Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing a similar navigation brightness issue ... Let me explain further:
1) If my RL is parked outside for an extended period of time (at work, for example), the nav screen seems bright and clear when the car is started and remains fine during the ride home. BTW- Since I live in the New England, the outside temp usually is pretty cold this time of year.
2) I'm on vacation this week ... Therefore, I'm not getting on the road as early. I've noticed a major difference when I start the car the garage (not attached or heated) and then go outside. The nav screen is perfectly clear when the vehicle is started, but immediately proceeds to turn dark as I exit the garage. (BTW- There is very little temp difference (1 deg F) registered in the RL display gauge.)
3) The nav screen progressively gets darker ... Almost to the point where you can just barely make out the map (or other commands). Checking the brightness switch, there seems to be no difference in settings (and I'm certain I'm not in the night mode).
4) It takes a good 10 mins before the nav screen is back to "normal".
5) Looking at other forums, they claim there is a problem with cold temps ... Acura Client Services has no knowledge of cold temps relating to nav brightness issues. Then again, if it was indeed a temp problem, why would the screen brightness initially be fine?
6) I suspect the sensor for ambient light may be at fault. BTW- Client Services admits the nav brightness will adjust during different lighting conditions.

Soooo ... Has anyone else noticed a major difference in the nav screen brightness when their RL was parked in a garage and immediately goes outside into the bright daylight? Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Ciao,
427

 

How cold are your temps? I don't have an RL but my TL (which has a more sensitive touch screen) worked fine with respect to brightness even when it was -17F here. Touch screen wasn't super responsive but voice commands worked fine.

Is something obscuring the sensor to adjust the nav brightness? Can you manually try over riding the brightness settings temporarily? Does it go super dark when you turn on your headlights (which on many cars automatically dims the nav if set up)?

 

I never had a problem with the cold temps (single digits to date) going to work in the morning. One should note that there is no bright sunlight when rolling out of the garage that early ... This is why I don't believe there is a problem with slow reaction in cold temps.

I can't see where there would be anything obscuring the sensor ... The reaction to the bright sunlight (when rolling out of the garage) is immediate. And yes, the night mode is wicked dark if I manually switch it over.

Shutting the car off & restarting has no effect ... It still takes several miles/minutes for the nav brightness to return to "normal". Maybe messing with the settingz can yield a better overall situation, but I've yet to find the right combination.

 

turn you headlights from auto to off. see what happens

 

I believe I've tried both ... But I'll be certain to observe this closer.

 

I heard the same issue from other forums. It looks like is not just you. Check with the dealer.

 

The issue on other forums seems to be based solely on temperature ... I believe mine has more to do with ambient lighting conditions. Like most thingz in life ... I could be wrong again.

 

My RL stays in the garage at home and in a parking garage at work. I haven't noticed any substantial change in brightness after pulling out of either location, but then the coldest temps we've had during the day have been in the 50's, so maybe it does have something to do with the cold climate in your area.

 

Thanx ... Appreciate your experience.

 

I do have the similar issue as yours. At 3GTL, our navi doesn't have any brightness sensor (I'm not sur if 05RL has), the brightness of our Navi is controlled by headlight on/off or drivers could manually switch it day/night/off/auto. (auto=controlled by headlight on/off)


Well, in my case, when temp is lower to about 40 Fahrenheit, my Navi will act like that, and need time to warm up and get back to normal. As you said it's more to do with temperature. If you throw your computer's LCD monitor out to such the cold condition, most of them will do the same thing (unless your LCD monitor has reached its own working temp). (In recently cold weather, <30 Fahrenheit, my Navi screen "seems" fine in my heated garage (warmer and ambient light is darker) and my Navi would get dimmer when driving out of garage. However, my Navi would work fine if I make it reach the working temp before driving out.)


Happy New Year.

 

Hummm ... Soundz very familiar. Thanx for sharing the info ... Can you share the heated garage too?

 

I have consistently had the problem of a a very dim Nav screen when the car sits in cold weather for a couple of days. It typically takes 20 minutes or more to return to normal brightness. Car is garaged, but temperatures dip to -18 C or 0 F on a regular basis.

Has anyone spoken to Acura about this ?

 

If you put your computer LCD monitor outsides for days, you would get the similar issue...

 

I have the same experience - brightness is temperature dependent - I change the AC settings to bi-level and this seems to heat up the screen faster. Since I live in the cold this is a pain.

