VE stuck in "Night mode" - how to escape ?

[Shorty33]

2010 VE Omega sedan 3.0 SIDI

On Saturday, I came home; switched off completely, then turned the lock back to "accessory", so I could listen to the radio while I did some work nearby. Forgot about it, came back a few hours later, and, you guessed it, not enough moonta to start the engine. The dash lights were visible, but not as bright as usual.

My friend came to the rescue, and I jump-started it. When I drove off, the interior lights were in "Night mode": only the speedo operates; all other displays are off; radio & air-con work, but no displays; headlights fine; indicators work, but that annoying sound is gone.

Check the manual: press either of the dimmer buttons, it says. Tried one, tried the other; tried both at the same time: no joy.

The manual mentions "battery saver mode", with no mention of how to get out of it.

Search JC Forum: a few mentions of "battery saver mode", but it seems to either be -
self-correcting; or
requires a trip to the dealer.

After three days of putting up with "night mode", I got into "Engineering mode" - that's not in the manual, but thankyou JCF for enlightening me. Anyway, it says that my battery is charging between 13.7 & 14.7V (it fluctuated, even although I was only idling in "Park"), and my battery was at 100 % - very comforting, but I'm still in "Night mode", and that's not where I want to be.

When I was trying to get out of "Engineering mode", I pressed a few buttons, and for a moment, all my dash-lights came up. So, I know that they still work, and presumably I don't have a fuse problem.

Any suggestions, how to get from "Night mode", back to normal ?

[HoZy]

Have you tried to remove a battery terminal for 5minutes, An re-connect it.

Cheers
Mat

[iUte]

I know this might sound silly, but the same problem happened to my mates ve sidi and he went through the manual and called the dealer etc and they had never come across the problem before.

The way he did it was by tricking the car into thinking it was actually night time, he did this by putting the car in the garage and changing the Tim eon the cars clock to a pm time. The night before he recorded some 60 minutes on tv and played it on a tv in the dark garage, and also wore his pajamas into the garage. He faked a call ion front of the car and pretended he was talking to a friend, saying how tired he was and how he had to go to bed early "tonight" to get up for work (he also yawned alot).

This made the car (with its lights still on in accessories mode) think it was actually night time, he turned the tv off and pretended to go to bed leaving the car in the dark garage. He then wore some military grade night vision goggles and snuck into the garage disconnecting the cars batter without the car noticing because he wore dark clothes and was being very quite.

He then waited and hour, opened the door, attached the battery, and the car was confused and just assumed it fell asleep and woke up and just accepted the time of day that it actually was because its clock had been reset.

Like I said, not your usual fix, but works.

Good luck

[timj]

GOLD answer right there lol

[bladerunner]

press both dash light dimmer buttons at once.that should restore it.

[davey g-force]

I know this might sound silly, but the same problem happened to my mates ve sidi and he went through the manual and called the dealer etc and they had never come across the problem before.

The way he did it was by tricking the car into thinking it was actually night time, he did this by putting the car in the garage and changing the Tim eon the cars clock to a pm time. The night before he recorded some 60 minutes on tv and played it on a tv in the dark garage, and also wore his pajamas into the garage. He faked a call ion front of the car and pretended he was talking to a friend, saying how tired he was and how he had to go to bed early "tonight" to get up for work (he also yawned alot).

This made the car (with its lights still on in accessories mode) think it was actually night time, he turned the tv off and pretended to go to bed leaving the car in the dark garage. He then wore some military grade night vision goggles and snuck into the garage disconnecting the cars batter without the car noticing because he wore dark clothes and was being very quite.

He then waited and hour, opened the door, attached the battery, and the car was confused and just assumed it fell asleep and woke up and just accepted the time of day that it actually was because its clock had been reset.

Like I said, not your usual fix, but works.

Good luck

Ha ha - it was funny(ish) the first time mate, but it's getting a bit old now.

[RiCeY]

press both dash light dimmer buttons at once.that should restore it.

This, press and hold both buttons till it changes back. If its ex cop car theres a long button up near the sunglasses holder which does the same thing.

[Stretchomatic]

Any luck with this? it's not a fuse is it?

[NickVR]

As bladerunner and RiCeY said hold the two dimmer buttons together this will turn night mode on or off. Obviously do it at night when the lights come on because it won't work when you go out during the day with the lights off.

[RiCeY]

Its not night mode its stealth mode for the police and it can be turned on and off regardless of the time of day.

[Shorty33]

thankyou for the suggestions.
Hozy: I was going to try the battery disconnect & reconnect routint, but deferred to the following day (easier during the day, than at night), when events overtook me ...
Iute: I thought about that, but I don't have any pyjamas, and all my gay friends were watching rugby somewhere, so that had to go on the back burner ...
Bladerunner, NickVR, & Ricey: see OP; already tried that.
Stretchomatic: no it wasn't a fuse; see OP
So, I went to the pictures; came out; unlocked the car, and everything was back to normal. So, the solution was as mysterious as the problem.

RiCeY: after the car was back to normal, I tried that bar next to the sunny-holder. It worked just like you said; pressed it again, back to normal.
I'm wondering if I bumped that, causing the original "problem" ?
That was a week ago: no problem since.

I checked my manual: noted in it is "Police Pack", so I'm wondering what other features that includes ?

thanks everyone.