I recently installed a Pioneer Premier 490iB in and 01 accord. The install kit had a wire for a dimmer (orange w/ white stripe) and an illumination wire (orange) the Pio HU only has an orange illumination wire. So I combined the two together and now my friends dimmable dash lights do not work. I have googled this to death, found a few topics with the same problem but none with an answer...

So I went back in an just snipped the dimmer wire away from the illumination wires but the problem still remains. I really don't see how the dimmer is controlled through the headunit. I could have possible blew a fuse when I wired it like I did but I went through all the fuses I could find and didn't find a blown one.

Anything I'm missing? ir has anyone else installed a HU in a Honda

you might have shorted a wire in the dash that has some function with the dimming mechanism.

the dimmer is not controlled thru the head unit, it's the dimmer that dims the factory head unit, in which some after market stereos work in conjunction with the dimmer.

like for instance if i turn my head unit off it turns off completely. no lights on the display or anything. but if i turn on my park brakes it will light up a few buttons of the head unit, but the head unit will stay turned off and not play anything.

WELL, a similar case happend to me as when i was a total noob installing my first and still current head unit on an 89 cutlas cierra. when friend and i wired i think was the ground of the head unit to the dimming wire of the car. we didn't use any wire harness for the car we just spliced wires cause i didn't know any better.

well that same night my tail lights, dash lights, and turn signals all went dead. well if you turned on the park lights the lights mentioned wouldn't turn on. but if i braked the bright portion of the brake lights would work just not the dim.

i had no clue what had happened and i ended up taking my car to a mechanic, they rewired my brake lights and turn signals. though not 100% cause 2 days later i get a fix-it-ticket cause my turn signals weren't working correctly. i had bought a new dim switch and properly wired the head unit after much studying. the problem was never 100% fixed.

car ended up getting flooded under 4ft water so good riddens.

most likely, you got some shorted wires somewhere that need to be fished out. good luck man.

wow that sounds like a whole load of suck. I know the dash blinkers, high beam, fuel light all work, its just the ones that dim and brighten with the knob (The gauges and such) there has got to be a fuse for that right?

i can't say. i never got mine completely fixed. i checked all fuses on that car and found nothing :/

have you checked the fuse panel under the dash under the steering wheel?

Edited January 13, 200817 yr by fbi90909

I checked any fuses that seemed relevant on the left and right side of the dash and the fuses under the hood

The orange wire with the strip... just connect it to the power lead (switched power). Viola dash lights.

So attach it to the red ignition wire?

It seems beings this is designed to dim the unit it would not require but it would be the source of power. I could be wrong, it happened before

Either way, I'm trying it and if you are right you are my new best friend

I'll look around to see if I made any notes on this, but I had the same problem with my Eclipse 8454 and Honda Civic. Matching the leads gave me a display that was either on or off, but didn't dim wit the rest of the dash illumination. I think you snipped the wrong wire. I think orange to orange w/ white stripe will give you what you want. I'll post back if I can find anything to confirm this. Mine does work properly now.

I'll look around to see if I made any notes on this, but I had the same problem with my Eclipse 8454 and Honda Civic. Matching the leads gave me a display that was either on or off, but didn't dim wit the rest of the dash illumination. I think you snipped the wrong wire. I think orange to orange w/ white stripe will give you what you want. I'll post back if I can find anything to confirm this. Mine does work properly now.

The Dimmer, and illumination wires are usually positve and the other ground. You probably burnt up some wiring in the car if you combined those two together, you should NEVER do that. Disconnect both wires from the radio wiring harness and make sure they're all closed off and not touching. Now get under your dash and check every single fuse you have. Sometimes dash lights will run off of a pair of fuses. Your head unit won't dim with the dash dimmer for the dash lights but I wouldn't worry about that really, at least everything will be fixed.

Edited January 15, 200817 yr by Brian10962001