Need wiring alernative for radar detector

[WICKEDSS]

There is a thread about what you asking about..........

[Jayhawk500]

It's been done! A little more work, but would be cleaner.


http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34844

[ClutchKargo]

Powerfreak,

I'm having a hard time getting the invisicord to work. When you say you used the connector end facing the floor is that the end on the mirror or the one on the roof?

I can't get power to my V1 and it's getting frustrating.

Thanks,
Clutch

[MrGood]

My dad did this with his V1 in his 07 Tundra.. I'm not sure how exactly..

[67 GTO]

Originally Posted by Li0nel1234

Are any of you putting in a gps? I have a little garmin but can't decide where I want to put it.
I was thinking about the A pillar. but then I will have to run the chord a ways under the dash and everythign to the cig lighter.
Anyone have any ideas?
Near the mirror is too much. There's not enough vision as it is.

I mounted my Garmin just above the air vent and hard wired it to the fuse box using a add-a-circuit and a in-line power adapter.

[POWERFREAK]

Originally Posted by ClutchKargo

Powerfreak,

I'm having a hard time getting the invisicord to work. When you say you used the connector end facing the floor is that the end on the mirror or the one on the roof?

I can't get power to my V1 and it's getting frustrating.

Thanks,
Clutch

it's the connector that's clipped onto the windshield. Plug into the bottom of that connector, the end that runs into the mirror.

[Nightspore68]

Getting the cover back on is proving difficult. I think it's because the negative invisacord probe won't go all the way into the harness connector - see how the black/green invisacord probe doesn't sink in as far as the yellow/red one? - so it juts out a bit and prevents the cover from fitting properly. I'm tempted to cut the invisacord negative probe or maybe cut a bit of the cover to leave room for the protrusion.

Powerfreak's wiring description was on the money. Red is positive and black (it's hard to see the white stripe) is negative. This is unswitched power, which is fine with me. I verified it's 12V, red positive, with a multimeter then with the detector itself.

I would recommend a 14" invisacord. Twelve isn't quite enough to mount the Valentine 1 to the right of the mirror and to the right of the dark area on the glass near the mirror.

[IMG][/IMG]

[snymat68]

Here are some pics of my setup.

I used 3M VHB clear double sided mounting tape to hold the radar detector bracket to the windshield. I bought a 3' roll of it at the hardware for a few bucks. Holds like crazy. Here's a link to a larger roll online (for reference).
http://www.amazon.com/3M-Heavy-Mount.../dp/B0016HGFXW

I went to Radio Shack and got a power jack tip to fit my detector. Made a short, custom cable and wired it into the power for the airbag indicator light. At first I tried tapping into the "always hot" side of the dome light power, but for some reason it wasn't enough juice to run the detector, so I tapped into the other wire for the indicator light (soldered and heat shrink for a good connection)

The Garmin GPS I mounted to the grey plastic trim on the dash. I bought a spare trim piece from the dealer parts department for $24 in case I ever want to put it back to stock. It required pressing the pin out of the mount to disassemble the suction cup mechanism. Then I cut the bottom of the mount straight across with my Dremel so that it rests on the black part of the dash to support the weight (see pic). Two 4-40 machine screws with washers and nuts hold it to the gray plastic. I wasn't concerned about cutting the GPS mount since all Garmin's use the same 17mm ball mount so it's easily replaceable.

As shown in the pic, I carved a small notch in the gray trim piece, again using the Dremel, for the power cord. I did not want to modify the power cord that came with the GPS so I routed it, behind the gray trim piece, to the right side of the dash, and through the last trim clip hole. This way it is completely concealed except behind the GPS itself.

This left me with a cigarette plug to plug in on the right end of the dash, where there is no power. If you remove the black plastic endpiece covers at either end of the dash you will see the vent ducts. Remove one bolt each, and they come right off, revealing a structural steel tube that runs from one side of the car to the other. I installed a fuse tap in the fuse block at the left end of the dash. I don't remember the number, but I chose one that turns on and off with the ignition, so that the GPS will follow suit.

I ran the power wire from the fuse tap through the steel pipe to the passenger side of the dash. ***BE SURE TO USE TAPE OR SOMETHING TO COVER/SMOOTH THE ENDS OF THE PIPE SO IT WON'T RUB THROUGH THE WIRE.*** I then mounted/wired a 3-way cigarette outlet under the dash above the passenger footwell (near the A pillar). This gave me somewhere to plug in the GPS and also gives me 2 additional outlets if ever needed for anything.

The install of both items is very clean and unobtrusive. The radar detector is barely noticeable behind the mirror, when viewed from the driver seat, and it's up high enough that you can hardly see it from the outside. It can see forward just under the black shade area of the windshield. It can see fairly well out of the rear window as well. The ideal location would have been below the mirror, but that was very in the way and blocked a lot of the windshield. This is a good alternative location in my book. The GPS is down out of the windshield as well, but still high enough to easily get a signal. Both are easily reachable without leaning forward at all.

Installed both in an afternoon. The worst part was gaining access to the dome light wiring. I think there is another thread about how to get into that so I won't go into detail here. Hope this gives some people some ideas!