That whacky TIFF speedo (no bathingsuits, sorry ladies)

[mikecronis]

So I have the 2013 RS-S and it shares the center whacky TIFF-color screen in the center. My wife's RT-S has a few more features such as the radio and the AUX jack option, but it's essentially the same deal.

2 Questions:

1) I suspect there's additional plug-ins into this unit, either by RJ-cable or 1/8" jack or RCA.. though I can't figure how to get back there, it's not intuitive. If it's the same unit, I suspect the speed-sensor audio-adjust comes out of there as a controller for a small external amplifier, as well as an input of sorts for an AUX, but the RS-S doesn't have these plugged-in, obviously, but I suspect there's ports there for them. Has anyone seen these and if I access them are they functional? I suspect they might be if you buy an OEM adapter and an OEM FM-Tuner and then an OEM external speaker-out jack (like off of the RT-S), just to make everything "clean", you could add speakers somewhere nicely behind those hard-to-figure-out-to-remove faux vents.

2) I'm annoyed that the night-mode you still have to adjust the contrast because it's way way way too hyper-bright at night and has to be brought-down to about at least 30% dimness during the night, and back up to 100% during the day. Is there a firmware update for this? The ambient light sensor seems to be able to detect "night" mode.

 

[billybovine]

1) I suspect there's additional plug-ins into this unit, either by RJ-cable or 1/8" jack or RCA.. though I can't figure how to get back there, it's not intuitive. If it's the same unit, I suspect the speed-sensor audio-adjust comes out of there as a controller for a small external amplifier, as well as an input of sorts for an AUX, but the RS-S doesn't have these plugged-in, obviously, but I suspect there's ports there for them. Has anyone seen these and if I access them are they functional? I suspect they might be if you buy an OEM adapter and an OEM FM-Tuner and then an OEM external speaker-out jack (like off of the RT-S), just to make everything "clean", you could add speakers somewhere nicely behind those hard-to-figure-out-to-remove faux vents.

The gage cluster does not have extra plugins for stuff. It's easy to pull out on an RS 4-5 minutes tops. RT a little longer. So you can have a look at it yourself. A lot of its input and output is done through the CAN-BUS communication system. For example on a RT with a radio you press the up arrow for volume up. The left switch cluster sends a code to the cluster that the up arrow was pressed over CAN-BUS. The cluster knows based on the screen that it is on, sends a code to the radio located in the tail of RT to increase the volume. The radio then increases the volume to the speakers and then sends a code back to the cluster to increase the amount of darkened area on the volume bar.

There are some direct inputs and outputs. The fuel gage is directly input into the cluster. The output for turn signals and hazard flashers are direct from the cluster.

I hope that helps

 

[mikecronis]

Perhaps an OEM "RT" Can-Bus could be installed to communicate with it then? Is the radio also hooked-up to the Can-Bus? I suspect I could aquire the "guts" of that radio and amp of an "RT" through the Can-Am Parts Shop, as well as the magical "Can-Bus" and some aftermarket speakers, and get it all to work. Just wondering if anyone's tried this yet.

I know there's a nice Canadian company (HDS or some such) that offers a Marine radio faring-kit with 4 Clarion speakers (they only speak French so communication is awkward) but I'd like to try doing this myself, perhaps flushing them behind the faux dash grills.