advice needed from those with hardwired valetine ones

[bento]

i have a question regarding installation of the V1 in my car for hardwire. well two really.

1) I have an Autopower roll bar and i am thinking about mounting the v1 above the rear view mirro with the hard wire running along the passenger side by the visor. My question is: if i put the V1 here, do you think that its rearward vision would be impaired by the roll hoop of the rollbar? should I place it right under the mirror instead?

2) which wire did you guys link up to for the power? are you running it on the same power as the stereo?

thanks

david

[RJ Gilliam]

Just did this about 2 weeks ago, actually was pretty neat. I put mine under the mirror, and ran the phone cord up against the mirror and then tucked in into the rubber for the windshield, then down the right pillar. Went thru the glove box and the firewall and hooked it into the radio fuse. If you need pictures let me know. I also bought the consealed display and put that just above my turn signal. Works out great for me. No flashing lights up my my mirror.

I kept thinking about the blocked view etc, but once you use the V1 you will understand it capabilities better. The darn thing is like a frequency sniffer. It found cops on a run to Vegas from a mile away. You hear the noise, you slow down, look around and sure enought there's a bear.

Try to give it the best clear view for your situation.

Hope this helps.

[bento]

pics would be greatly appreciated. did you give any consideration to mounting the v1 above the mirror? are you still using the suction cups to hold it onto your windshield?

thanks,

db

[RJ Gilliam]

Send me a private message with your email address and I will forward you some pictures. And yes I stand corrected. It is ABOVE the mirror. Yes I use the suction cups because I remove it when the car is parked. All I do is unplug the phone cord and slide it off the holder.

[dean]

Hi
I built a holder for my V1 that holds it up against the headliner. The V1 still seems to work in all directions even up against the headliner above the mirror.
Dean

[bento]

what kind of adhesive would you suggest for running the wire along the headliner underneath the passenger mirror?

db

[Jgordon]

I'm debating this myself. I got it last week, and mounted it at the top of the windshield. the one question that I'm asking myself is about the tint band at the top of the windshield. Valentine's website says that the tint band can impair the thing's ability to work, and will detract from the sensitivity and range. I have it behind the tint right now, and I found that occasionally it would pick up long range radar, but this weekend, I passed a cop pulled over behind a car with his K band blaring, and the thing didn't pick it up until I was about 400 yards away from them. To tell you the truth, that did not inspire a whole lot of confidence, especially considering the legends that are told about this thing. I'm going to run it for a while below the mirror (and the tint) to see what the differences are before I hardwire it anywhere.

Has anyone thought about the rear brake light enclosure? I keep eyeing it as a possible mount, either to mount the V1 to it, or to modify it in some way (given enough space within it) to hold the V1. My only concern is that the V1 might be looking into the rear view mirror with that location.

Jared

[Gspin]

1. If you have added tint at the top of the windshield be certain it does not contain any metal, if so that will dimish any detectors range greatly.

2. If you can get the V-1 to fit into the rear brake light that should work fine. The field of view of the V-1 should be wide enough so that the rear view mirror isn't an issue. How are you going to handle the audio warning from the detector since it's in the rear of the car?


Gary

[Jgordon]

I haven't added any, but from an article on Valentine's website, it was my understanding that even the factory blue strip at the top of the windshield can impair performance. I know that there are several cars on the road that have a metallic tint (some gm extra fast defrost something) and that that can severely detract from the performance.

As for the top brake-light housing, I'd just get a remote display unit, which to my knowledge controls the audio. If I'm wrong, I'll have to rethink it, but some long cord and the remote display unit should take care of it. That way it's much more out of the way, in the eventuality that I do get pulled over. I still haven't taken off the brake-light housing to examine it, but I'll let you know what I find.

bento asked about adhesives, has anyone had any luck with a particular brand? For any interior wiring?

Jared

[MonkeyBoy]

I hardwired mine. Don't bother with adhesives, just lift up the windshield seal a bit an tuck it under. I think I wired it to the stereo circuit, but I just grabbed my voltmeter and tapped into the first wire I found that showed +12V in the accessory position only.