Auto dimming mirror

macattax

macattax

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Can you fit an auto dimming mirror to an a4 b5 facelift model.
I am not sure if it has the wiring for it.
 
It is wired but I dont know whether you could retrofit and connect the wires to the interior light or something. I'm guessing its possibe if the wires are simply for power.
 
it looks a piece of cake on the drawings, power connection and a connection from the brakelight switch and another to the interior lighting circuit. shouldn't be too hard for any half decent sparky
 
What sources ? Have you got any installation instructions? perhaps with pictures?
:eyebrows:
 
DAve you have PM for past few days please have a look. :tumble:
 
Thanks Dave. Im still a bit confused about the connections though. How would you connect the mirror to the brake light switch and keep it it tidy looking.
Would the wire be running to the fusebox to connect to the brake light switch?
 
if you're lucky the connections may already be installed as they tend to use generic wiring looms. i think you have the brake light connection to un-dip the mirror whilst braking to give you maximum visibillity so strictly speaking it's not neccessary anyway, if you want to keep it neat just wrap the cables in insulating tape to make it look like an OEM wiring loom, it's good practise anyway to protect the cables.
 
The dimming mirror is a pain in the **** if you ask me! If you like to use your right foot a lot, it makes you $hit yourself at night when someone comes up behind you cause you can't tell if it's bacon or not.
especially bad on motorways if you are tonning it and someone actually gains on you, also bad if you are exceeding say on a quiet rural 40 limit, no-one or thing about but something comes up behind you and you can't tell what.
Unless the front lights are very obvious then you assume everything is a cop car.!
 
shineydave said:
if you're lucky the connections may already be installed as they tend to use generic wiring looms. i think you have the brake light connection to un-dip the mirror whilst braking to give you maximum visibillity so strictly speaking it's not neccessary anyway, if you want to keep it neat just wrap the cables in insulating tape to make it look like an OEM wiring loom, it's good practise anyway to protect the cables.
Click to expand...

Its very unlikely the wiring plug is there in my experience.Of all the bits i have updated, none of the wirining was already in place. However, at the interior light, you have positive and negative already, and it is dead easy to feed from the footwell(switch) to the interior light area.
 
Soupie69uk said:
Cheers mate.

Anyone got any pics of these fitted to their car?

Also how similar are these to the standard Audi ones?
Click to expand...
I'll try to take pics of mine (depends whether I can fit it myself, or end up paying my local ICE man to do it).

As I understand it, the mirror itself is the same mirror that is fitted at standard, not just to Audi but most brands. Don't forget, Audi don't makes their own mirrors, not do any other others. They buy them in from a proprietary manufacturer, and this is the manufacturer in question, Gentex.
 
I will look forward to seeeing how you get on JDP.
Make sure to take plenty of pics of each step of the installation to help thickos like me.:think:
 
macattax said:
I will look forward to seeeing how you get on JDP.
Make sure to take plenty of pics of each step of the installation to help thickos like me.:think:
Click to expand...

Hmmm. You do realise, don't you, that you are speaking to the King of the Thickos?

Nonetheless, I will do my best.
 
Ok, I've installed it, and it looks great & works great. In fact, it was so easy to put in, I forgot to take pics as I was doing it.

First off, I unclipped the fuse box cover, and unscrewed the three bolts holding the driver's side lower dash panel in place. I then fed the cable along the leading edge of the headlining, down the driver's side windscreen pillar trim, into the area behind the fusebox. There were only two wires to connect, an ignition live and an earth. The earth was easy. I just screwed it to one of the bolts holding the fuse box in place. I think I might have struggled to find an ignition live myself, but thankfully, I could identify the red wire feed to the Road Angel that my ICE man had put in last year, so I was able to piggy-back it onto the RA's ignition-live.

The old mirror simply twists off the mounting button. The new one came with an adapter, shaped like an inverted U, which slides over the mounting button. I then slipped the new mirror onto the inverted U, & tightened the grub screw. The cable plugged into the back of the mirror housing, leaving about two inches of cable exposed between the mirror and the headlining. That's not ideal, but by unfolding the mini-visor and inch or two, I was able to hide it from view. Here are the pics of the finished install:


http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/jdp1962/P1010044.jpg
.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/jdp1962/P1010043.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b331/jdp1962/P1010042.jpg
 
I wanted to do this mod when I first got my S4. I had one on my old C-Class and found it great.

I did ask about on forums but was told it wouldn't be pre wired so I gave up on an OEM solution.

I never really considered anything else.

One feature that was handy on the Mercedes was it would switch off the auto dim if you put the car in reverse. Think about it. Yu are in your garage (I garage my car) about to reverse out. It's dark in the garage and relativley bright light outside. Mirror figures it sould dim. You can see sod all. Engage reverse, mirror clears.


I guess an after maket product like this will be more basic than I describe above, but you have got me thinking, especially with your pictures and write up. Thank you.

Can you confirm the mirror you bought and the supplier please?
 
Was it the GENK2?

It may be the picture is wrong, but I see a power button the mirror itself?

Is that from other models of mirrors with map reading lights or can that be used to switch the dimming off?

thanks

Graham

PS. In struction link someone posted above does mention putting in reverse in a garage as part of the testing - can't think how this would work on the connections used, but it's a bit of a coincidence!
 
It is the GENK2, from Gentex, and I bought it from Ebay, using the link posted earlier in this thread.
 
GSB1 said:
One feature that was handy on the Mercedes was it would switch off the auto dim if you put the car in reverse. Think about it. You are in your garage (I garage my car) about to reverse out. It's dark in the garage and relativley bright light outside. Mirror figures it sould dim. You can see sod all. Engage reverse, mirror clears.
Click to expand...

This has a switch, so you can deactivate it yourself if you need to. Alternatively, reverse into the garage & drive out.
 
Lol good answer "reverse into the garage & drive out" he he.
Well congrats m8 glad to hear it was an easy fit.
How long did it take you to fit it?
Is it visible on the pillar trim or did you get it insde the pillar itself?
 
It took about an hour and a half, and it's completely concealed behind the trim. One of the best things I ever did was buy a Brodit mount for my satnav. It came with a little plastic tool for creating gaps between trim sections & hiding wires.

Sorry about the lack of pics, but it really is simple to do.
 
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