Disable KIB backlighting?

[MapNerd]

Anyone know how I might disable the backlighting on this? There is no backlight button like some of the others have. Maybe there is a wire I can cut? It’s way too bright at night.

 

[lostinfla]

Ours must be an older style, but there is a button to turn off the backlighting in each section of the coach. Strange there isn't one on yours.

 

[flyboy013]

I have the same issue for the 1/2 bathroom. There is no button to turn the backlighting off. I’ve been looking at commands that can be sent on the VBUS to turn this particular switch’s backlight off, but no luck to date.

The switches have 3 wires: power, ground, and VBUS (communications). I believe that someone put a switch on the power wire in order to turn the backlighting off. Of course, this disables all functionality of the switch. So you could install some sort off on/off switch (somewhere) that turns the power on/off.

 

[MapNerd]

It’s the half bath on ours too. Some of the other switches do have a backlighting control but they only disable backlighting for that particular switch.

 

[lostinfla]

If nothing else, it wouldn't be hard to fabricate some sort of cover like a drop down cloth to cover it at night. I used to turn them off at night in the living area, but have learned to live with them on. The BR is always off at night.

 

[Neal]

Can you replace the switch with one with backlighting control?

 

[flyboy013]

I don't think so. The backlighting isn't controlled by a physical button per se. You press the button and it sends a command to the control panel. The control panel then responds with a command to turn the light off.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

The backlighting isn't controlled by a physical button per se. You press the button and it sends a command to the control panel. The control panel then responds with a command to turn the light off.

That’s true in our 2018 Mountain Aires, but I don’t believe the Ventanas use the SilverLeaf control system. I think they are controlled at the switch level.

Probably a dumb question, but has anyone asked Newmar about this? Surely, one of their techs would know.

TJ

 

[flyboy013]

The Silverleaf and KIB systems are independent, although there are a few modules that takes a KIB command and passes it to the Silverleaf system. An example is turning the water pump on/off.

In the MA, the lights and shades are controlled by KIB with no interface with Silverleaf.

 

[MapNerd]

I asked Newmar and they asked KIB. Unfortunate response below:

So the short answer is no, it cannot be done easily or at all. This is because depending on the age and year of the coach, backlighting works differently in different coaches. This is all determined by what the Newmar requests were for those years and those coaches. Backlighting is usually setup by regions throughout the coach with one of the switch in the region controlling backlighting in that region. This is all setup by the programming each part is initially set with and cannot be changed. Not all switchs can or do have backlighting buttons. Hope that helps and answers your questions.