OK, rob and company, I think I have a solution to the dimmer issue (and I posted it here so that others could comment on it)

If I set the value to, say, "10%", it should START (at power-on) at 100% and wind its way down to 10% over, say, 5 seconds. If at any point in that time I touch a button, it immediately stops dimming at the present level, and allows me to tinker with the menus. When I'm done and out of the menus, if the "set" dimmer level is not equal to the "current" dimmer level, then it fades again in the appropriate direction.

Pros:

o Coolness factor. You turn on the headlights, and the dashboard just slowly fades down to the appropriate level
o Allows a user with a misconfigured dimmer level to (if they act quickly) bail on the dim and set the dimmer level to what they want. Likewise, if the "lights-on" dim is set wrong, as soon as they turn on the lights they have the opportunity to make sure that the end-level of the dimmer will be visible.

Cons:

o Probably a bitch to code.
o Involves always starting at 100%, which for some users may not be desirable every time (of course, the setting could be disabled via emplode as a conscious decision,... someone who DOES that will already know what their dimmer settings are set at and be explicitly saying "I like my dimmer settings as they are, thank you").

Thoughts from the peanut gallery?

D

The main issue is that button presses and setting the dimmer level don't go well together; the same PIC (without interrupt capability and with 9 instructions free in the ROM) does the buttons and the mainboard>frontboard comms channel - ie, when I set a dimmer level it can miss action on the rotary control (or get the direction wrong), you can see this if you use the rotary control on the dimmer menu.

Unfortunately, this is just the way it's made. I suspect the best option is going to be for us to re-scale the dimmer menu so that the dimmest level is still readable.

Hugo

Well, maybe the answer is that "pressing any button will cease the dim-down", nothing more. (that way you don't care if you got the WRONG keypress, just so long as you "got one"..if there is enough lead-time involved (a couple seconds), then if it MISSES a keypress, the user can always press again and still have time to deal with it.

Alternatively, it could a "hold-on-poweron" (e.g., hold the left button down at ignition to reset both dimmer settings to 100%)

Thinking out loud...

d

When I installed my empeg, the only easily accessible circuit to tie into the empeg's headlight function was the dash light circuit that goes through a dimmer rheostat. The voltages vary from 4.5 volts up to about 11 volts, depending on the setting of the dash light brightness.

Will this low voltage be enough to trigger the headlight dim function on the empeg? Or am I going to have to go digging around through my dashboard and find a circuit that is always a full 12 volts whenever the headlights are on?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Doug, your description of your dimmer wire sounds like the exact thing the Empeg was designed to accept as input. I don't see where your problem lies.

Perhaps a peek at this FAQ item would clarify things?

___________
Tony Fabris

Should be fine from about 4v upwards (might not trigger until 5 or 6 actually - give it a try). It definitely doesn't have to be bang on 12v.

Hugo

Hmm. It doesn't seem to be the same thing. The description seems to talk about a Pulse Width Modulation input to the light-sense input. But I think what he wanted is to be able to have it accept an analog dim....

Calvin

I think what he wanted is to be able to have it accept an analog dim....

Nope, Hugo had it right. I should have explained better in my post. I didn't know if the empeg's headlight dim toggle required the full 12 volts like you'd get right off the light switch, or if I could tap into the lower-voltage circuit from the already dimmed dash lights.

Thanks, all who responded.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"