# Voyage Auto Brightness



## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

I've seen the thread before but now couldn't find it.

I am confused by the auto-brightness.  It doesn't seem to work properly, despite setting my preferences (meaning, what it should be at dark rooms, and what it should be for daytime reading).  I thought that a manual override will kind of set the upper and lower boundaries for auto-brightness - but for some reason, my Voyage cannot decide on it now.  Is the best route to just turn off auto brightness?

Apologies if this should be merged with some other thread - please feel free to do so, if needed.


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

I had my auto brightness set for 12 to 24, but I just set it to 14 in a darker room and now it goes from 14 to 24.  Couple things:

1. Be aware when auto adjust takes place, it happens slowly over a period of 30 seconds or more
2. If you have auto brightness on and you are in a darker room, be sure to only adjust the lower setting.  And in a brighter room, be sure to only adjust the higher setting.  You cannot have a higher darkroom and lower bright room setting.  If you do that even by accident, the Voyage will get confused and may not auto adjust any longer.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

CAR has described what I experience as well . . . . I'm not sure what the initial default settings are, but once you've manually adjusted your 'bright room' and 'dark room' settings, that's what the 'auto brightness' uses as max and min.

To best get the 'dark room' setting, I suggest letting it adjust and then continue reading at least 5 to 10 minutes so your sure your EYES have adjusted too. The other night I was reading with a light in the bed and the hubster came to bed. Guy wanted to sleep -- and he wants it dark.   So I turned off the light. Within half a minute the screen noticeably darkened and my first thought was, "oh that's not bright enough -- must change it." But I resisted the urge and left it. . . . and after a few minutes of reading it no longer seemed too dim because my eyes had also adjusted to the overall lower light level. If you've left enough time for your eyes to adjust and it _still_ seems too dim, then you can adjust it up.

Same holds true, but in reverse, for setting the 'bright room' maximum, though I find it's not as critical. In other words, in bright light I can more easily tolerate fairly big differences in screen brightness -- or I don't even notice if the thing has adjusted based on the lighting.

Oh, and *be very careful you don't hold the device with a finger at the upper left corner!  * That's where the light sensor is and if you're covering it, it will never adjust properly! Had that happen to me once, too. Was in a fairly well lighted area and 'suddenly' (so it seemed to me) the screen went dark. "What? _What??"_ Then I realized where my finger was resting.  Moved it and the screen brightened again.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Great advice - clear and concise.  Thank you Ann and CAR.  I will try to recalibrate the settings tonight (which I temporarily turned off due to confusion).  Today I used by Kindle Touch on the train since it was raining, and left the Voyage at home.


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## krm0789 (Dec 21, 2010)

Mine isn't learning my preferences despite trying everything I've read. I do hope it's somehow still learning since this is frustrating! 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Auto brightness finally worked for me - now capped at 5-18. Thanks CAR and Ann.


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## alicepattinson (Jan 27, 2013)

If you don't like how auto brightness sets. maybe you can set your device to mid brightness.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

alicepattinson said:


> If you don't like how auto brightness sets. maybe you can set your device to mid brightness.


Note that there are two separate settings places.

The lightbulb in the menu bar on the home page lets you toggle auto brightness on and off.
There's also a setting in the settings menu under device options for 'screen light'. It lets yo toggle the 'nightlight' setting on and off.

I'm not actually sure what the difference is, though it says you can't do the nightlight thing unless you have auto brightness set. I _think_ it just lets the adjustment happen more gradually. Anyway, I have them both set and it works great -- maybe those of you for whom it doesn't seem to be working right, haven't got the nightlight thing set to ON?


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Note that there are two separate settings places.
> 
> The lightbulb in the menu bar on the home page lets you toggle auto brightness on and off.
> There's also a setting in the settings menu under device options for 'screen light'. It lets yo toggle the 'nightlight' setting on and off.
> ...


Hmmm... My nightlight feature has always been turned off, and my auto brightness works fine. But after thinking about this... on my first Voyage, I had turned on the nightlight and that's the one that would not auto adjust. Maybe because the auto adjust with the nightlight on, is so slow.... that it makes it easier to mis-adjust the min / max adjustments.

