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As you know, the dash could be somewhat of a bear to remove and reinstall to get the sensor all the way at the front of the dash.. So, I fond a new place and after dremeling, it snapped perfectly and very firmly into place.. Like I knew what I was doing!! The secret is to dremel slowly, just a little at a time. And snap! into position it went! So, All I have done is mount the sensor. But I have the remaining components and the schematics to finish. By the way... if you do electrical mods and do not have all the connectors, you gotta get some of these little jumper wires from FRY's. They come in male to female and female to female and I think male to male. And even these jumpers are super firm mounted on the sensor. They are not coming off!
I know the autolight sensor is not a "needed" function, but its a cool little gizmo.. and I have to do it. haha besides, it gives me something to do.. what can i say.? Plus I was excited how nicely it fit. That's worth something right? anyway.. to each their own.
So, I am getting around to fixing the installation.. and I have a question for anyone that has an 07 or 08.
I assume this is true:
When the key off, if you turn the light switch to Auto, everything stays off, but the parking lights and headlights do come on when in that mode.
This is what I do not know:
When the key is On, and you turn the light switch to Auto, do the parking lights stay on? Or is do they stay off until the automatic trigger turns it on.
Thanks but I haven't really finished it yet. I need someone with an 07 or 08 to tell me if any lights come on during the day when the key is on and in auto mode.
Oh.. you said the parking lights come ON when even there is light out? if parking lights come on, then I assume that includes interior lights too.. that seems weird!!
thats exactly what my switch is doing. the parking lights and the interior lights come on by default when in "auto". that seems wrong. did acura rally design it that way?
ok well now I am still scratching my head because the pin out for the 07/08 turn signal switches are the same as the 05. But my parking lights come on when in the Auto position.. regardless of the automatic switching feature. (Which doesn't work yet! haha)
So the thing I wonder is do/will your headlights come on every day when you start up in your garage (that is assuming you have one). Reason being I'm kind of happy the 05 doesn't have auto lights. I would not want to strike the HIDs every morning in the garage only to have them shut off a minute later as I pull out. Granted that's probably a cold strike rather than a hot re-strike but still.
Ya that's probably true. But the flipside is that these hids last a long time. That's why they cost so much. Cause they are going to get their money regardless if manufacturing costs that much or not. But anyway.. that's besides the point. Yes I have a small garage.
I got it working.. had to replace the right side switch with an 07 08 switch. The schematics for the right switch is identical and the lineout is identical but something is different on the inside that is not displayed on the helm book. I have both 04-06 and 07-08. So I was comparing.. anyway after determining I had everything right I made the assumption that the right switch HAD to be different. So then I decided to compare the part numbers. And sure enough the.part numbers are.different. So I ordered a new.combo switch and bam! It works properly now. Btw in auto mode all the lights are off like it should be. I suspected that in the first place that's why I asked the question. Anyways.. I do think I am the first to do this mod. Along.with.moving the information panel switch.to the steering wheel since I got the 07 08 steering wheel. Next in about 800 miles I will swap out my cluster.with a type S. But I gotta roll 800 miles first. And I have the tpms and the air bag light issue solved too. And I will be the first on that too.. and I am the first to install real drls without burning up my headlamps..and they use the correct but l bulbs and are bright.
I just noticed that when I park my car, the lights go off automatically at night. I was in the habit of reaching up there to turn them off. Now I have to break that habit. haha
when the car is on, and auto mode is selected, the parking lights do not turn on. I can confirm this. It will only turn on parking lights+ low beams when it gets dark.
when the car is on, and auto mode is selected, the parking lights do not turn on. I can confirm this. It will only turn on parking lights+ low beams when it gets dark.
