Dash Illumination Failure. Help Please.
 

I'm new to this board. Did a search to see if I could come up with an answer but came up empty.
I have a 1999 Protege ES. After installing a new stereo, I noticed the dash dimmer died. I thought I blew a fuse but can't find a fuse that controls the dimmer (in the manual). Maybe I blew the dimmer lightbulb. It must be a hassle to replace. I am not mechanically inclined but would hate to bring the car to the dealer. Anyone have a similar problem? Thanks.

Yeah, I installed it myself but pulled it after I could not get a nasty hummmm to go away. Don't get me started on that. The original radio was put back in and there are no lose wires.
I'll check all the fuses but the manual makes no reference to a specific dimmer fuse. Wish me luck.

Not familiar with your specific car, but also not aware of any Mazda with a "dimmer fuse."

The lighting has +12 volts applied to one side, and the dimming is accomplished by an electronic circuit which determines how "close to ground" (electrically) the other side of the lights are.

If you have no dash lights at all, you can test your dimmer by shorting the wire which controls the lights to ground - If the lights come on, likely you've blown the dimmer module - Easy to do if you put +12 somewhere it doesn't belong while doing a radio install.

Don

This happend to me once, on a chevy. When I pulled the power wire from the battery through the firewall I accidently broke a wire going through the firewall. Take a look there to check if any wires were broke. The hum you were getting is probably from something shorting to a ground.