I've never been quite happy with the auto headlight setting. It activates later than it should, when it's well into dusk. My other cars activate much sooner, so I've been trying to tweak my LC's sensor to do the same.
AFAIK from reading here, there is no electronic adjustment to the circuit. So I've been working on the photocell itself, located on the (US) passenger side of the upper dash. I started with layers of yellow Post-its over the sensor, just to confirm that by shading the photocell, the auto headlights activate sooner. This works, and the opacity requires equals about 2 Post-its (with no light creeping from the sides).
Next, I wanted to modify it in a way that was non-destructive, fully reversible, and stock-looking. The solution was "sunglasses" for the photocell in the form of a plastic blister taken from watch battery packaging, and painted on the inside. The blister has a brim around its outside that works well to lightly glue it down around the photocell.
It works (kinda) but the paint is hard to control and too opaque. I used a q-tip to wipe away enough paint to let just enough light through, but this leaves an opaque disk in the middle that casts a shadow on the sensor. Not ideal. I need a consistent translucent layer, tunable, ideally matching the dash color. The goal is to look like it came from the factory this way. Anyone tried something similar that works well?
AFAIK from reading here, there is no electronic adjustment to the circuit. So I've been working on the photocell itself, located on the (US) passenger side of the upper dash. I started with layers of yellow Post-its over the sensor, just to confirm that by shading the photocell, the auto headlights activate sooner. This works, and the opacity requires equals about 2 Post-its (with no light creeping from the sides).
Next, I wanted to modify it in a way that was non-destructive, fully reversible, and stock-looking. The solution was "sunglasses" for the photocell in the form of a plastic blister taken from watch battery packaging, and painted on the inside. The blister has a brim around its outside that works well to lightly glue it down around the photocell.
It works (kinda) but the paint is hard to control and too opaque. I used a q-tip to wipe away enough paint to let just enough light through, but this leaves an opaque disk in the middle that casts a shadow on the sensor. Not ideal. I need a consistent translucent layer, tunable, ideally matching the dash color. The goal is to look like it came from the factory this way. Anyone tried something similar that works well?
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. So yes, can confirm that 99 is per the FSM - just looks a little different from the illustration.
