Has anyone installed a gen Toyota auto dimming rear view mirror ?

[Tim1974]

Hi, I have bought a second hand gen Toyota auto dimming rear view mirror to install in my 2013 Auris hybrid that did not come with one.

New mirror has five pin white plastic connector, my car does not have the opposite side to connect to? Assume if I find out which two pins are Earth and feed I can connect a fused supply to these? 
has anybody done? Have a wiring diagram ? The connector ? Any help much appreciated, Thanks in advance 

[TonyHSD]

Hi, I haven’t done that and I can not help but I remember I have been watching videos on YouTube, best to research there and see some tutorials. 
Good luck 

[DaddyBaddy]

Hi Tim. Are you replacing a bog standard non-electronic manual dipping mirror with an electronically dimming one? (like mine)

My 2016 Auris Excel hybrid hatchback has an electro-chromatic interior mirror (AKA auto dimming) fitted as standard with light sensors on it, a green “active” LED and an ON/OFF push button on it. What are you planning on plugging the new mirror into if your car doesn’t have a loom up there? It may even be hooked into the headlight system.

Here’s mine:

[DaddyBaddy]

[APS]

I've not researched what connections the auto-dimming mirror needs so cannot give a definitive answer, but we did have such mirror on our 2010 Auris HSD T Spirit and others so I can attempt some reasoning.

In best case it would just really need a positive feed that comes on with the ignition/power on. This would also feed the built-in white LED light that lights up the centre console. As far as I'm aware there are no external sensors for dimming - it has one forward facing and one rear facing sensor built-in. The 5 pin connector could possibly also hook up to the daylight sensor at the front of the dash to tell it when it's day/night. I think (I'm guessing here) it may also connect to the external mirrors as these do dim as well (at least on some models they do). This you could probably omit.

[Tim1974]

Solved it !! 
pleased to report its now installed and working.

I purchased the connecting lead from a breaker as per the picture. Despite being a five pin lug, it only has two wires installed, a sky blue ( live ) and a black and white ( neg).

I also found this pinout diagram in the net, describing sky blue cable as a positive feed for radio, so assumed the same colour code used ( this proved correct.)

I connected new lead to the vanity mirror over the driver side sun visor. So can be switched from either there or on the mirror itself, or left on as all accessory 12v are turned off after 5 minutes or so after ignition is turned off.

I’ve tested it and it works perfectly. 
hopefully this helps others attempting the same install. Cheers, Tim

[Guest]

Well done.

Wait until you have a car with 50000 lumen trendy headlights behind at night. You will wish the manual dip was still there.😵

[TonyHSD]

Why people are saying that about the auto dimming rear view mirrors aren’t suitable against led lights ?  

That’s not exactly the case and I think it’s more down to personal preference.
Obviously brighter and more dense light will be less dimmed but the auto mirror still does its job well. 👍

[tavy]

16 hours ago, Tim1974 said:

I connected new lead to the vanity mirror over the driver side sun visor.

Well done !

  If I were you, I would feed the mirror from ACC+ , in this way mirror will be feeded only when the engine starts. In addition, vanity mirror lamps receive a variable voltage when dimming, it puts a little stress of mirror electronics every time when extinguishes IMHO. 

  You have to root wires through A pillar cover, from backside of the clocks.

[APS]

17 hours ago, Tim1974 said:

I purchased the connecting lead from a breaker as per the picture. Despite being a five pin lug, it only has two wires installed, a sky blue ( live ) and a black and white ( neg).

Nice work! Looks like the plug has the space to control L and R wing mirrors too.

Did the mirror you bought also include the downward face LED to light the centre console? I seem to recall our 2010 Auris had this.

[furtula]

2 hours ago, olonas said:

Well done.

Wait until you have a car with 50000 lumen trendy headlights behind at night. You will wish the manual dip was still there.😵

The joy of matrix headlights. I haven't had any problem with bright lights and rear view mirror.

On the other hand, the side mirrors are a completely different story, especially on mottorways where the car's dont move so much, just going in a straight line.

 

[TonyHSD]

My auto dimming mirror works very well on all types of lights including LED’s and xenon. It has also a built in screen for reversing camera with better resolution than the dashboard screens and lines including, plus the small led that lights up the gear lever. All in all very happy, I wish the car had same dimming function on the side mirrors like some Volvo cars. 👌

[APS]

6 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

All in all very happy, I wish the car had same dimming function on the side mirrors like some Volvo cars. 👌

Are you sure it doesn't? (I can't remember if our Auris had it) It isn't super obvious when the external mirrors are dimmed. I may be getting things muddled up with the Lexi as they all have it.

[TonyHSD]

Just now, APS said:

Are you sure it doesn't? (I can't remember if our Auris had it) It isn't super obvious when the external mirrors are dimmed. I may be getting things muddled up with the Lexi as they all have it.

