I added the 2019 volume knob to my 2017 EX-L!

[josby]

I spoke too soon when I said this is working perfectly for me. The auto brightness adjustment of the screen isn't working.

On a bright day, the display looks fine when I start my car in my garage, but when I get out into the sunlight, it's REALLY dim. Sometimes I can't read it at all.

But, if I stop and turn the car off, then turn it back on (in the sunlight), it then looks fine. But, then when I get back home and pull into the darkness of the garage, the display is super bright.

It does it whether I have the display on day mode or night mode (the button along the top edge of the screen). In fact, changing from day mode to night mode with that button makes no difference in the brightness (the third setting, Off, does turn the screen off).

I thought maybe I'd hooked something up wrong, or broken something, so I took the new display off and put the original one back on, but it still works correctly with that one.

Very weird. Anyone else have this issue?

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[Kane666]

Havent done this yet but...shut auto brightness off?

 

[josby]

I can't find a way to. The closest I can find is "Auto Interior Illumination Sensitivity", but that says it's for the entire instrument panel, and also, it doesn't have an Off setting. The lowest it goes is Min, but that's already what I have it on. I guess I should try it with Max to see if there's any difference at least.

 

[Kane666]

Turn the knob on the clear part of the cluster all the way up. Try after that.

 

[josby]

Turn the knob on the clear part of the cluster all the way up. Try after that.

I tried it, but that knob doesn't function at all when the headlights are off.

I did some more experimenting and found that what it's actually tied to is whether the headlights are on or off when the car is started. So it's not directly related to the car's light-sensing, but just related to the automatic headlights' use of that light-sensing.

So, when I start the car in the garage and have the headlight switch on Auto, they come on and so the screen is dark. It then stays dark as long as the car is running, even if I turn the headlights off.

On the other hand, if I turn the headlights to Off then start the car in the garage, the screen will be too bright, but then looks fine once I get out in the sun.

So it's not TOO inconvenient. I just have to remember to turn the headlights to Off before starting the car in a dark area if it's daylight outside.

But it was annoying the other night when I set out at about 7:30pm on a two hour car trip. The screen was bright since it was daylight when I started the car and the headlights were off. Once it got dark around 9 and my headlights came on, the screen was still bright, which made the headlights seem dimmer due to the screen light-biasing my eyes. It felt like I only had the foglights on. But I was on the interstate so I didn't want to pull over to turn the car off and back on to fix it. And, as mentioned, the day/night button on the top edge of the screen doesn't change the brightness at all. I tried the dash knob, too, but that only adjusted the gauge cluster's brightness, not the screen. Thankfully the third press of the day/night button turns the screen off completely and that does work, so I did that to drive more comfortably the rest of the way home.

SUCH a weird problem!

 

[Kane666]

Yea that is weird. I'm trying to find a display so I can try this and see if maybe it's just yours that does it or if it's the way they wired them. Hard to find this at a good price.

 

[Bubbajudd]

Just bought a used one off eBay and installed. Was super excited it worked until finding this brightness issue today. I've only started it up in daylight so far so didn't realize the extent of the issue. Guess that's the one reason honda told me this part was "incompatible" with 2018 model several months back...

 

[Bubbajudd]

Josby, let me know if you ever figured anything out. Trying to do decide if a volume knob is worth this brightness trade off..

After more testing, the screen is stuck in full brightness mode no matter what I do.

 

[Bubbajudd]

Last comment for the night: my unit was already Honda Hack'd and I can't access the hidden diagnostic screen anymore. I've read that for 2019 the button combo is Brightness, Phone (replacing Menu), and Power but no luck. Makes it impossible to "hide apps" for dealer visits without being able to re-enable the browser and restore.

 

[Kane666]

Any updates on this?

 

[josby]

Any updates on this?

I was never able to find a solution, though I didn't try very hard because it doesn't bother me much. The only thing I can add is that doing a reboot of the headunit when the display is in the wrong brightness mode (i.e. either too dark or too bright) does not help.

I'm surprised to see the one guy say his was stuck in bright mode no matter what he did. Mine always varies depending on whether the headlights were on or not when I started the car.

It only took me a few weeks to adapt so that I remember to turn the headlights to off if I'm starting the car in a dark place when it's daylight outside. So, the only time it bothers me now is if I happen to be driving when day turns to night.

IMO it's well worth it to have a volume knob.

 

[kotarou]

It's nice to know about this Display Swap but I think there a dependency of the software version, or... if there is a better compatibility with the 5 button screen (just a big guess).

Screens side by side for comparison.

 

[Kane666]

I was never able to find a solution, though I didn't try very hard because it doesn't bother me much. The only thing I can add is that doing a reboot of the headunit when the display is in the wrong brightness mode (i.e. either too dark or too bright) does not help.

I'm surprised to see the one guy say his was stuck in bright mode no matter what he did. Mine always varies depending on whether the headlights were on or not when I started the car.

It only took me a few weeks to adapt so that I remember to turn the headlights to off if I'm starting the car in a dark place when it's daylight outside. So, the only time it bothers me now is if I happen to be driving when day turns to night.

IMO it's well worth it to have a volume knob.

is the resolution any better?

 

[Kane666]

It's nice to know about this Display Swap but I think there a dependency of the software version, or... if there is a better compatibility with the 5 button screen (just a big guess).

Screens side by side for comparison.

what are the other 2 screen from? 4 button/5 button

 

[kotarou]

I'm not sure if in US you have this 5 button variant.
But from my country the part numbers are (Both for civic sedan)

Standard one (touch only) 39710TBAA11 or 39710TBA305

With Volume Knob 5 buttons = 39710TECP51

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