superdenso

I dimmed my gauges to 1/4 brightness and went for a drive at night. When applying brakes or speeding from a stop...the needles have a slight pulsing effect.

Can a few of you LS460 owners copy my setting and share your observations...Thanks in advance for any and all assistance.

roadfrog

When you say "pulsing", are you referring to the needles or the lighting of the needles? If you're referring to the lighting, is it only the needles, or are the lighting of the gauges also pulsing. Any other electrical anomalies?

superdenso

The lighting of the needles. Only the lighting of the needles. There are no other anomalies. Also, this only occurs when the dimmer setting is adjusted to the lower 1/4 of the scale. At the halfway marker the needle lighting is bright and steady. Thanks for asking the additional questions about this concern.

peteybabes

i ride with them at full brightness and don't experience it, but when i head home in a couple hours it will be darker outside and i will dim my gauge and see what happens!

greg3852

I keep mine at around half, but i tried a quarter today for you, and noticed no pulsing.

superdenso

Greg, did you conduct your observation at night? If so, it feels like I have a problem to chase.

greg3852

Yes, sorry it was pitch black. Tried both stopping from about 50mph and flooring it. Didn't notice any changes

superdenso

Now I have to decide who gets the first crack at fixing my issue. Thanks for your help...I'll update you with the responsible part.

greg3852

No problem. Good luck.

Does turning up the brightness effect it at all?

superdenso

The alternator is testing at 14.11v and 14.15v...I think this is indicative of a bad regulator. I'll contact lexus tomorrow for the desired parameters. I wouldn't want to cook a good battery. I noticed I have the worst fluctuation between 0-30mph. After 30mph the changes are there they are just faint.

greg3852

I'll try it again within the next half hour when I leave work. I'll try it at that speed. I was going much higher when I tested it out. I'll let you know.

greg3852

No change. I have no noticeable pulses or changes.

peteybabes

hello superdenso, i tried this last night with it set at 4 & 5 "tick marks" for brightness and also did not notice any flickering or dimming at all...

superdenso

Thanks Petey...I will schedule an appointment/hopefully I will learn something about auto-electronics in this process...checking a bunch of other car forums suggests my alternator is about to retire.

roadfrog

A bad alternator would manifest itself in other ways (headlights, etc).

I would suggest a bad dimmer switch.