Alas

I recently got a Kenwood Mask unit KDC-7050R off ebay. Installed it tonight and everything working perfectly apart from the display. If you shine a torch at it you can see the station its playing etc but without this it is so dim to be unreadable.
Is it a repair job or am I missing something.(apart fropm a display)
Cheers
Alasdair

BigRed

Has this head unit got a system menu ?????

If so check the settings for display dimmer and brightness , this sets how bright the display is when lights are on and also when lights are off, check both settings. If this does not cure the problem clean the connections to the front panel (strip of gold contacts behind the front when flipped down)with a good contact cleaner, do not use WD40 or any kind of oil.

If still giving a problem, you may have a dodgy H/U

BigRed

Alas

Cheers m8
No dimmer controls as far as I can see. I'll try giving the contacts a clean & see if that helps.
Cheers
Alasdair

Definitely no dimmer controls on the unit. No contacts to clean either as it is a flat computer cable that feeds the head unit. Any more ideas??
Alasdair

[Edited by Alas - 2/14/2003 9:05:56 PM]

BigRed

Are you certain there is no dimmer control ?, i have a kenwood 8080r h/u if you hold down the AUD. button for more than 1 second this then lets you into the menu for setup (with unit switched on) and from there on you can adjust the brightness of the display and the dimmer control (this works when lights are turned on), but this model has a dot matrix display, is your's an LED display type maybe this is different. Did you get the instructions with the unit, if so have a good read of them to see if the display can be adjusted. If this fails goto you car audio dealer to see if he can be of any help to you.

My instruction book goes as follows (Kenwood 8080R H/U)
Press AUD, button for MORE than one second, this then enters the menu control

Scroll to BRIGHTNESS setting this is a value from 0(DIM) to 10 (BRIGHT) set to the correct value.

Turn on lights(This only works if dimmer cable is connected)then set brightness again to the desired level for nighttime driving.

The dimmer can be turned on or off, scroll to DIMMER set to 'ON' or 'OFF'

Press AUD. button again to close menu.

This is for 8080r model it maybe a different setup on your's

Hope it helps u out anyway.
BigRed

[Edited by BigRed - 2/15/2003 7:23:49 PM]

Alas

Thanks for the info. Checked the manual and only illum choices are the button colours. Phoned a Kenwood audio place today and the guy says its either the bulb/led thats gone or the ribbon computer cable to the hu has a crack. Either way easily repaired. Guy that sold me it is going to pay for the repair so should be ok. Thanks for the help anyway.
Cheers
Alasdair