Valentine V1 Hardwire Installation w/pics

This guy hardwired his V1 to his 05 Legacy using the center roof console with the sunroof controls and lights. [url]http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7931167&posted=1#post7931167[/url] EDIT::For convenience i'm just gonna repost Mrcoffee-atl's thread from NASIOC.COM [quote name='Mrcoffee-ATL from NASIOC.COM'] There was another guide to hardwiring the valentine 1 to an '04 legacy, but I figured i would share my expierence with the 05. With this setup described below, the V1 will turn off when the car is off. There are a few other things I discovered that might help those trying to do this so here goes! Tools you will need: 1 Flat head screwdriver 1 pair of pliers Voltmeter (optional but recommended) Wire cutters (again, optional but recommended) At this point It is recommended that you disconnect the battery from the car as it will ensure that you don't short something out. I did not do this, but I did this late at night and needed the light. * I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGED ELECTRONICS. THIS IS MEARLY A GUIDE* Step 1: Remove the light cover from the map light face. This can be done by inserting a flat head screwdriver into the side closest to the engine. Pop off one side and then the other and the whole piece should come right off. [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/firstangle.jpg[/img] Step 2: Unscrew the two screws that are now visible. They hold the map light panel onto the car. There are now two or three tabs that you will need to depress in order to remove the map light panel. [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/examplescrew.jpg[/img] Step 3: You should now see a mess of wires. The ones of interest to us are the only ones not wrapped in black tape/plastic. These are the wires that carry power to the auto dimming mirror. Take the vampire tap (the little blue piece that looks like an alligator) and place it around the blue wire. This is the positive terminal. Use the pliers to crimp it around the wire. MAKE SURE IT IS CENTERED. The wires in this part of the car are somewhat small and the vampire tap Valentine includes in the kit is somewhat large. It could be possible to completely break the wire if you are not careful. At this point you have a choice for grounding. You can go buy another vampire tap and connect it to the black wire, or you can connect the negative terminal of the hardwire kit to some grounded piece of metal. I did the second option but it took me some fussing. [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/openwithpanelvisable.jpg[/img] [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/insidenopanelvisable.jpg[/img] The V1 kit comes with a piece for attaching it to a screw in the body work for a ground. It is U-shaped and looks like the blue piece on the right in the picture below. For me, this did not fit and required lots of bending. I would recommend a second vampire tap to attach the hard wire kit to the black wire or go to radio shack and obtain a large O-shaped connector like the middle two in the picture below. If you do decide to put a new end piece on the hardwire kit, simply cut it off with the wire cutters and crimp on a new one. The lackey at Radioshack can do this for you if need be. [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/m64-407.jpg[/img] Step 4: If you did not use a second vampire tap, this part is going to be a little more difficult. Tuck the extra wire to one side and tape it in place so it does not rattle or move over the map lights and catch fire. If you have used a second vampire tap just screw in the unit and replace the clear plastic cover. If you are like me and did not want to make an extra trip to radio shack, bend the U-shaped connector for the ground around the large black screw that holds the map face in place. This is somewhat of a hack but it does seem to work for me. Choose a side to install the ground and put the screw through the map light face. Put your newly bent O-shaped connector on the other side and screw it in so that you can put the map face back in. To make this more clear, you are putting the O or U shaped connector for the ground above the plastic of the map light face, but below the body of the car. Replace the other screw and the clear plastic face. [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/examplescrew.jpg[/img] Step 5: Mounting the connector piece is up to you. I attached mine with the included velcro right over the rearview mirror. [img]http://mrcoffee.no-ip.org/nasioc/final.jpg[/img] I hope this has been helpful to some one. If nothing else it gives you a chance to see things before you start cutting.[/quote]

I hope no-one takes offense at this, but that looks very amateurish! The red and black wires could have been easily routed behind the headliner to the same area by hand. (The headliner isn't attached to anything along the front edge and can be pulled away a little bit) I can't tell, but it looks like the V1 fuse holder might have been cut off. (Even though that's not necessarily a big deal in reality, it's not professional.) If the person wanted to add a remote display or audio control later, it would have to be plugged in at the top of the windshield. This method is short-sighted in that respect. I really don't mean to be rude about this though. I'm sure it works fine and if it weren't for the red and black wires showing, I'd be less critical. Take a look at this thread to see how I feel it should be done. (Also see a short synopsis below) [i]The power adapter could/should be mounted near the fuse box. It's very easy to stuff the straight phone cord under the headliner and fairly easy to remove the A-pillar cover to route the wire down to the dash. (We are talking about 15 minutes of work here) I forget what circuit I wired mine to, but a test light can resolve that fairly quickly. (Everyone that's going to wire something up like this probably should have a test light since they only run a couple of bucks.) Mine also turns on/off with the car. [/i] [url="http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45568&postcount=22"]http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45568&postcount=22[/url] [url="http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45432&postcount=19"]http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45432&postcount=19[/url] [url="http://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45432&postcount=25"][/url] Here's the entire thread: [url="http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1840"]http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1840[/url]

Why not use the autodim as the power source....would have looked cleaner IMO... IBtehmovetotehinteriorforums

I'd bet there is enough room above the lights to mount the power box up there too. That would also look cleaner for those that can't/don't know how to work with 4 conductor phone wire.

