Schnave

EDIT: This post applicable to 2019 - 2021 Cayennes with PCM 5. See post #9 for 2022+ equipped with PCM 6

First of all, shout out to @KT88 for a great post that pointed folks down the road to adjusting their instrument lights. Some got a little lost while going down that road, so here’s a detailed road map:

Several threads here regarding this subject:

https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...rightness.html
https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...-at-night.html
https://rennlist.com/forums/cayenne-...umination.html

Here we go!

There are three different settings in the PCM that affect the interior lights. You have a global adjustment affecting all interior lighting, including the instruments and PCM. Next, you can adjust the lighting offset for the PCM and another adjustment for the instruments.

Note that this does not affect the ambient lighting which is controlled separately. See post below for Ambient Lighting adjustment.

First is a global setting that adjusts all interior lighting, including the instrument lights and PCM. It includes the steering wheel, overhead console, lower console and shifter, door window and seat memory buttons, air vent control *****, and even the rear climate control panel. Here’s how to adjust them:

CAR | CONTROL | Vehicle | Light and visibility | Interior lighting | Brightness. Tap the brightness percentage to display a pop up window. Adjust the GLOBAL brightness from 0 to 100%. Use this primarily to adjust your console and button lights — we can adjust the PCM and Instruments separately in the next two steps.
















Now let’s get the PCM dialed in. Go to SET | Displays | Display PCM | Display brightness. Tap the offset value to display a pop up window. Set the offset value to make the PCM brighter or dimmer as you wish.










Finally, let’s get the instrument panel set to your liking. Go to SET | Displays | Display instrument cluster | Display brightness. Tap the offset value to display a pop up window. Set the offset value to make the instrument cluster brighter or dimmer. Some complain that the tachometer is too bright relative to the instrument cluster. I‘m not aware of a way to independently change the tachometer brightness. Some have suggested using a window tint film over the tachometer.

bobblehead

Excellent details provided 👍

Schnave

Since I took these pictures for the first post, I may as well do a blurb about Ambient Lighting. Go to CAR | CONTROL | Ambient lighting.




From this page you can control the Global Brightness, Color, and offsets for the Roof, Doors, Cupholder, and Footwells. Note the current offset values are displayed to the right of each. I find it best to adjust the settings in a dark environment.




To adjust individual offsets, tap on one of the ambient light sections. In this case, I tapped Footwell to display the Footwell Brightness Offset. Adjust, then tap the X to close.

tvans

I tried to follow your most illustrative steps but, my 2022 Macan S doesn't have the ability (that I could find) to make the changes you suggested.
For example:
CAR/CONTROL/VEHICLE/LIGHT AND VISIBILITY: Stopped there; NO INTERIOR LIGHTING OR BRIGHTNESS indicated.
SET Displays: NOTHING after that for Display PCM Display brightness.
None of the following in your photos you showed (Settings, Displays, Display PCM, etc) appears.

So, unless I've missed something, I will have to live with the Tachometer and Speedometer dial numbers very difficult to see in the daytime,
Thank you very much for taking the time to help. Most appreciated.

Schnave

My post described lighting in the Cayenne, which has a different procedure from the Macan. Here’s a thread from the Macan forum discussing the difficulty seeing the Tach and Speedo during daylight. One suggested driving with the parking lights on. This will illuminate the gauges for better visibility.

https://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-...-lighting.html

EDIT: I see the post I linked was started by you. Any Macan owners out there that can help tvans?

MikeCar33

Did not realize you could do individual offsets on the ambient, thank you again for keeping me enlightened.

LSR

Great post, Schnave! One clarification, though - your post describes lighting in 2019-2021 Cayennes with PCM5. Things are different with PCM6 starting with MY 2022. I haven’t studied the PCM6 lighting controls in my 2022 Cayenne as yet, so cannot detail the differences. As soon as I can free up, I’ll take a deep dive to try to create a post like yours for PCM6.

Schnave

Thanks LSR. I’m totally clueless on the PCM 6. Looking forward to your posts so I’ll be ready for the day when I buy my 2022+ Cayenne. 😎

LSR

This is my rundown on how to control a 2022 Cayenne's lighting using PCM6. Sorry for the long post; lots of menus to drill down. Here, however, is the Executive Summary. As far as I can tell, PCM6 seems able to do everything PCM5 can do (and can't do - I haven't figured out how to dim the tach). PCM6's lighting controls, though, are easier to use IMO. Plus, PCM6 has at least one new trick up its sleeve that will make all you PCM5 users out there jealous.

