I bought a '06 Audiophile radio for my 2005 and thought it would be a straigtforward installation but I've lost illumination at night. I was told that maybe the illumination was using a diode or something for that year. Can anyone help me get this thing illuminated again? I would like to keep it because of the features my 2005 lacks. I didn't think they changed much between years but I must have been wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I installed a audiophile out of a 07 sporttrac. You cant reflash this radio in the f150 as it does not have a MSCAN network. I am not sure if it can be reflashed in a mustang which has the MSCAN network. What I did was short the emitter and collector on a surface mount transistor on the key pad PBC, so when the key is turned on the lights illuminate, no dimming but it works fine. If you want a pic of what needs to be shorted let me know I will post one. The reason the illumination won't work is the commands are sent over the MSCAN network, not the illumination voltage lines like the rest of the dash.

 

Sure please send me the info, I'm not too worried about dimming just would like to be able to see it. I just can't believe it doesn't work but like someone told me they went to a diode based illumination or something in '07 but this is a '06 so that is why I'm a little puzzled.

 

I bet its possible to reprogram the radio to monitor the illumination wire. I opened a f150 6 disc unit and get the eeprom data to reprogram the 6disc unit from the sporttrac. The main circuit board was different, so no luck for me. I will post a pic of the part you need to short to get the backlight working. Not sure what programming options are listed in the FMP software when the radio is in the sporttrac, or mustang.

 

A little over my head but I bought and '05 audiophile shaker 500 just to try but the quality wasn't as good as the '06 radio and of course the features aren't there. Is there some type of small circuit that could be put inline on the illumination wire to make it work??

 

I installed a 2007 Expedition Audiophile into a 04 F-150 and lost night time illumination as well. Do you know if I can reprogram the Expedition unit? If not, can you send me pictures of the modification you made? All I need is to be able to see the buttons at night. Thanks.

 

Let me know if you figure it out also, I never heard back with the diagram. I'm in desperate need of some light.

 

Hard Ware, can you please help us and send you pictures? My radio cannot be reprogrammed. Thanks in advance.