Honestly I am not 100% sure if they have it or not but they definitely not getting as dark as the interior mirror, perhaps they have some slight tint more like against a bright sunlight or something but not electronically controlled imo. 

[klash997]

I have this auto dimmer mirror but honstley I belive it isnt working. It isnt dimmig anything 🤣.  Maby its because of the tinted glass? Green led is working though 

[Tomv]

Get your windows tinted and you don’t need auto dimming mirrors + you will get some other advantages as an bonus 🙂

[Cyker]

Ironically, after some experimenting, I'm starting to think the rear tint is why my auto dimming mirror is so useless.

It seems the mirror looks for a difference in brightness between front and back, and if the back has less light than the front then it doesn't dim.

The problem is, because my front windscreen isn't tinted, it is ALWAYS brighter than the back at night, with everyone and their super bright LEDs shining, because the super bright LED brigade behind me are being filtered by the rear tint! Still, the bluetack trick seems to have made it more useful so far...

I wonder, for those of you whose auto-dimming mirrors work well, do you have a clear rear window?

And for those whose auto-dimming mirrors are like mine (i.e. useless), do you have a rear tint?

 

[furtula]

I can confirm it works exceptionally well at night. It's most obvious when you enter a garage, you can see how much darker it gets.

As mentioned above, too bad side mirrors don't have this, because some lights can be brutal high, especially on highway in a straight line, where they bash you for long time.

Few times i just adjusted the side mirror to point away from me, so i can drive normally, nor really a hazard since i drive in the slow lane at night, on a mostly empty highway.

[Tomv]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

Ironically, after some experimenting, I'm starting to think the rear tint is why my auto dimming mirror is so useless.

It seems the mirror looks for a difference in brightness between front and back, and if the back has less light than the front then it doesn't dim.

The problem is, because my front windscreen isn't tinted, it is ALWAYS brighter than the back at night, with everyone and their super bright LEDs shining, because the super bright LED brigade behind me are being filtered by the rear tint! Still, the bluetack trick seems to have made it more useful so far...

I wonder, for those of you whose auto-dimming mirrors work well, do you have a clear rear window?

And for those whose auto-dimming mirrors are like mine (i.e. useless), do you have a rear tint?

 

I have tinted windows and auto dimming mirror and it never dims but I don’t care because the tinted windows block the lights by itself.

[tavy]

  I have this kind of mirror and have rear tinted glass at another car and it works brilliantly even in this condition; when someone backside of me approches with his unaimed headlights, mirror became dark green, very useful. As Dean said before, I wish have side mirrors with auto dimming function.

But this is another car make with same type of mirror, another story...

[TonyHSD]

That sounds a bit strange to me if the tint on your windows changes anything.
The auto dimming mirror by default gets darker as soon as it’s got dark outside and remains dimmed through the night as long as the car is ON.  
It does not need a direct light to become darker, you can try that at any place when not driving the car and no lights behind, turn off and then turn on this function and you will see difference in the mirror. I have a custom made sun shades - privacy blinds fitted to all rear windows that make any light from outside difficult to get into the interior, the light reflects back out and the auto dim function works a magic for me. I am thinking I will take the mirror out when I scrap the car in the future to have it as a spate of e in case my next car hasn’t one fitted. Here it is and my privacy shades. 👍

[Tomv]

I tried that once at night and turning it on and off made no difference. It was the same on my previous car. Maybe I’m too blind to see any difference 🙂

[Guest]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

The auto dimming mirror by default gets darker as soon as it’s got dark outside and remains dimmed through the night as long as the car is ON.  

Never experienced that Tony. Always only "dimmed" when sensing headlights to the rear.

[TonyHSD]

The front sensor on the mirror it’s a dusk sensor to tell the mirror if it’s day or night so the mirror can adjust accordingly. You can test that by switching on and off th button below and confirm the green light is working. 
Then the rear sensor will sense lights behind you to increase dimming levels. Perhaps this were something it’s not right with everyone s that has a complain about the auto dimming mirror does not work properly. You can test that too with your phone flash. 
Park the car in the evening, while the car remains in ready mode turn off the button so the green light is off and mirror will become slightly brighter, lighter. Flash at it with your phone and nothing will happen. Then switch on the green light auto dimming function on, the mirror will darken a bit, might be not easily noticed, now flash with your phone towards and watch how the mirror becomes a bit darker and the light that reflects a bit greener and softer. My one definitely works fine with or without the blinds. I am a night driver and I have tested this myself just out of interest. 👍

[Cyker]

Is your rear window tinted Tony?

My one doesn't dim noticeably at night unless there is someone behind me with very bright lights AND nobody in front of me. It's fairly easy to tell if it's dimming or not as everything goes a bit green tinted when it is