Ambient Lighting

To access the ambient lighting controls, go to the Home screen and click on either Vehicle icon:



In the Vehicle screen that appears, select the Comfort menu and then Ambient Lighting. When you do, you will get the following Ambient lighting screens (the second screen below is just a scroll-down of the various options shown on the left):




As you can see in the above two screens, you can (1) turn the ambient lights on or off (the lights above the rearview mirror), (2) adjust the brightness of all the ambient lights in the car overall, (3) adjust the brightness of individual ones of the ambient lights such as the doors, cupholder, footwell, if you don't want them to all be at the same brightness level set in the Overall setting), and (4) select the color of the ambient lighting above the rearview mirror. For instance, I set the ambient lighting overall to be 70% by clicking on the Overall brightness control, which gave me the following screen (sorry about the distortion; bad photo but you get the idea):



All of the foregoing could be done in PCM5 as Schnave documents in his posts. But here is where PCM6 adds a new trick that PCM5 does not have. In the first of the above three screens, you’ll see in the Color control I selected the color of the ambient lights to be Dynamic. I did this by clicking on Color and then selecting Dynamic as the desired color, as shown below:



The Dynamic color option, not available in PCM5, causes the color of the ambient light above the rearview mirror to change automatically based (I believe) on the dominant color of whatever album cover is shown in the PCM for whatever music is playing. Dynamic color is, IMO, utterly useless. But it is fun (at first).

Center Display, Instrument Cluster, and Additional Instrument
To adjust the brightness of the PCM itself, as well as that of the instrument cluster (except the tach - I'm still trying to figure that out) and the dashboard clock (split timer, if you have Sport Chrono), go back to the Home screen and select Settings:



When you do, you get this Settings screen on which you should select Displays as shown:



After you select Displays, you get this screen from which you can select Center display (PCM), Instrument cluster, or the Additional instrument:



If you select Center display as shown above, you get this screen from which you can select to adjust the Brightness of the PCM screen:



Upon selecting Brightness as shown above, you get this screen on which you can adjust the brightness of the PCM from +5 to -5. I set the PCM's brightness to -5 because the screen is too bright for me at night. (I’d reduce the brightness more if I could, but that’s not possible without adding tinting film to the display):



To adjust the instrument cluster’s brightness (except the tach), back out to the Display settings screen and this time click on Instrument cluster:



When you do, you get this screen:



In the above screen, if you select Brightness you get the following screen from which you can adjust the brightness of the instrument cluster from +5 to -5 (don’t be fooled by the illustration showing the tach brightness also being adjustable here; it’s not):



Finally, if you back out again to the Display settings screen you can select Additional instrument:



When you do, you get the following display on which you can now select Brightness as shown:



When you click on Brightness as shown above, you get the following display, from which I set the brightness of the dash-mounted clock/stop watch to 0 because the display (in particular, the small digital clock in the display that you get with Sport Chrono) is too faint to be easily seen in daylight:



Interior Lights

Finally, it’s possible to adjust the brightness and timing of the interior lights that illuminate when you open the doors and/or shut off the engine and exit. To access this setting, go back to the Home screen, select Settings again, and then scroll down in the displayed Settings screen until you see Vehicle (NOT to be confused with the Vehicle icon in the Home screen):



When you select Vehicle in Settings, you get this screen on which you can select Light and visibility:



Selecting Light and visibility as shown above produces this screen on which you can select Interior lighting:



Selecting Interior lighting produces the following screen, where you can select to adjust Brightness:



Upon selecting brightness above, you get the following screen that allows you to adjust brightness (which I set to 50%):

_______________________________________________________

And that, pretty much, is it. Having used PCM5 in my 2019 Cayenne for a few years and now having PCM6 in my new 2022, I find it easier to access and adjust the brightness settings in PCM6. Others, though, may have different views about that. There is one thing, though, I’m sure we can all agree on: the new Dynamic ambient lighting feature in PCM6 is reason enough to trade in your PCM5 Cayenne for a 2022! 😊

Schnave

^^^ Great post, LSR! Lots of pictures and details.

What you said: “The Dynamic color option, not available in PCM5, causes the color of the ambient light above the rearview mirror to change automatically based (I believe) on the dominant color of whatever album cover is shown in the PCM for whatever music is playing.”

What my flash-backing brain thinks: Lights on the ceiling that change color to the music and reflect off the mirror? Far out. I can dig it!

LSR

LOL! I wish.

jhellow

Just picked up our 22’ e-hybrid a few days ago. This was super helpful! Thanks a bunch.

23109vc

Does a 2021 have dynamic?

Schnave

2019-2021 Cayennes have PCM5 — therefore, no disco lights to get your groove on.

2022+ models have PCM6 equipped with the Dynamic Color setting.