FlyTyinFool

Aha! I knew I posted in the right forum!

I was missing the step where you push the Return button to save the settings. I knew it had to be something simple! I have been exiting by pushing another button, like CD/TV or Radio.

I tried following the manual (owner's manual, not MMI manual) but it wasn't very helpful. I even read about using the overhead buttons and messed with them for a while.

Thank you for the input. I appreciate it.


Press Return... Press Return... Press Return... Got it!!


Thanks, again!

williebone

Is is safe to assume that all is Well Now? Laters,

FlyTyinFool

Better, and possibly yes. I still need to mess with the overhead switches and MMI to determine exactly what is controlling what. But the biggest trouble was that by exiting without "saving" by sing the Return button, my settings did not stay put.

I still have some questions but I need to research (play) more before posting. I didn't have time tonight to do much other than verify the "save" feature, which was entirely successful.

I'll post any further questions here. I debated starting a new thread, but it seemed more appropriate to use this one.


Thanks, williebone!

williebone

The OverHead Buttons have 6 Functions: On Front (or On Front/Rear by Clicking Twice ), Off Front (or Off Front/Rear by Clicking Twice), Auto Front (or Auto Front/Rear by Clicking Twice). It wll remember your Selection until you change its Functions. This can be Verified by Double Clicking as the Rear Lights should follow your Command from the Front Button. When in Auto Mode you will see the Amber Light come on in Both Front/Rear Control Buttons. Auto allows the Lights to come on when door is Opened and goes Off after 60 Seconds or when you Start Engine. If you are not starting engine then simply double click the Off Button to Kill the Lights and double click Auto and they will stay off until Door is opened again or just leave in Off Mode. Laters,

Brozee

I agree. The bluish does help a lot and having the bright lights of todays cars right in your eyes gets quite annoying.

I'll add and comment even with limo tint on the rear windows of my car the bluish dim function still kicks in when cars get close enough, works great with the tint.

Mister Bally

The electric rear sunshade is great for that. But I dread the day it craps out because you know it is a Rube Goldberg contraption.

FlyTyinFool

But, I think raising the rear shade shuts off the dimmer function. At least it seems to on my car. I think williebone mentioned something that. Although, you're absolutely right. The shade does a great job by itself.

Now some follow-up...

Williebone was spot-on with using the Return button to save your settings. I drove home in the dark tonight (after "saving" my settings last night) and the door light strips were definitely lit to the maximum, as I had set them last night. And, the rear view mirror dimming function was working at the same time!

I played with the overhead buttons (Note to self: The rear overhead buttons have similar functionality to the front) and also discovered that if you hold down the one on the right (with the straight line), it slowly dims the dome lamps until you let go or they go out.

So, the good news is that every interior lamp is doing what I wanted (see the detailed list in a previous post), except for the foot-well lights. But I'm OK with that! I suppose that may have been just a touch over the top to ask for...

Thank you all for your input!


Conspicuous consumption... I'm all about it...

williebone

I forgot about that Little Nifty Feature, but I have used it to set the Overall Brightness Level of the OverHeads. Glad to see you've Mastered the Lighting! Take care and laters,

FlyTyinFool

More than you ever needed to know about your interior background lighting...

I spent some time (actually, my OCD took over and I spent way too much time) messing with the settings in MMI for the interior lights. The goal was to create some groovy interior mood lighting and maintain the rearview mirror dimming functionality. Following are my findings.

(A note here... If you have an owner's manual and MMI manual that actually contain all the pages, you will likely find this post a wee bit redundant. I purchased my manuals on E-bay, at a considerable discount mind you, but they did not exactly come fully assembled. Random pages are missing throughout both manuals. For example, I’m an expert at starting the garage door programming process. Unfortunately, once I'm at the front bumper, with remote in hand, pointing it under the driver’s headlamp, the project falls apart. The next few pages are missing. You get the idea. So, this makes my learning curve a little slower than your average bunny rabbit trying to pick up a little geometry. Great price though... Anyway, that said, let’s continue.)


A few things to know before we start:
1) If the overhead dome lamps are on (even a little), the rearview mirror dimming feature is disabled.
2) If the rear sun shade is raised, the rearview mirror dimming feature is disabled.
3) There are 4 "patterns" in the Background Lighting menu. Only one can be used at a time. They cannot be combined to achieve a group affect, aside from the group affect that each pattern already contains.
4) The button in front of the sunroof switch, in the overhead console, will immediately cancel all interior lighting, and the rearview mirror dimming begins working immediately.
5) To access the Background Lighting menu in the MMI, push the Car button, then push the Systems button, and then select Background Lighting from the menu.

There are 4 "pattern" choices to work with; Highway, City, Cockpit, and Rear. There is also an Off selection that cancels whatever Background Lighting pattern you currently have active. Each pattern lights up specific combinations of interior lights. By dialing up or down, you increase or decrease the brightness of the lamp combination included in the selected “pattern.”

This is a list of which lamps each pattern controls:
Highway – Front & rear door strip lamps
Rear – Rear foot well lamps, rear dome lamps, and rear door strip lamps
Cockpit – Front & rear door strip lamps, front dome lamps (mirror dimming will not work), and (this one is weird but…) passenger front foot well lamp (not driver’s side)
City – All interior lamps lit to desired brightness; Front & rear door strip lamps, front & rear dome lamps (mirror dimming will not work), front & rear foot well lamps (including driver)

Now (finally, geez!), here’s the skinny on how it’s done:
1) Access the Background Lighting menu in MMI
2) Select the pattern that contains the collection of lamps you want lit, and plunge the big ****.
3) Dial up or down to the desired brightness and plunge the big ****
4) Press the Return button on the center console to save your settings and go back to the main Car (suspension) menu

Thanks to all that contributed their gray matter to my dilemma. I appreciate it.



This little post is dedicated to all those folks that saved a few bucks at the expense of the Grand Plan… And, of course, were too proud to admit it. I feel your pain… oh, do I feel your pain…

Mike_k

Am I the only one that drives with the doorstrip/ footwell lights on all the time? I love the look of them and believe it or not, the only one that distracts me is the driver's side footwell. so the highway mode really is useful in that it disables that one light.

As for the lighting combos, who did they have name these? They're seemingly arbitrary and their names have nothing to do with what actually lights up. The City, Highway, rear and Cockpit names confuse more than they assist.