Alright I just read up on an post about hard wiring a radar detector and Im also very bored so ill put a how to in here for you guys

1. Place the radar in you desired location. ( I sugguest the higher the better. So try to put it next to your rear view mirror. So it will be able to catch radar at further distances. Also with lidar/ laser your screwed either way so it doest matter. Also w/ lidar I asked my teacher about this who is a state cop and they aim at the center mass of the car, not the front liscence plate like people say.)

2. Now that the radar is in place have the wire also attached to it .

3. You now will want to take off the passenger side A Pillar.

4. Run the wire all the way from the top where you tucked it under the roof lining to the top of the A pillar. Run the wire down the a pillar and your going to want to take off the side panel ( you will have to open your door for this). Put the wire through the panel adn then run it under the front passenger air bag all the way to the center console by the fuses.

5. Undo the fuse box on the passenger side and also lift up on the center consoles where the Shifter is, E-brake handle and finally the rear cup holders. The rear cup holders come out first then the e-brake then the plastic around the shifter.

6. now that the wire is all the way down their you have 2 opitions.
1. is that if used to plug into a cigeretge lights just snip that part off and now you will have 2 wires. a postive + and a negavite-
2. if you have a valentine one radar they come w/ a direct-wire power adapter. Just take that and put it on a the red wire coming from the cigar lighter. and then ground the black wire on a bolt that is holding down the e-brake or something like that. You will see many.

7. if you had the cigar lighter and had to cut the end of it off find out what wire is the postive + and negative-. then just splice those wires into the cigar plug wires making sure postive is w/ the red and negative is w/ the black.

BE SURE TO DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY SO YOU DONT BLOW A FUSE OR SHOCK YOURSELF CUZ I HAVE LOL.

8. This will give your radar constant power so when the car is off the radear can still be on.


This is how i had mine installed w/ my valentine one and trust me. I have left my radar on over night plenty of times and I have never drained my battery. So dont be too worried about that.

if their is any questions feel free to post them down here so others can see.

Enjoy

 

Ok here's my issue. I bought the passport escort hardwire smartcord.. I wired it in coming down the drivers side and there's no way the power lines can make it to any cigarette lighter. I placed the little box right by my boost guage. It's the only really good place to put it, I'm a neat freak when it comes to wiring. And I got them nice and tucked away real professional like. Just cant figure out where to tap the damn thing in. I really dont want to have it on all the time, and i just wanna splice into something that turns on when the car turns on. Ne ideas other than the cigarette lighter?

 

I ran my wire right to the sunroof switch behind the mirror. Last car I wired it to one of the mirror lights.

 

The only idea i have is to either tap it into the trunk relase button. But that power is a constant.

Another idea maybe to tape it into the dimmer switch. Im not sure how that would work out or not but their has to be be some sort of power in their. I only say this cuz that is the button on the left hand side in the car on that crosse panle thingy. But im not sure if it would interfer w/ the other power. and also i believe thats on when the cars on. Cuz when its off you cant control the instrument cluster display lights which that one would be.

 

Thanks for the how to... I ended up going to the fuse box. My powercord for the smartcord was to short to reach the fuse box or the cigarette lighter. I bought some 16 guage wire, a pack of 16 guage butt connectors, and a fuse jump. Ran the extension on the wire to the fuse box, unplugged the battery, placed the fuse jump into an empty slot. It turns off when the car is off and turns on when the car is on. It's a beautiful thing......

 

You guys could always run a positve and negative wire from the battery, putin a in-line fuse and install a switch so you can turn it on and off. Thats what im gona do. Just a thought for you guys that can't find a power source or is worried about leaving ur detector on.

later

 

yah but hooking directly to the batter isn't always a good thing either. More fault for something bad to happen to the detector later on. I know it's got a fuse in the middle but fuses don't always cover your ass.

 

Install your detector center lower glass,hovering over the dashboard but above your wipers and hood. Run the wire in the crack in the dashboard over to the boost guage then down into the dash. Splice the red wire int the solid grey fog light switch wire. Gound out the other wire on one of the bolts behind the dash. You cant mess this up it is very easy. Your detector turns on when the key is on and turns off when the key is off. It does not matter if your fog lights are on or off. The radar detector puls so little power that it doesn't bother your fog lights.

 

is that how u did yours bc thats sounds good to me. i want mine to turn on when the car is on and off when its off. i dunno id the fog lights have constant power tho. lemme know if thats how u did it bc i might do it this way

 

Yah I ran my **** two days ago works great. Pull the side pannel off near the door hinges. then take the pannel out where the trunk release is then pull the grey pannel out with the two light switches on it. There are three wires going into the fog light switch. The use the solid grey wire on on the top right side of the connector. When the key is on there is constant power to the switch. 10 min install. Be carefull not to scratch you pannels though.

 

Do you have any pics?

I bought my Valentine 1 this past Saturday and had it overnighted so I plan on getting it Tuesday. I want to hardwire it into my car as soon as possible.

-thanks

EDIT:
Yeah I was just on an STI site and they were hardwiring their Valentine's into the mirrors power source. This seems like an easier way to me, but I want to see all of the ways first before I do anything.

 

the mirror power is a good place. I think the valentine works just as good up high. and it is out of the way. No one can see it. verry sneeky.

 

Valentine Huh? I'm using a Cobra... I hear these Valentine's are pretty damn good... I need to investigate... and hardwire my current! Good Write Up... Pics would help the Stupid... but they are not needed.

 

some food for thought the higher the detector the better range you get for k,KA bands the lower the detector the better for laser bands

 

thanks guys good thread, now i can go hard wire my valentine

 

So just cut the a/c adaptor cord and splice into the fog light wire? I am not very familiar with wiring- so just cut power wire, twist together with fog light wire, cap off, and then ground the other wire? Is this right?

 

Run the wiring through your headliner and down through the A-pillar. Ground out your negative wire on a bolt inside/under the dash, and run the positive wire to you fusebox. Then push it in the slot with your CD players fuse. When you turn your key on, the radio and radar comes on. When you shut the car off, the radar and the radio shuts off.

 

Is the power on the mirror lights enough?? There are 3 wires, 2 black 1 white, the backs are ground??? Any input?

 

Mine is mounted low on the windshield, I ran the wires under the front plastic piece of the dash along to the drivers side, tucked them into the weatherstriping along the side of the dash, then under the steering column up to the display in front of the tack, then ran the power wire back down under the steering column behind the center console and put a "add-a-circuit" on and pluged it into the radio fuse. It turns on and off with the car...i love it.

 

I did this the same way but you coud also take off your head liner and run the positive to the 12v power for your dome BEFORE the switch - and then ground it some where else - this way it is closer.

 

I just added one of these http://www.tessco.com/products/displ...06&eventPage=1 into the sunroof location on the fuse block. I use it to turn on amps but same theory, only on when car is on and it doesn't turn off until you open the door. Also good for aftermarket decks or anything else you want acc power for. It isolates it from the other circuit so as long as both circuits don't exceed 30amps combined (I think) you should be good.

 

if you run it to your cigarette lighter that would be on all the time, becuase if you turn the car off the cigarette lighters are still on, i charge my phone all the time when my car is off.

 

I solved the problem by going straight to the fuse box and using a fuse jumper. It's on when the car is, and off when the car is off.

 

I solved this by mounting a switch on the neg wire in the change box - works nice and gives me extra switches

 

What I did was run the wire down the side of the dash by the driver side a-pillar, across to the fuse panel and jumped the sunroof fuse. The sunroof is powered anytime the ignition is turned to ACC or until the drivers side door is opened if the key is in the OFF position. Thus making my radar on whenever the interior of the car has power!