hardwire a Valentine one.. I KNOW there is another thread

[CallipNCSUsaab]

I know, sorry I need MORE DETAIL..

before I go openeing up my lights..

cutting wires..

etc.

PLEASE, someone help me here in GREAT DETAIL.

I HATE using my ashtray lighter for power.. HATE IT!!!

PA LEASE!!!!!! I would almost pay for DETAILED instructions down to the precise cut, haha

[Viscouse]

T'ain't no thang, bro, jes check the FAQ. It's in there.

Any more questions, let me know...
I did this mod.

[CallipNCSUsaab]

^ ha, thanks for the encouragement.

cut off the end of the accessory chord and using a voltmeter find a switched source and just splice and connect, i'll post some pics under the covering later.

what accesory chord? And the wires that came with the V1 for a hardwire have what are similar to phone jack plugs?

later on it said to cut the red and green wires... red being hot.

dude.. please explain what EXACTLY needs to be done since you have already done this. I have major inhibitions with cutting a wire in this car.. and I wont do it unless I know EXACTLY what to cut, what to attach, etc.

Err.. I am not trying to be ignorant/rude... just cautious, please post if you can help. I want to do this this weekend!

[Viscouse]

I'll do a step by step a little later today...

with pix

[CallipNCSUsaab]

^ haha, whats your address, checks in the mail haha

[Viscouse]

Well, give this a try. Probably should mention this is with ann autodimming mirror. No gaurantees, but there you go...

Read fully before actually doing things, wear safety goggles, pull an electrician's license etc etc etc (kidding)...

Step 1: Remove the covers.
-Remove cover 1 by prying the bottom edge down. It will swing, then kinda fall off. This is designed to come off, and is described in the Manual somewhere for how to manually close your sunroof or something.
-Remove cover 2 by kinda pulling off. It comes off pretty easy.
-Remove cover 3. There are 2 Torx size 20 screws. Unscrew them (indicated where the arrows are). Then, gently pry it off as well. Note how it went in. There are 4, uh, teeth that will have to go in specific places when you put it back together.


Step 2: The wire harness that has the wires we want is clipped into the white mounting plate. It's a heck of a lot easier to work with if it's detached. So gently squeeze the black prongs together & push it through the hole. Fish it out from the top, towards the mirror mount.


From here on, we get electrical. There are several ways to get to the wires you need. The general idea is that the red wire provides switched (functional only when the car is "ON" or running) & black provides ground. You can cut & solder the wires, or use T-taps (from Radio Shack) to splice into the wires. If you haven't soldered before, I ain't teaching you by words alone. Use T-taps, but read the instructions as I've never used em. Sorry.

Safety first. If you feel you need to disconnect the battery before messing electrically, go for it. Grab a voltmeter & measure across the red & black wires. You should get 15 Volts (I think). Just to check.

The 2 arrows in the picture below point to the unwanted bundle (green, blue & gray) and the desired bundle (red & black).

*Before you go further, please be comfortable with splicing as described above, cause going further may render your $400 hunk of state of the art electronics into a lifeless cat toy*


Step 3: Take the power cord of your radar detector (or whatever else you want to hardwire) and cut the end off & strip the wires to reveal 2 bare wire. Use a wire stripper, or scissors/teeth/fingernails (careful not to strip so much that you get some of the strands of wire).

Step 4: Temporarily attach one of the leads to a bare spot of the red wire, and the other lead to the black wire. How you do this depends on how you splice them together. This is to test if you got them on the right wires. Get power to the car & put the key in the "ON" position. It should fire up. If not, turn off, switch the leads & try again.

Step 5: Once you got them in the right place, permanently splice together. Make sure there are NO bare wires showing anywhere. Wrap with electrical tape if required.

Step 6: Fish the other end of the cord through the roof & down by the far front edge of the roof, or however looks/works best for you depending where you mount the detector.

Step 7: Working backwards, re-assemble everything, so it looks like no one ever went in there & messed around.

Hope this helps.

[CallipNCSUsaab]

wow... that is the best/most helpful post i have ever seen on here.. you should be proud. Tomorrow I will have this done.

[ze]

I said it once and I'll say it again... Viscouse is the man!

I don't think I've ever seen a more detailed and helpful write-up...

[Abbott-9-3]

I paid £50 to have an electrial engineer install a Snooper

[ze]

By the way, who are the mods here? Someone should put this thread in the FAQ.

[CallipNCSUsaab]

^^ yes they should...

dude, thanks again. THIS WAS THE BEST THREAD I HAVE EVER READ ON HERE!!

[ze]

Well just like me, I ran into a problem. I think that you probably have the autodimming mirror. Well I don't and that harness in my car doesn't even have anything connected to it!

The back half has a red, yellow, and black wire. I'm guessing that red will work for power and black will work for ground but I'm not touching anything until I can buy a voltage meter tomorrow.

I always find a way to have problems...

[Viscouse]

Yeah, it's an autodumming mirror.

You're probably right about the red & black, but good for you for waiting till you can find out for sure by checking w/a voltmeter!

[ze]

Originally Posted by Viscouse

Yeah, it's an autodumming mirror.

You're probably right about the red & black, but good for you for waiting till you can find out for sure by checking w/a voltmeter!

I'm not known to wait for things but I figure it's a new car so I shouldn't destroy it just yet... :wink:

[cyberkatis]

Hey ze what's going on? Did you get the thing put in or not?

Let me know!!

Chris.

PS. We all want to know.

BTW- hail NJ, Im from Morristown!!

[slickwilly]

Viscouse - geez man....can you be a little more specific w/ your instructions?? :wink:

Nice effort!! Greatly appreciated!!!!

[CallipNCSUsaab]

if someone wants to hardwire this thread is def. the best to follow... I would recommend soldering the wires as I could not get the taps to work.

[Viscouse]

Sorry...part of my job entails writing work instructions for line operators in an assembly factory.

Jes habit I guess.

[MarkJ]

Viscouse-

You are the man! Thanks for the great instructions, they worked like a charm 8)

-Mark

[Viscouse]

Thanks! 8)