Navigator 5 GPS display gremlins
My navigator 5 threw a 'wobbler' on Monday, after the bike was washed on Saturday. While riding to work, the display went so dark that I couldn't see it and it stayed like that for the entire trip.
Once at work, I removed the unit from the bike and cleaned the contacts with a pencil eraser. An old trick I have used before with much success.
That did the trick and the handlebar controller works again, but now the display stays in 'night' mode all the time, even in auto. I can force it to day mode by setting it manually, but if I put it back to auto the screen goes dark again, back into night mode. The auto brightness also doesn't work properly, it's far too dark for my liking, so for now at least, I've set it manually to about 80%.
Is there a light sensor somewhere on the bike that informs the unit of the ambient light level, to control the auto brightness? I always thought it worked based on the time of day, given that the GPS knows the sunrise / sunset times and can control the display that way. I'm now thinking that I might be looking for a dirty sensor on the bike somewhere?
The bike is a 2016 GS LC
How does the display react when off the bike mount?
Will check it out later and post my findings. From what I remember when cleaning the contacts, it was normal
Okay so I removed the GPS from the bike and it works as it should. If i put the display mode to 'Auto' it stays on day mode now. However, I noticed that off the bike, the Auto brightness option is disabled, which makes me think that indeed there must be an ambient light sensor somewhere on the bike to tell the Unit what the ambient light level is.
I'm pretty sure that when I fire up the bike to ride home this afternoon, the dark display will return and I'll be forced to manually override it until I can find that sensor.
All good fun, and I'm sure the solution is just around the corner.
My navigator 5 threw a 'wobbler' on Monday, after the bike was washed on Saturday. While riding to work, the display went so dark that I couldn't see it and it stayed like that for the entire trip.
Once at work, I removed the unit from the bike and cleaned the contacts with a pencil eraser. An old trick I have used before with much success.
That did the trick and the handlebar controller works again, but now the display stays in 'night' mode all the time, even in auto. I can force it to day mode by setting it manually, but if I put it back to auto the screen goes dark again, back into night mode. The auto brightness also doesn't work properly, it's far too dark for my liking, so for now at least, I've set it manually to about 80%.
Is there a light sensor somewhere on the bike that informs the unit of the ambient light level, to control the auto brightness? I always thought it worked based on the time of day, given that the GPS knows the sunrise / sunset times and can control the display that way. I'm now thinking that I might be looking for a dirty sensor on the bike somewhere?
The bike is a 2016 GS LC
Hi Trevor, have you tried updating the firmware to version 3.50 (released December the 10th 2019)? It fixes the rollover date issue, so maybe it is as a result of this bug? My Navigator V was doing the same thing (dark mode during the day) and I have just updated the firmware. The display is bright while the Navigator is lying on my desk, I will connect it to my bike later and see if it stays like that 
Kevin
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