Daylight Illumination Speedo and Rev counter

[First Ever Audi]

Here's another daft question.....I've noticed that during the day, the speedo and rev counter are lit....a rather nice touch. The strange thing is, when driving through a darkened area, bridge or woods, the lighting on the dials drops altogether, leaving just the needles lit in red.....is this normal?

 

[f1nny]

Totally normal, I have this on my A1, it's a feature designed to remind you to switch your headlights on when it's dark, I even think it's mentioned in the car manual.

 

[Gordo77]

Totally normal, I have this on my A1, it's a feature designed to remind you to switch your headlights on when it's dark, I even think it's mentioned in the car manual.

I think if you have the lights on AUTO the brightness of the dials changes depending on ambient light.

 

[Vertigo1]

Can't say I've noticed the brightness of the dials changing with auto lights, although of course you don't get the dark dials when going through tunnels etc as the lights come on themselves

There's one other neat thing auto lights can do which you can't do without them - have the headlights on but the interior illumination off (and the satnav remain on daylight display mode). This can happen when the headlights are on but there's still plenty of ambient light, such as when it's raining.

 

[First Ever Audi]

Thanks...that makes sense to me...

 

[First Ever Audi]

I'm a poor neighbour without auto lights

 

[h5djr]

On my 2012 Sportback I have had the settings changed (by the dealer before delivery) so that the instruments are lit at all times. I have done this on all four of my 8P models. Don't know if the same is possible using VCDS on the 8V model.

 

[jet_andy]

Can't say I've noticed the brightness of the dials changing with auto lights, although of course you don't get the dark dials when going through tunnels etc as the lights come on themselves

There's one other neat thing auto lights can do which you can't do without them - have the headlights on but the interior illumination off (and the satnav remain on daylight display mode). This can happen when the headlights are on but there's still plenty of ambient light, such as when it's raining.

If the lights come on because of low ambient light then the satnav will go to night mode as well - as far as the car is concerned it's getting dark. However, if the lights come on because the wipers are on, then the satnav will stay on day mode.

But the nice touch is that if you use the voice recognition when on Nav and just say 'day' or 'night' the satnav lighting will change accordingly.

 

[A3sportbackMark]

But the nice touch is that if you use the voice recognition when on Nav and just say 'day' or 'night' the satnav lighting will change accordingly.

Really? ... Nice touch!..... Better be careful when talking to passengers!

 

[Gordo77]

Can't say I've noticed the brightness of the dials changing with auto lights, although of course you don't get the dark dials when going through tunnels etc as the lights come on themselves

There's one other neat thing auto lights can do which you can't do without them - have the headlights on but the interior illumination off (and the satnav remain on daylight display mode). This can happen when the headlights are on but there's still plenty of ambient light, such as when it's raining.

I pretty sure I've seen the climate control display change brightness during the day depending on ambient cabin light.

Yes, I always thought the sat nav went into night mode when the headlights were activated, but not so! Lovely bit of engineering!

 

[jet_andy]

Yes, I always thought the sat nav went into night mode when the headlights were activated, but not so! Lovely bit of engineering!

But it does - depending on whether the lights are on because of low light or because the wipers are on...as said above...

 

[Gordo77]

But it does - depending on whether the lights are on because of low light or because the wipers are on...as said above...

As said above:

"There's one other neat thing auto lights can do which you can't do without them - have the headlights on but the interior illumination off (and the satnav remain on daylight display mode). This can happen when the headlights are on but there's still plenty of ambient light, such as when it's raining."

The auto light sensor turns the headlight on but the sat nav remains in "daytime" mode.

 

[jet_andy]

As said above:

"There's one other neat thing auto lights can do which you can't do without them - have the headlights on but the interior illumination off (and the satnav remain on daylight display mode). This can happen when the headlights are on but there's still plenty of ambient light, such as when it's raining."

The auto light sensor turns the headlight on but the sat nav remains in "daytime" mode.

If the auto light sensor turns them on - ie because of low light - then the satnav will go to night mode.

If the lights come on because the wipers are on, it will stay in day mode. This is nothing to do with the light sensor.

 

[GrumpyEngineer]

Totally normal, I have this on my A1, it's a feature designed to remind you to switch your headlights on when it's dark, I even think it's mentioned in the car manual.

Interesting you say it's normal... My sportback doesn't do this but the 8v non-sportback I had last month as a courtesy car did. Didn't seem to make any difference what setting the headlights were on so I assumed the courtesy car had a fault as the instrument light brightness twizler seemed to work intermittently too with no apparent relationship to ambient lighting or position of the headlight switch.

Rich