then put it back into park and it un-dimmed. i hope this helps.p.s. i have the switch set to auto.

joeandcarol2

Mine works... But the the effect does not turn on or off very quickly. Takes about 5 -- 10 sec. (if i remember correctly)

Nashua_Night_Hawk

ah now that makes a lot of sense if true! I will try it!

Shawn S

With dark rear window tint like the 20% I have on my car it’s really hard to tell if the auto-dimmer really works or not.

Shawn S

Wires

The mirror will tint blue when it's activated.

The way it works is this:

There is a CDS cell on each side of the mirror. When the front one senses it's much darker than the back, then the mirror dims. Just shining the light on the CDS won't do anything (yup tried it a million of times trying to figure out how the hell it worked!)

You need to cover the front one (windshield side) with your finger, and then light the back one.

The only reason I figured it out was after several trips to the dealer complaining that our mirror would auto-dim in the garage, and on cloudy days, they swapped it out. Still had the problem. Turns out my wife's parking pass for work hung across the CDS, and screwed up the sensing. After I figured that out (with a Homer DOH!), I cut a little hole in the pass, and presto!)