I gotta admit, I'm not liking the looks of that install. I've been meaning to turn my attention to the install of mine, and I agree with Trent that - if you want to do it this way - it would make more sense to run the phone line down under the headliner, A pillar, etc. and then into the fuse box for the power. I still haven't figured whether I should tap a wire or what, but I've already run the phone line and that was easy.

No worries about offending anybody....the sight of those wires made me cringe too. Have there ever been any comparo's of Valentine vs. a K40? We did alot of custom installs of K40's in some performance cars....stealth installs where a cursory inspection wouldn't be noticed (they are illegal in VA, but the company had locations in MD so we handled cars that way). We re-wired the clock in an NSX to be the on/off and mode toggle....and it still displayed the time. All LED's were drilled into the instrument cluster between the gauges. I always wondered how they worked vs. a V1, as a K40 system ran $900 + install.

Good idea... bad install..... [img]http://www.columbusracing.com/ubb/graemlins/nonono.gif[/img]

You can mount the power box up in the roof. That is what I did. There is plenty of room up inside the headlining.

I guess I'm out of touch....what is a V1? I don't undertsand what was the purpose of this customization. Can somebody help this old man?

Bob, its a very expensive, but excellent radar detector.

[quote name='plunk10']Bob, its a very expensive, but excellent radar detector.[/QUOTE] Expensive is a relative term. It is not expensive if it works and the inexpensive ones don't work.

Bob N, A V1 or Valentine One is a dual horn and sensor radar detector built within a single titanium case. [url]http://www.valentine1.com/[/url] It's much less expensive than other dual horn and sensor units that come in three modules that need to be "permanently" installed in the car. It's probably the most expensive single box unit when compared with all the others that have single radar horns and laser sensor units.

Hi Bob, The guy who did this did this because he wanted to permanently wire his radar detector into his car to give it a permanent power source, and because he didn't want to use the lighter cord like people have done since the beginning of time :) It wasn't a very good job, BTW :lol: Personally, I would just use the lighter cord so I don't risk damaging my car. [quote name='Bob N']I guess I'm out of touch....what is a V1? I don't undertsand what was the purpose of this customization. Can somebody help this old man?[/QUOTE]

Hey now, this was my first time messing with this kind of thing and I have made some revisions to it. I moved the dual phone jack plug into the ceiling and ran the phone cord out of that. The only point of doing a write up on this was to let people who had no experience with this kind of thing have a little better idea of how to do it. I might update the how to guide that I wrote, but for some one with little electrical wiring experience and a fear of messing something up, you all are quite critical. I have had several people tell me they found the guide quite helpful, even if they did not go the same route as me. Having more information is always helpful when you are not quite sure how to go about hard wiring something. Having a digital camera to update the guide would be nice, so maybe i'll work on that in the coming weeks.

and i did not cut off the fuse btw, it is in the ceiling of the car. Kind of a pain in the ars to change, but I didn't see myself blowing it that often. Any suggestions to make this how to better would be more than welcome.

I look forward to seeing an updated guide, MrCoffee. I'm sorry about everyone's negative comments towards your install.

I did this w/ my V1 using the Homelink mirror powersupply and 2 vampire clips. I don't have the homelink mirror but the wires are still there. The 12Volt is the blue and yellow wire(green on homelink wire) and Black(middle wire of the 3) for the ground.

Here's where I mounted my Escort 8500 X50 remote

Did you take off the front faceplate or what? I kinda like that positioning. I don't plan on using the remote display, but if i did that would be an ideal place for it.

I took of the part around the shifter that includes the ashtray. You can tap into the power from the cigarette lighter from behind. Drill a hole through the plastic ashtray holder to put your wires through.

How did you end up running the wire for the detector itself? Up the A pillar and across the top right? That was more than I wanted to do, but it seems it would work well. Do you have pictures or instructions for removing the plastic around the shifter?

Nope. I ran the wire where the windshield meets the dash. If you want the best chance to detect laser you have to mount closer to the license plate. The higher you go the less chance you have to detect it. I'm not too concerned about radar from behind and I'll detect it in front of me fine. My detector is just above the windshield wipers.

I look forward to seeing an updated guide, MrCoffee. I'm sorry about everyone's negative comments towards your install.

Since I'm definitely one of the negative comment makers, I have to apologize. My intent was not so much to criticize MrCoffee but to point out that there was a neater way to do it without much more effort.

 

MrCoffee, if you find Jim1969's pictures interesting, check out these pictures where I did this install. I hadn't seen Jim1969's pictures yet!

I used trent's idea to mount mine. Trent pm'd me the instructions on how to do it a couple of months ago. I close the ashtray door too when I'm not using the radar.

Hey Jim1969, From the pic above it looked to me like your remote display was in the way of the door closing. Am I missing something? How are you able to close the door? Am I mistaken about how it looks in the picture? How do you like it after you've done all of that work? I've gotten to the point that I almost forget that the car didn't come from the factory that way! :)