you have to install the tpms system. The 08 cluster expects to see it. There is no way to trick it. Its takes a lot of time to install the system and there is a lot of wiring to do. The sensors inside the wheels are the easy part. I have not finished it yet because I was waiting on my miles to roll even with the new cluster. But I just looked again and I have more like 1800 miles instead of 800 miles. So I may pay someone to adjust the miles because I only put about 3,000 miles a year on my car. And 1800 is like another 7 or 8 months. But anyway, I already have the tpms unit installed behind the back seat and all 4 initiators installed and wired out.. And I have the power run for the tpms unit.. I just need to tap the fcan. The wire is already run for that from the backseat to the front. I just have to connect the wire(s) to a decent place. It doesn't really matter where you tap the fcan (or bcan for that matter) because it is just a bus.
separately, the airbag works similarly. On the 08 cluster, there is no "airbag light wire" going into the cluster.. And likewise there is no tpms wire that goes into the cluster. Both of those systems ride the fcan bus into the cluster. The airbag monitor light is sent by the SRS unit in both the 05 and the 08. (The airbag light is totally separate from the function of popping the airbags..) The only difference is the 08 SRS unit logically places the airbag notification light on the fcan wire instead of using a separate wire. Thanksfully the 05 also has the fcan. But apparently Acura got rid of that extra airbag wire, or consolidated it into the fcan bus, on the 07/08's. So, you have to install the newer SRS unit and disconnect the airbag wire in the connector near the SRS unit and shift the Fcan pins in the connector. That is not too hard once you figure out how to extract a pin from the connector. (tip: it takes 2 very small screw drivers)
Also, where the fcan goes into the cluster, the pinout is identical between 05 and 08. So, you just have to get a new SRS unit (ebay or salvage) and shift a few pins at the end by the SRS unit.. (which is mounted under/behind the floor center console.
I learned all that by reading and comparing the 05 Helms, and the 08 helm book. I have an 07/08 Helm book forsale for $50. retail is $120.
I also just bought 2 potentiometers today at Fry's and tomorrow after Church, I am going to try to see if I can adjust out some of the sensitivity from my autolights. It comes on during the day if I go under a tree. haha Its wayy to sensitive. It might be partly because of the mounting location. I hope I can leave the sensor where it is.. If not, I can move it to the lower A-pillar. There is enough room down there and it will get more light and won't come on so soon.. But first I gotta try these POT's. They were only $2 each. So, worth a shot. My goal is to see if I can get them to "not come on" when the garage door is open. And "do come on" when the garage door is closed. If i can get it that close, it will probably depend on if it is a sunny day or not. Anyway, we'll see tomorrow.
I found out today it is not possible to use a potentiometer to regulate when the sensitivity of the when the lights come on. It comes on by a command send to the Bcan. So it has more brains about how and when it turns the lights on. So, with that being said, i'm even more surprised it actually works on my car... Since I have an 05. Anyway, I did find one thing I could do to help the problem.. I removed the Tinted light sensor cover and replaced it with a clear plastic piece. This allows more light to come in and therefore the circuit will not be triggered as soon or as easily. Ultimately I ended up not even using any clear plastic piece because I think the superglue or the fumes from it sort of got on the clear piece and made it not too attractive. I can go back next time and redo it with another kind of glue if I wish, but I don't think that will be necessary because it is extremely hard to even see the sensor behind the bluetooth device as it faces the windshield. So, I think I will just leave it unshielded for now.
I also found out over the weekend that turning the L+ dial toward the + makes the lights come on later and they are not as sensitive to activating the headlights. But i think you have to turn the car on and off a few times for the electronics to reset. And you have to drive it under low light conditions or shady time of the day to notice the difference. Because its not very noticable while tinkering on it.
Nevertheless. My lights are still coming on a bit too soon. But yesterday i did notice some other cars lights that were popping on too! So my headlights are not too far out of adjustment. I think the mounting location is not preferred for this oem setup. I think the sensor needs to be mounted facing str8 up through the glass looking at the sky. But still its not bad the way it is now. However i do have something else i am going to try. I bought an adjustable photosensor coming from china. I might be able to use that as the real sensor in conjunction with a small relay to control the power leg from the oem sensor. So i can just use the oem sensor as a switch if i tape off sensor from any light.. Then control the power to that sensor by adding a secondary light sensor.
09-20-2014, 11:17 AM
