Marine Blue

For those of you running detectors, what do you all do about the power cord? The location of the cigarette lighter is awful on these cars if you want to actually use it for something other than lighting a cigarette. Do you guys all have wires running down the middle of your dash or have you come up with alternate solutions such as hard wire?

If you hard wired are you running through the fire wall into the fuse box or did you find another solution?

I'm about to buy a detector and I'm leaning towards the Solo S3 to eliminate the cord issue but I am not sure I want to give up the sensitivity of a corded detector.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

C_DirtyTwo

what about running it from the dome light, would that be possible or not enough volts?

xxaarraa

I did this long ago. Tapped the cigarette lighter socket and ran the wire across the steering column and up the headliner.

Wilsophia

I am doing the same as this !

Marine Blue

^^That looks like a good solution but would the added draw from a radar detector plus charging an iphone cause the fuse to blow?

JUAN CASAUS

+1 this is what I did this almost two years ago and I charge my phone all the time and have never had an issue with a blown fuse.

Marine Blue

Great, now I just need to find the disassembly procedure and I have my project for the holidays.

alboogiee

Dome light; I think it's the blue wire with a white stripe...been quite some years though. Search the CLK forum thread there's a DIY write up dated earlier than 08 with specific instructions.

AMG_Guy

It is SUPER easy to run the wire down to the glovebox on the passenger size and tap into power for the light in the glovebox. Took me all of 10 minutes to do mine.

pointman

Which color cable is it? And did you just use one of those 'tap a fuse' things? Thanks.

AMG_Guy

I used a Valentine1 hard wire kit. The light inside the glovebox pops right out. There are two wires going to it (positive and negative) you just tap your radar detector wires into that. The light will still work too when the glovebox is open.

Super simple.

JUAN CASAUS

But does that turn on and off with the ignition?

speed7

Got any pics of where you mount your V1? I was going to do the same thing but I like mine in the center of the window. Placement of the V1 anywhere else seems out of place. I wish I could go above and to the left of the rear view mirror. However it seems like the V1 is pointing to the left when you do that.

PS nice idea on the light within the glove box.

AMG_Guy

Yes it does.

You'll notice the light in the glovebox only comes on when the car/ignition is on and the glovebox is open. If you look closely at the light, you'll see it has the little button that is pushed in when you close the box so the light is off when you close it, but if you tap into the power from the cable your radar will work when the car is on and turn off when you turn off.

That's where I've wired all my Mercedes radar detectors. I've done it in 2 C32's (2002 and 2003), and I just did it on my 2006 CLS55 which was slightly more complicated since it has a different mechanism that cuts power when the glovebox is closed.

The C32 is really straight forward. If you pull out that light (it just pulls out) you'll see what I mean. And also, when you run the wire down the pillar with the passenger door open you'll see that side panel on the dash just pops off and you can run the wire in that way.

It's REALLY easy, I think easier than wiring to the overhead light.

I'd post pics if I had them, but don't, sorry!

speed7

Oh and check out the new add-ons they have for the V1.

SAVVY & V1connection

If I could find a place to mount the V1 permanently that is where my power source would be. So no need to pull power from anything. It's just plug and play.

AMG_Guy

I had my V1 mounted up high on the driver's side right above the rear view mirror, it fit nicely there. I removed the suction cups from the V1 mount and instead used:



Works much better than the suction cups, here's a picture I have where you can kind of see where it's mounted:



I don't have my C32 anymore otherwise I would take more pictures. I mounted it in the same place in my 06 CLS55 though, I can take more pics of that if you want to see. It does blend in better in the CLS though because the headliner is black.

speed7

yeah more pictures would be great! Nice idea on the velcro!! I didn't even THINK of that one. Removing the suction cups would really free up some space.. yeah more pictures please. =)

AMG_Guy

Yeah it's definitely MUCH better than the suction cups. I'll take some pics of how it's mounted in the CLS tonight and post them. Looks the same as how I had it mounted in my c32, only real difference is that the CLS has the black headliner so it blends in a little better.

But pics to follow!

cm60k

There’re many Brands of Radar detectors in the Market,,

which one you guys recommended...??,,

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40

ZAYED,,

bmjdevelopment

Do it this way.

https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...rdwire-v1.html

You are welcome.

speed7

Hands down the valentine 1.

JUAN CASAUS

No way I have the escort redline and no other detector has the range to match it whatsoever!

pointman

Thanks jlm32. Good info. Curious to see how you went with velcro instead of the suction cups.

Marine Blue

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I'm leaning towards either a V1 with Savvy or hard wire into glove box.

speed7

That too is a great radar detector. You honestly can't go wrong with either one. I do like the arrows telling you which direction the radar is coming from though. Plus Valentine gives you the option to send your radar detector for a nominal fee to update it to the latest hardware/firmware. Not sure if Escort has that type of service option. So I can't speak against it.. I just know that is an option with the V1.