Radar Detector in-line install question
 

I bought a kit from Best Buy to hard wire my Passport radar detector to the electrical system so I do not have to use the cigarette lighter (causes interference with the stereo antenna) and have the cord in the way.

Question is does anyone have recommendations or experience in where to clip in the power line? They recommend attaching to wire 14 to 18 gauge. The recommend a "switched" circuit of the vehicle. I would think this would be ignition or stereo power or something like that but am not sure.

I would like to try to avoid one of the commonly lamented previous owner hack jobs.

thanks

erik

you can probably get away with taking power from the interior light/ ciggy lighter circuit. If you want, you can run a separate wire to the underside of the fuse panel, back out one of the screws, and insert a new wire. Run it through one of the many rubber grommets to the passenger compartment on the driver's side, and up under the dash.

For future reference, I have had luck making my own hard wire adaptor by filing the chrome off of a cigarette lighter adaptor, and soldering on some wire to the positive and negative contacts. Crimp new connectors to the wire, and you are set. This will give you the correct reduction to the right milliamp rating to safely power your sat radio, gps, radar detector, etc.

rusnak: Wouldn't tapping off the cigarette lighter circuit have the same effects as just plugging it in?

I hardwired my V1 off the radio "hot" wire. It's switched power.

Hi Steve:

I'm not sure what you mean by "same effect". The cig lighter circuit is not used very much, unlike the radio.

The original question was in regards to hard wiring the setup, and freeing up the cig lighter socket. I did not say go through the socket, I recommended going back to the fuse panel with your own 14 or 18 ga wire, which is pretty thin. You want to reduce the power down to the correct milliamp rating, so you don't blow out whatever device you are using.

Properly done: back to the fuse block.

Best,

So would I run a line from the fuse for the stereo or cigarette lighter or would it matter if it was from the fuse block? I would assume I would still need to have a "switched" fuse from the block.

Working on the fuse block should I unplug the battery? And I assume I would want some kind of covered or shielded wire to run from the block into the cabin?

Dorschman,

I think Doyle and Steve should probably advise you on this too. If you pull the cover off of the fuse panel in the front trunk, find the fuse for either the radio or the cigarette lighter. If you touch these fuses with a circuit tester, you will find that there is no power to them with the ignition switch in the off position. These circuits are "switched" in other words.

If you look at the bottom of the fuses, you'll see little blocks with screws in them. There is space to unscrew one of these screws, and insert a new wire. This wire can be threaded through on of the many holes that goes to the dash. I'd look for one that offers a grommet, or some soft conduit that won't cut or chafe the wire. This is now your accessory power that you can use to run your radar detector, or even a second cigarette lighter socket. Find a good solid metal member under the dash, and this is your ground point for a ground wire. Now you should be set to power up. Check with a multimeter and you should get at least 12-13 volts.

As steve pointed out, you can run off the radio circuit or any other non essential circuit. I'd avoid the headlight, fuel, backuplight, etc circuits. You don't want to accidentally overload or short these.

You can't actually change voltage or (for all intents and purposes) amperage by changing the gauge of wire used. Not with the distances involved in a car at least. The garden hose illustration is not particularly accurate. When choosing wire you want to make sure the wire gauge is large enough to safely support the load but not so large as to add unnecessary weight and create a possible fire hazard if the wire were to be grounded. A larger wire will support more wattage before it's destroyed and so there is more potential to start a fire. Note, this is only when we are talking about overloading the wire. Until the wire is utterly overloaded it does not play a role in determining voltage or amperage.

Voltage, and thus amperage, will not change no matter what the gauge until the wire is so hot that its resistance changes appreciably due to temperature. Or to put it another way: Voltage and overall circuit resistance determine current.

I wasn't saying that the wire reduces amperage. The adaptor reduces amperage. I was saying you can solder wire onto the adaptor contacts after filing off the chrome......

Oh I see - I'd imagine there are some that don't but I've hardwired a few of them that ran off 12v - I'd be pretty bummed out if I got one that didn't - keeping an adapter under the dash is a bit much for my taste.

Ok then let me say it this way.

Go ahead and run straight 12v to your radar detector, or cell phone, or gps with no resistor, no adaptor. You'll burn it up. The first thing to go will be the illumination.

Or, you can chose to not hardwire and use the cig lighter.

Or, you can go ahead and hardwire but you'll need to reduce the amperage, which is what I was talking about and also is the original thread topic.

when i got my car there was what looked like an original blaupunkt stereo amplifer under the passenger side foot area...i got power for my radar detector off of that

I was discussing his concern about the radio interferance:

My 1st generation Passport is hard wired to the run circuit. I mounted the power supply up under the dash near the ignition switch. The power supply steps the voltage down to 5 volts as I recall...I installed it 20 years ago or so. I start the car the radar detector comes on. I turn the car off the detector turns off. Not rocket science, but useful.

Erik:
What does "kit" mean?
What's included?
Is that just a wire?
With in-line fuse?
Plus visor-clip?
Or?

What type Passport?
8500x50?
Or?

After the hard wire connection is made, how will you attach the detector?
Still with suction cups?
Or visor clip?

I would be suprised if Passport didn't include an inline fuse with the hardwire kit. I know that my V1 came with a fuse in the lighter adapter as well as an inline fuse for hardwiring.

Also, my V1 draws 425 mA maximum and 225 mA typically, so I think any of the switched power sources should be able to handle it. Again, I imagine the Passport has similar figures.

Gunter-

What does "kit" mean?- One unit that features a small display box at one end (mute button and lights for alert and on), two cords running from the box- one to the radar detector (plugs into detector with what looks like a phone jack). Other wire from the display box ends in a round loop for ground and a male spade attachment for power. Kit comes with a 3M connector that appears to just be an easy way to splice into an existing power wire and then just attach the connector to the male spade. Power wire can be detached from connector but connector should not ever be removed from wire it is attached to initially.
Inline the power wire has a white piece of plastic that may have a fuse in it. Called the company and it is an inline fuse on the hot lead.



What type Passport?- Escort Solo S2

After the hard wire connection is made, how will you attach the detector?
Still with suction cups? Or visor clip? Not sure- have not played around with location yet. Not likely the visor because I use a dash sun protector that needs the visors to hold it in the day time. I was thinking of trying to run the power wire to the detector along the upper windshield line and have it mount above or just below the rear view mirror.

The power line to the amp (mine has an old ADS amp in the passenger footwell) sounds nice so I do not have to splice any wires that were stock with the car.

erik