 

I do not disagree on the point that the screen is temp sensitive ... But somehow, I don't think it pertains in this case. I've stated a few times that, on startup, the screen is perfectly clear (even on a very cold morning). The problem occurs when I back out of the garage (unheated) and the outside ambient sunlight is much brighter ... Thatz when the screen immediately goes dark.

My question to all that claim the screen is temp sensitive ... Is it perfectly clear during startup or is it always initially dark on a cold morning start?

 

427 - mine is dim on startup when cold. You seem to have a unique case where yours is initially bright then dim. In my case it basically makes the Nav useless for the whole drive to work - at least from a map/traffic perspective it's barely readable and requires far more attention to decipher than the amount of time I'm willing to divert my eyes from the road.

 

427,

I checked mine this morning 'cos I too back out of a pretty dark garage into bright sunlight. I think I saw the effect the you stated, but in my case I believe that this was purely due to my eyes adapting to the brighter light, which closes down the pupils and so makes everything look darker for a few seconds.

This is going to be a tough one to prove either way because the eyes will natually modify to the light conditions as you go from dark to light. Only way I can think to test it out is to look it it through a tube, like an old toilet roll tube, and monitor the screen as someone else backs the car out. If you can keep your eyes in constant light this way, then if the screen changes brightness it is definately not the eyes causing it.

Pete

 

Pete - You have a good point about the eyes also adjusting to the sunlight ... But I believe the 10-15 min delay for the nav to return to "normal" brightness is far too long. Itz weird ... As I back out of the garage into the sunlight, everything is fine ... Until the dash & nav reach the sunlight too ... Then the nav goes dark.

I've asked for the location of the ambient light sensor for the nav, but the dealer wasn't sure. I'd like to cover the sensor to really see if that has any impact on this issue. Can anyone elaborate (or shed some light ) on this particular sensor location?

 

I also experience the dim nav screen in colder weather. The other day I had my RL in for service and was given another 2005 RL as a loaner. The nav screen color for daytime was set to Black and was fairly visible in the colder weather.

When I got my car back the next day I set the daytime screen color to black and it seems to be the color to use in the colder weather.

What color do you have your daytime map set to ?

Worth a try....try BLACK

 

It is an LCD thing, not a navigation system thing. For example, put your laptop computer in a cold car outdoors for a while and then try to start the computer. The LCD on your laptop will also be dim.

 

I agree it is a LCD issue. Just suggested the color "BLACK" as the color that seems ,at least to me, to be more visible when cold.

 

Good idea!

 

I test drove a 06 RL last week. First thing I noticed when I got in the car was the placement of the nav closer to the window than my 04 TL. I also noticed that for whatever reason, it was hard to see the Nav clearly.

Does anyone else think the placement of the Nav closer becomes a problem on Sunny days when the sun shines directly into the car seemingly right on the Nav making it difficult to see.

Please let me know. Thanks.

 

I have a rear camera and have noticed something similar. When I am backing out of my garage on a dark morning and turn my lights off manually, my nav screen picture becomes much brighter. With my lights on, sometimes I cannot see anything in the camera picture. I can actually toggle the brightness just by turning the car lights on and off with the car in reverse. Also, my nav seems to get brighter as the car warms. The dealer said this is all normal.

 

The behavior you note is something I see with my '06 RL and my wife's '03 MDX. The screen takes time to warm up and reach max. brightness level. Yes, when I back out of the garage on a sunny, cold day, the display seems darker than when I first started the car, but that's due to your eyes adjusting to the sunlight as well as the ambient light outside being at a higher level such that it exceeds the brightness of the navi LCD screen. So, it goes dark from the drivers perspective and will slowly become brighter as the LCD screen warms due to the backlight and the overall temp. of the car increasing. It takes about 10 mins. for the screen to appear "normal" to my eyes.

LCD backlights will degrade over time. If you have your contrast and brightness pegged at the max. all the time, it will degrade faster. It does little to help the screen reach operating tempertures. Make sure you have contrast and brightness balanced. I'm not sure why the navi settings in my RL include a separate setting for "black" (brightness and contrast should be enough...I assume black controls the level of the backlight), so I've just left it in the middle. The suggestion of using the night background (which is black) is a way to require less overall light output from the screen at startup and should provide some help until the screen reaches optimum operating temp.

By the way, a sunny day usually requires sunglasses for the driver, so that doesn't help things either!