You are correct regarding the illumination: when you turn the lights on it dims the buttons and screen on the head unit. It is not controlled by the dimmer dial, the head unit only accepts 12v (the OEM dimmer dial varies the voltage, but on a seperate line). That head unit should have three levels of "dim-ness" to choose from, so you can experiment with it to get it as close to the factory illumination as possible.

You shouldn't need to up the fuse rating. I have not tried the rear wiper yet, but I'll check it out sometime today. The head unit is not putting much of a load on the switched 12v line, it is only using it as an on/off signal. The real load is coming off the constant 12v line. If you look at the Alpine harness, you'll see that the constant 12v line is approx. 12 gauge, while the switched 12v is 18 or 20 ga. It should only be drawing a fraction of an amp.

I think I am calling the connector I used the wrong thing. It is not a T-tap, it's actually a scotch lock. I just realized this as I was trying to find a pic. Sorry about that. It is a small, two barrel connector. One barrel is open on the side so you can slip it over the OEM wire, the other side is closed and you slide the head unit wire into it. There is a metal blade that you clamp down that bridges the two wires. You can get a pack of them at any auto parts store (or Wal-Mart most likely) for about $3. Here's a pic:

http://www.midterminc.com/media/5602w.gif

As far as your question about the 9855, let me look into it. It's been probably 6 months since I had mine so I'm not positive. I'll look it up and see if I remember what's what.

Hopefully I am posting coherently, I've been awake way too long and I've still got a class to go to from 5:45-8:30pm. If anything's not clear, let me know and I'll try to clarify.

 

Rear wiper works fine. Wouldn't you know it, after I posted I went to class and it was raining! Perfect oppurtunity.

 

I appreciate all the feedback. Maybe once this is all hammered out we can move this to the newbie thread.

 

You know, I've got to take my HU back out sooner or later to hook up my Sirius. I could take some pics and make a legit write-up...

 

If you have the time to do it then I think it would be very appreciated. With the growing popularity of this vehicle, this topic is bound to keep coming up.

 

Well I received my Ai-Net cable yesterday, and it is about a foot too short![:@] Now I'm gonna have to send it back and pay $10 more for another 3 feet. Pfft. I was all excited too for my first write up. Can anyone tell me the best way to host pics and embed them into the forum so I've got all my ducks in a row when I finally get this going? Thanks!