Are dash lights supposed to be on during the day?
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Some are some aren’t. My family’s 2011 Caravan, 2012 Camry, and 2013 Camry all have the dash illuminated but my 2002 Camry does not. The owners manual will probably say if yours are supposed to be on or not.
If the dash lights dim when the headlights come on, it’s probably OK.
Are the headlights on at the same time? If so, they yes they will be illuminated.
I assume your LS has the Autolamp function. Over time the eye becomes cloudy and can cause the headlamps to come on even in daylight conditions. This part is referred to as a Day/Night Sensor Amplifier.
The eye is adjustable although I cannot tell you how to do this on your particular model.
On my Lincoln Mark the eye is on the top right of the dashboard near the A pillar. To adjust, the “lid” of the dash must be popped loose and removed to access the amplifier.
Call a Lincoln dealer. If the instruments are in recessed pods, as on my Mustang, the answer is yes.
My dash lights are on during the day, and dim when I turn the headlights on. Their readability still s****, but that’s common in many vehicles today.
In the old days, gages (speedo, odometer, etc.) were commonly white pointers on flat black backgrounds, generally with green peabulbs that created high-contrast gages for both day and night. The green light reflects very well off the white pointers, but not off the flat black backgrounds. Besides that, the human eye is most sensitive under low light conditions to the green frequency range (roughly 510 to 560 nanometers in wavelength), which is why it’s used in night vision systems.
I accidentally put white peabulbs in my cluster once, and they washed out the gages at night. I had to remove the cluster and put green “mood lights” (green peabulbs) to get my good nighttime readability back. Today all types of fancy cluster lighting is tried… including the now-popular orange… and most o f it s***s.
I’m willing to bet that yours illuminate intentionally during the day. Your owner’s manual will probably tell you.
My main question is are there dash lights on during the day with the head lights turned to off.
When the headlights are on automatic or full on the dash lights will illuminate.
I can’t speak for the LS but on my Lincoln Mark the dash lights are not illuminated in the day with the Autolamp feature turned off and key in the RUN position.
The message center and EATC control digital readings are still illuminated.
Well since you don’t like the other answers, i.e. Owners manual or ask a dealer. Next time you are out at night turn off your headlights and see if instrument cluster is lighted.
On your car the answer is “yes”.
Almost every car I have tested has a way to turn on the dash lights during the day. Typically, it is the same device that adjusts the dash lights when enabled by turning on headlights. A stick is the most common, protruding from the instrument binnacle someplace. In the LS I think it was a thumbwheel mounted in an up and down configuration just to the right of the lights switch (lower left of dash). See if the thumb wheel clicks over at its top most point to enable daytime dash lights.
Just for kicks I tried mine.
The intensity control only controls brightness of instrument lights when headlights are on. Daytime (headlights off) instrument lights are at a fixed level.
But I did note, even in full sunlight, as soon as I started the car I could see the instruments illuminate.
Why the OP can not see if his illuminate I don’t understand.
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