Has anyone hooked up their aftermarket radio to a dimmer switch? The wiring for the Bose system does not allow for a dimmer connection. I was thinking I could direct connect the dimmer wire to the dimmer in the dash. Any thoughts on this? How about a wire color for the connection. Thx.

I don't remember but I think it is an orange wire that does not come from aftermarket harness. So you have to cut it or split to be able to connect. To make sure you got a right wire you can check with voltmeter by turning dimmer.

I suggest you be very careful doing this!

The light dimming system on most Nissan's (including the Rogue) is accomplished by varying the voltage on the GROUND side of the lighting circuit. Some refer to this as a 'variable ground'. In effect the voltage on the illumination wire actually increases when the dimmer is turned down. The Rogue and newer Nissan's are a bit different as the use PWM (a series of pulses with varying on time) to accomplish the same variable ground.

Where you get in trouble is hooking up aftermarket audio. Aftermarket stereo illumination is internally connected to ground. By connecting an aftermarket stereo directly to the illumination wire, you are effectively bypassing the dimmer. This usually results in a few things and none of them are good:

1) The dimmer no longer works2) The dash and stereo lights may illuminate very dimly if at all.3) The dimmer module may fail. (I managed to do this once myself BTW. Lesson learned!) In the case of the Rogue, you would have to replace the entire gauge cluster as the dimmer is located there.

For more information, I suggest reading up on the Rogue FSM, INL Sections, Pg 12 & 34.

As for a solution...

I don't have one. I have to do some research....

Hmm. Weird. Didn't happen anything when I was checking the voltage. What's the big deal when you just checking the voltage anyway? This is not air bag module.

A voltage check should be fine.

I was actually referring to connecting the illumination wire from the vehicle to the stereo. This could be an issue.

oh well. For that you have to make sure you connecting the right wire from radio. And still...there's too many fuses coming this days, It is hard to burn something like module. You have to burn/take out the fuse first and the shorten it without fuse. Then you most likely could burn the module.

Typically the fuses are only found where the device connects to 12V positive. ie. the battery.

Problem is, there is no fuse in the dimmer module because it connects the dash lights to ground. I found this out the hard way when I blew the dimmer in my 240SX connecting a stereo. Hopefully the Rogue's dimmer is a bit more resilient.

ok. didn't think of that. thanks for the info.

Thanks! It seems I will not be hooking up the dimmer after all. It was a thought but I'm beyond it now. LOL

on mine i have 2 wire

one for illumination and one for dimmer

i tapped in to the parking light to illumination and i dont use dimmer