Instrument cluster randomly dimming to lowest setting, then back to full

[ChapterM3]

SOLVED - Thank you erickhoyos for the comment which solved this problem:
"Try cleaning the little sensor near the dimmer switch. Car had a similar problem and cleaning it solved it for me"
Here' what I did: This is a tiny little silver dot that is next to the headlight switch. I took a q-tip, dipped it in rubbing alcohol, and ran it over the little silver dot a few times. To my surprise, the swab ended up turning a little darker! So clearly it was dirty. As soon as I did that and went for a drive the next day in the evening, the problem was solved.

--------------------------------------------

Hey all,

As the title states, I've noticed that in the past days while driving at night my instrument cluster is dimming to the lowest setting for a few seconds and then going back to full.

Here's a breakdown of the situation -
- Driving at night, headlights on Auto setting, dimmer turned all the way up
- Randomly all of the instrument cluster lights dim down to the lowest setting
- Moving the dimmer switch up or down doesn't do anything
- They come back to normal after a few seconds, between 10-20 seconds

Things to note about the car -
- 151,9xx miles
- Alternator was changed about 20k ago
- Battery sits at around 12.5volts when car is off, although the other day it read 11.3 volts
- I noticed the other day that the HK speaker button which is lit up with a little green light was turned off, which I always leave on, and I know I didn't turn off and no one else drives my car
- I have an Avin Avant 4 installed on the car with the iBus app
- I did change some settings in iBus the other day, that only related to having the app start after Car Play starts, which still doesn't work, but thought to mention it

Ideas of what it could be -
- iBus app having new gremlins
- Dimmer switch is on the way out
- Maybe battery is on the way out and is causing some electrical issues?

Any ideas? Have you experienced this at all in your car?

Thank you in advance for the help!

Jonathan

[heinzboehmer]

IIRC, the LCM sends out the dimmer position as a digital signal through CAN (or IBUS or one of those). The different modules then adjust their brightness according to this value.

IBUS app on your Avin is a likely culprit.

[ChapterM3]

IIRC, the LCM sends out the dimmer position as a digital signal through CAN (or IBUS or one of those). The different modules then adjust their brightness according to this value.

IBUS app on your Avin is a likely culprit.

Interesting! Thank you for your comment. Honestly this iBus app is the biggest headache I've had to experience, the only reason I use it is for the coming home/leaving home feature and comfort blinker feature. If I could disable it completely I would.

I think I'll disable it completely and see if it still happens.

[erickhoyos]

Try cleaning the little sensor near the dimmer switch. Car had a similar problem and cleaning it solved it for me

[ChapterM3]

Try cleaning the little sensor near the dimmer switch. Car had a similar problem and cleaning it solved it for me

Oh? The little silver dot right? I'll do that with a Q-tip and some alcohol, good call.

[ChapterM3]

Try cleaning the little sensor near the dimmer switch. Car had a similar problem and cleaning it solved it for me

This solved my issue! Thank you so much for your comment! I updated the original post with the solution so future people searching could solve it as well.