For anyone that the auto brightness is not working, try this.... Turn off the nightlight feature, then toggle the Auto brightness checkmark off then on. Keep the brightness adjustment bar open the whole time doing this adjustment. Put the Voyage under a bright light for two minutes, then adjust your max setting (example 22). Then cover your light sensor on the Voyage (upper left corner) with your thumb for two minutes. While covering your light sensor adjust your min setting (example 7). Hopefully this will help!


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## sandrahd (May 18, 2010)

I'm confused about adjusting the min and max for auto brightness.  Some of you say above to make sure you only adjust the min setting in a dark room, and ONLY adjust the max setting in a light room.  I have auto brightness on and the nightlight setting on, but I see only the one bar for adjusting the brightness.  How exactly do you adjust only one or the other?


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## CAR (Aug 1, 2010)

sandrahd said:


> I'm confused about adjusting the min and max for auto brightness. Some of you say above to make sure you only adjust the min setting in a dark room, and ONLY adjust the max setting in a light room. I have auto brightness on and the nightlight setting on, but I see only the one bar for adjusting the brightness. How exactly do you adjust only one or the other?


Hi sandrahd,

Sorry for the confusion. You use the same adjustment bar for both min and max adjustments.

When adjusting the max setting in a bright room, you use the higher numbers of the bar. (Example any numbers between 16 to 24)

When adjusting the min setting in a dark room, you use the lower numbers of the bar. (Example any numbers between 4 to 14)


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## sandrahd (May 18, 2010)

Thanks, CAR, that helps!


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I have a weird question about auto brightness feature. Normally it works well, but when I read under my bright reading lamp (a head light shining a couple of feet above my shoulder) in my reading chair, my Voyage lights up and then darkens every 15 minutes or so. Is this normal, or is my Voyage wonky? I don't know how to resolve this issue without having to turn on/off the auto brightness every time I'm in my reading chair (which also would be an annoyance). My reading light is consistently bright, and my Voyage isn't moving as I'm reasting it on the arm of the chair or I'm holding it with my arm resting on top of the arm rest. It's just odd as I'm not sure why it keeps going in and out the whole time I'm reading in the chair.

Tris


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I bet you that you're shading the light sensor with your body or head from time to time as you read. Probably don't even realize you're doing it.

Or you're sometimes accidentally resting a stray finger on the light sensor.


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

Ann,

That's the thing, I'm postively not. I always make sure my finger doesn't cover the sensor (the cover has an open hole so the sensor can adjust), and there isn't even a shadow on my Kindle. So it's just plain odd. I thought that it might be because it takes a while for the light sensor to adjust from when I'm walking around reading, but even after hours, it still goes in and out. It also did a wierd thing late last night as I read it in bed. Completely dark, and reading happily...until the Kindle went completely bright and then qucikly dark...and after 15-30 seconds it restarted itself. Wierd. The wifi wasn't on, and I had already updated my Kindle the day or so before. Now I'm getting a bit concerned. I've been trying to figure it all out logically, but so far no answers. I even thought it may have been a shadow on the sensor from the small hole cut out on the case...nope. Especially with a light being directly over the device.

Tris


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## sandrahd (May 18, 2010)

Tris said:


> It also did a wierd thing late last night as I read it in bed. Completely dark, and reading happily...until the Kindle went completely bright and then qucikly dark...and after 15-30 seconds it restarted itself.
> Tris


The same thing happened to me Sunday night while I was reading in bed. I'm not sure what happened, but it was only once.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

CAR said:


> 1. Be aware when auto adjust takes place, it happens slowly over a period of 30 seconds or more
> 2. If you have auto brightness on and you are in a darker room, be sure to only adjust the lower setting. And in a brighter room, be sure to only adjust the higher setting. You cannot have a higher darkroom and lower bright room setting. If you do that even by accident, the Voyage will get confused and may not auto adjust any longer.


Thanks for this.. I have been trying to adjust mine and couldn't figure out why it kept going back to the old levels.


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