How To: Install a Compass / Temperature Rear View Mirror

[borahshadow]

Nice write up! by buddy just put one in his 95 2 door tahoe and said that it stays dim all the time and he can't see it in daylight?
any help wouldbe great.

Hmm that sounds like something inside the mirror that could be bad...

Did he connect the green wire to the back up lights? If not did he ground it? I've heard that the mirror can do funny things if that wire is floating (not connected to either ground or the back up lights)

Are the little photo cells on the front and back of the mirror clean?

If everything that I mentioned above checks out the best I can think to do would be to connect the green wire to the pink wire (+12) which would make the mirror think that you are always in reverse and disable the auto dime completely. Obviously that's not ideal as then you loose the auto dim feature (which is really nice).

 

[Blue95]

Ok thank you so much man, he doesnt have internet at his house so I am trying to resolve it for him from school and he lives back in my home town

 

[borahshadow]

Ok thank you so much man, he doesnt have internet at his house so I am trying to resolve it for him from school and he lives back in my home town

Yeah let me know what you figure out or if any of my ideas helped.
Remind me do you have one of these mirrors? If you do or know of someone else who does you could try plugging your mirror in to make sure that it's wired correctly. That could help narrow it down to something wrong with the mirror (either messed up circuitry or dirty/broken photocells)

If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Great write up. I have a dual display in my 02, and autodim without displays in the 88 and 99 (OH consoles have the compass/temp in them instead).

Two things to point out.

1. You don't have to wire anything to the backup light signal, I haven't in all the mirrors I've installed and they will still work normally.
2. You can disable the autodim by holding the "Temp" button until the green indicator light turns off.

Here is the plug and wiring diagram. if you connect the green backup wire to 12V it will NOT dim.

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[Blue95]

No I do not have one of these mirrors, maybe one day but not now.

I will let you know if he gets it figured out, thanks for some more info 88

 

[borahshadow]

Great write up. I have a dual display in my 02, and autodim without displays in the 88 and 99 (OH consoles have the compass/temp in them instead).

Two things to point out.

1. You don't have to wire anything to the backup light signal, I haven't in all the mirrors I've installed and they will still work normally.
2. You can disable the autodim by holding the "Temp" button until the green indicator light turns off.

Here is the plug and wiring diagram. if you connect the green backup wire to 12V it will dim.

Thanks for that info! Especially that wiring pinout chart! It says the same thing I have but I like yours better because it has the graphic which makes it easier to understand.

However I thought that if you connected the green back up lights wire to +12 it would never dim. Not the other way around.

 

[88GMCtruck]

I'll edit that, I meant it will not dim

 

[dagen_1]

good write up... going to do my mirror mods this weekend.

 

[the big blue bus]

what years fit and do like s10 ones work? going to jy again tomorrow to search for one only have compas right now temp would be cool

 

[borahshadow]

what years fit and do like s10 ones work? going to jy again tomorrow to search for one only have compas right now temp would be cool

I don't know all models that fit but I know that there is a good range that do. I know that the newer gmt-800 (nbs) mirrors fit on our windshields. Just look at the shape of the mounting point from a gmt-400 truck and then compare that to whatever the mirror you want comes off of.