Black nub center of dash

Ghost

Original poster
Member
Jun 1, 2012
932
What is this black nub on the dash by the windshield centered.
It has two wires.plugged into it.
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Ambient light sensor so it knows when to turn lighting from daylight to nighttime mode.

If you had the automatic digital HVAC system, there would be additional wires and two photodiode sensors in the little dome that tell the HVAC controller which side of the vehicle the sunlight is brighter on, so it can adjust the air temp to compensate.
 

Ghost

Original poster
Member
Jun 1, 2012
932
the roadie said:
Ambient light sensor so it knows when to turn lighting from daylight to nighttime mode.

If you had the automatic digital HVAC system, there would be additional wires and two photodiode sensors in the little dome that tell the HVAC controller which side of the vehicle the sunlight is brighter on, so it can adjust the air temp to compensate.

Very cool ! Does it have anything to do with the DRL's ? And I have noticed the dash lights are dif light output during the day and night.
Reason I found this was I took the cover off to see how much room is in the dash speaker holes was thinking about installing two external speakers inside for my vhf uhf radio.
 

Denali n DOO

Member
May 22, 2012
5,596
the roadie said:
Ambient light sensor so it knows when to turn lighting from daylight to nighttime mode.

If you had the automatic digital HVAC system, there would be additional wires and two photodiode sensors in the little dome that tell the HVAC controller which side of the vehicle the sunlight is brighter on, so it can adjust the air temp to compensate.

Wow! These vehicles are so smart!! I knew what it was but not what it did. Cool :cool: !
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Ghost said:
...Does it have anything to do with the DRL's ? ..
It lets the vehicle know when it's daylight, the "D" in "DRL". :wink: Otherwise it would have to have a smarter computer to read the GPS to know where it was and get the atomic clock signal also from GPS and do the math and see if the sun is shining. :cool:
 

Jkust

Member
Dec 4, 2011
946
the roadie said:
It lets the vehicle know when it's daylight, the "D" in "DRL". :wink: Otherwise it would have to have a smarter computer to read the GPS to know where it was and get the atomic clock signal also from GPS and do the math and see if the sun is shining. :cool:


Well some smart and other's not. Depending on the time of the year as to the position of the sun in the sky, the sensor on my 9-7 works only some months properly. In the summer, spring and late winter it's fine but it gets confused some winter days and the HID's stay on in stead of the DRL yellow's kicking on. You can tell because the color of the nav screen doesn't change correctly to the daylight color. The Rainier on the other hand doesn't have any issues.
 

navigator

Member
Dec 3, 2011
504
Denali n DOO said:
Wow! These vehicles are so smart!! I knew what it was but not what it did. Cool :cool: !
I would settle for vehicles being less smart and less expensive.
I can turn on the lights and adjust the temperature if needed :smile:
 

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