Alpine stereo too bright!

[Benzadmiral]

Since we don't seem to have a car audio forum, and this doesn't really come under "mechanical tips" . . .

I recently joined the 21st century and bought a nice Alpine CD receiver for my car, replacing the original AM/FM/cassette. It works great, except --

-- the 6 buttons for source, band, and track movement are too bright at night! A sizzling blue, like outdoor Christmas lights!

The manual only mentions how to dim or increase the contrast on the LCD display, including setting it so it dims when your headlights are on. I've done that. But is there any way to dim these bright blue searchlights? It's very distracting. I've called Alpine's tech support, of course, and got told my "average wait time is 35 minutes," so skip that. And I'll check with the installers. But has anyone had a similar problem, and did you find a way to fix it?

Failing a tech fix, could I stick a strip of dark window tint, trimmed to the right size and shape, over the button pad without ruining anything? Or should I just exchange the unit for something else?

 

[dailydriver]

Just consider yourself lucky that no crackhead punks ripped it out of your car yet, breaking the side window and doing $700.00 worth of damage (NOT including the head unit!!). Mine only lasted 6 months from installation when this happened.

 

[dailydriver]

BTW; it was a 9856 and it was perfect until it disappeared. I never had a problem with the square control panel buttons color or brightness, as you did. Maybe that is different with each model??

 

[Benzadmiral]

Dailydriver,

The car's original unit was almost all dark plastic, with a little fake-you-out red "alarm" light that blinked when the engine was off. Now I take off the detachable faceplate each time I leave the car for a while, especially at night. I'm hoping it won't catch anybody's attention.

Apparently models vary. Mine is the 9883. Good price and free installation from a local shop. I wish I could have checked it out by night before I bought it!

 

[sxg6]

Nice looking head unit!

I'm looking at a pdf of the owners manual, and on page 18 it mentions "Adjusting Display Contrast". That might do the trick, i'd give it a try.

 

[Benzadmiral]

SXQ6,

On my hard copy, it's page 16. I've tried that; it adjusts the LCD display (the white-on-black display of station frequency/CD track/time, etc.) from bright to dim. When I try that, it doesn't seem to affect the bright blue control buttons. The only other reference is the "Dimmer Control" on p. 15, and the only choices there are "auto" (LCD display dims when headlights are on) or "manual" (display doesn't dim when headlights are on).

Or am I missing something crucial?

 

[Benzadmiral]

Wrong model. It's the 9881.

 

[Brogy]

I'm with you, alpine used the "brighter is better" approach on my cars headunit. Night time driving it really sticks out like a sore thumb, for those of you with a OEM stereo, it's the equivalent of having a piece of metal on your dashboard, and reflecting into your eyes.

If I did my driving at night i'd have pulled it by now and put my OEM back in, even though it was a tape deck!

 

[ThirdeYe]

I agree, my Pioneer is super bright at night, it's almost blinding! The only way I can remedy it is by changing the background display to something else (it has environments, or so they're called)

 

[bdai]

Every blue LED I have is bright as #@$%!.

Can you remove the buttons? If you can, place a piece of masking tape over the back. At night, the LED will still shine through enough to see the buttons.

 

[brianl703]

The best ones are the ones that are too bright at night, but too dim during the day so the display washes out in sunlight.

I often wonder if the people who design aftermarket car stereos actually ever use the #@$%! they design.

 

[rpn453]

I've been annoyed by exceptionally bright aftermarket stereos before. A lot of them are like that, so you have to be very careful about it when choosing one. I'd return it.

 

[Racerjk]

Alpine rules.

 

[97tbird]

I have the CDE-9846
It has a few blue lights that are Noticeable at night, but the great thing is its black on white display (info)...i can see it in direct sunlight really well...
(some people put electrical tape over the blue lights...which helps them apparently...i never tried that 'cause the 9846 isn't THAT bright @ night...one of the reasons I chose the 9846 was its minimal lights, and the gray/black fascia)

does Alpine rule? they're very good for the money, but I'm sure Eclipse fans would disagree with the "ruling" part.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I stopped at the local branch of the store yesterday. They had no suggestion on how to dim the lights, so I asked for a piece of scrap window tint. They gave me one, which turned out to be big enough to cover the blue lights twice. Good thing, too, because one piece of limo tint wasn't enough! I had to put on two layers!

It's much better now, looks good in the dark. Once I drive it this afternoon, I'll know if my jury-rigged tint fix looks okay. (There's also the question of whether the tint will begin to peel.) If I don't like it, I'll return the unit and get something else, I guess.

 

[dailydriver]

Quote:

---

I stopped at the local branch of the store yesterday. They had no suggestion on how to dim the lights, so I asked for a piece of scrap window tint. They gave me one, which turned out to be big enough to cover the blue lights twice. Good thing, too, because one piece of limo tint wasn't enough! I had to put on two layers!

It's much better now, looks good in the dark. Once I drive it this afternoon, I'll know if my jury-rigged tint fix looks okay. (There's also the question of whether the tint will begin to peel.) If I don't like it, I'll return the unit and get something else, I guess.

---

WOW! I guess they really are that bright! Alpine must have upped the display lumens tenfold over last years models. Like 97tbird, whose 9846 has the same display (and unit color) basically, as my 9856 had, I was not bothered by the brightness.

 

[CivicFan]

They probably think that the bright blue LED-s make their product more upscale. Most of the drivers buy their stereos during daylight so the buttons must look cool during the day. A cleverer manufacturer would have planned for the nighttime use but obviously Alpine didn't for this model. I am positive that they have a more expensive unit that has that feature.

 

[Brogy]

Quote:

---

WOW! I guess they really are that bright! Alpine must have upped the display lumens tenfold over last years models. Like 97tbird, whose 9846 has the same display (and unit color) basically, as my 9856 had, I was not bothered by the brightness.

---

I think it's kinda like hearing a rattle while you drive, it doesnt bother you until you notice it, then it's annoying for the entire trip.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Well, I drove yesterday afternoon with the newly-tinted stereo buttons. In the daylight, unfortunately, the tint completely masks the buttons! If I hadn't known which was which, I wouldn't have been able to turn the unit on, scan for FM stations, or change to the CD mode. In the sunlight, also, it looks cheap and jury-rigged. This has got to go.

Back to the store, I guess; they have a 30-day exchange policy, and maybe I'll go with Kenwood or JVC. Ah well . . .

Thanks for the help!

 

[brianl703]

There MAY be a dimmer lead on that stereo which, when when connected to a source of 12V (the dashboard illumination circuit) dims the buttons.

From the manual:

Illumination Lead (Orange)
This lead may be connected to the vehicle’s instrument
cluster illumination lead. This will allow the backlighting of
the CDA-9883 to dim whenever the vehicle’s lights are
turned on.

Often the lazier car stereo installers leave this wire disconnected because many stereos don't have a dimmer lead like this and "it works fine without it".