This DIY Mounts your Radar Detector to the left of the speedometer!
I hate wires around my car, I just like everything to be clean and have a clean install....
NO NEED to tap any wires. 100% reversible with no tracking to modification. The radar also turns off when you remove the key.
-Just uses an available fuse circuit.
Just like all other DIY posts- YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE. I am NOT responsible for anything that may go wrong.
*requires some simple electrical know how*
Required Items: (some are optional*)
- Flat Screw driver or Pry Tool
- Crimper
- Wire Cutter
- Electrical Tape/Heat Shrink Wrap -lighter/something to melt it
- Fish Wire*
- Soldering Iron* & Flux*
- Add a fuse (purchased from autozone for $6.99)
- Two Extra Fuses
- Volt Meter
STEP 1:
Pry Open your Tweeter Cover (just slide the pry tool or screw driver in and pull up toward windshield)
This opens up a hole to pull or drop the hardwire directly down to run to the fuse box.
(didn't take a picture of this, but this is how it should look. I did skip to step 3 in this picture by already showing the wire fish procedure)
STEP 2:
Remove the kick plate installed underneath the steering wheel (above the gas and brake pedal)
^^ not removed^^
To remove untwist the little knob (turn about 90 deg). Pull the cover down and out toward you.
STEP 3:
(yes the image is the same as STEP 1)
Wire fish- Send a wire down to pull up your hardwire.
(yes I did use a 22 gauge speaker wire - and it did work well)
I found this easier because the tip was already attached to the hardwire.
Send the wire down until you can see/grab it from the kick pannel.
^^ This is the wire fish. The view is from the kick plate (fuse box is positioned on the lower left of the picture) ^^
^^ Tied the tip of the radar hard wire to the wire fish (tie tight so it does not disconnect while pulling up)^^
^^ Success of fishing the wire up^^
STEP 4:
After success of pulling the wire up....
Leave about 2-3 inches of wire exposed.
Close the tweeter cover -Have the wire come out of the left toward the A-Pillar
STEP 5:
This is the most complex part of all...
At this point you need to know which wire will be positive and negative.
I did this by checking the original 12v wire with a volt meter.
Once you identify the Positive (+) and Negative (-) 12v wires you are ready to begin electrical.
This is the Add a Fuse part I purchased. I like this because it does not require any wire tapping.
A crimping adapter was already attached to the add-a-fuse. I cut this off because I rather solder it.
Optional: Soldering
- or use the crimping adapter
Before I twisted the wires together I slid on a heat shrink tube to insulate my connection.
Solder the wires together if you wish! -Then slide on the tube and apply heat to shrink it.
STEP 6:
Negative hard wire connection:
Optional: The wire on the left is the negative. I added a U shaped connection so I can slide it on the ground bolt.- or you can just strip the insulation off and wrap it around the ground bolt.
Here is the bolt I keep talking about. This has a negative property to it: It is located on the fuse box. The bolt is to the right of it:
Attach the negative wire to the bolt. Either wrap the wire around the bolt or use the u-Shaped connection.
STEP 7:
Connect the Positive wire to the fuse box:
- At this point you are ready to insert your add-a-fuse.
You have two options:
- Pull a fuse from anywhere and place the add-a-fuse in it.
- Find an empty spot and plug it in there
I added the fuse in an empty slot (slot # 30)
This is what it should look like once your done:
STEP 8:
Test the power!
Ensure that the procedure you did has the correct polarities. -Use a volt meter.
STEP 9:
Clean up your wiring if you have an extended length:
YOUR ALL DONE!
Enjoy your clean reversible hard wire radar installation...
