ez53436

Hi guys,

I recently hardwired a Valentine 1 in my C32 and unfortunately, I didn't find much help online. I thought I'd post a quick, concise explanation of how I did it.If you are looking to hardwire something that requires "switched" power, and by that I mean power only when the key is turned to the first position, then this will help a lot.

First of all, I didn't want to tap the cigar lighter wire because I think there are cleaner ways of doing it, and I didn't want to tap the overhead light wire either because lots of people have had issues with that, and again, I think there are better ways.

So what I used was a fuse tap, also called an "add-a-circuit" by many. You can find these for around 5 bucks at AutoZone or whatever automotive store you like. It's a simple little thing that basically inserts into any fuse slot but requires two real fuses, one for the original circuit, and one for whatever you want to add on.

So this seemed like a great way to do things so that I wouldn't have to tap any wires. I think this is much cleaner. The only complication is that unlike a lot of cars, the C32 (and I suspect most other W203s) does not have a "switched" fuse slot in the driver's side fuse compartment. I used a multimeter and those slots all had constant power. The good news is that I found the fuse slot, which is in the fuse box under the hood by the brake fluid reservoir, for the cigarette lighter, which had the sacred "switched" power that I needed.

So, all you need to do is go into that fuse box under the hood, find the cigar lighter fuse, which should be a blue 15 amp, and insert the add-a-circuit into that along with another fuse. If you have an inline fuse like the V1 comes with, it doesn't really matter what fuse you put into the add-a-circuit. Once you use that fuse slot, you can simply cut off the V1 connector that it came with, strip the wire and crimp it onto the add-a-circuit OR you can just tap that new wire that is supplied by the add-a-circuit if you don't want to cut the original V1 wiring harness.

You will see there is a nice ground nut that is very near the fuse box. You can use this but if you are wiring a V1, you will need to go to RadioShack and grab one of those round crimp-on terminals to secure it to that nut. But before you do that, you need to push the negative wire from the V1 through a black rubber piece on the fuse box, where other wires are pushed through. You will immediately see what I'm talking about.

Then, all you need to do is look for a spongey, carpet-padding thing that is squished right behind the fuse box and you need to remove it. It will take some time and effort but just pull it out slowly. This will let you fish the telephone cable through the firewall to under the steering wheel. It will take patience but I promise it is possible. Once it's through, just route the cable in the black pillar surrounds and use a credit card or something to help you hide it beneath the headliner.

Then put the sponge thing back and seal everything up and you should be good to go!

Hope this helps people! Let me know if you have any questions at all. It really was not that difficult and if I did it again, it would take me an hour max.

JakeMS3

Got any pics of where you set up the unit in your car?

Lenin

Just be careful when routing the cable in the black pillar surrounds. There should be an airbag somewhere there. Btw, fuse #7 in the rear SAM is also switched power.

RenC55AMG

What're the issues with using the dome light wires? I went that route in my BMW and my Acura.

Also, can you mount them high on the windshield behind the black window paint?

macbryanie

I personally didn't fuse tap in the SAMs, for me enough gremlins lurk there a random day of WTF car running perfectly then a fog light fail or tail light etc just to put something on the dash to remind me that my car is always in control of my wallet and happiness, next start gremlin gone for a month or so, enough to keep the anxiety in order. Anyway, grounded under the ashtray /connect to lighter wires and mount mute switch in the ashtray (so can close the ashtray cover). Cable from under trim, up windscreen trim and mounted under the ceiling trim passenger side next to dome light. (slight bump in ceiling trim but difficult to see due to dome light bump). Then a tint strip on windscreen (3 inches) and radar is completely stealth. Experimented stuck on inner side sun roof and sunroof angled open with the inner shade closed but the rear of detector can be see if looking closely if in car behind(foreign small black object in middle of sun visor lift) and can never open sunroof up fully. (fail). Have seen on a forum - mounting in rear middle seat head rest (e55) which i think is perfect stealth but need to re trim seat head.

raphman

I used the wire that powers the driver's power seat and a ground in the in-cabin fuse box. No problems thus far and it's a switched source.

C230 Mulac

This thread just reminds me of how much Virginia sucks for making radar detectors illegal

raphman

Yes, this!!! I remember getting a ticket for my V1 when I was going to AllSports GP in Dulles. *******s.

Lenin

I use Beltronics STiR Plus and Laser Interceptors. Everything is under the hood and the display is in my ashtray. I know that some people swear by V1 but for me this works just fine, especially when I used to visit JMU.

raphman

If I had the money, I'd get Laser Interceptor in a heartbeat!! It's definitely on the to-buy list...

Lenin

You have a 4 door sedan. Get an after-hours job with Uber and get yourself some toys. JK.
Where I'm in NJ you can not survive without laser defense of the strongest kind. The units paid for itself many times over.

Saaboteur

I have had an Escort Passport Max since summer and enjoy it very much. Prior to that I had a V1 for over 10 years. The improvements in design and miniaturization of GPS technology is great - the Passport remembers locations which you can designate, or if you subscribe to the Escort Live feature, you can access all of the other locations OTHER people designate too. I haven't subscribed, the own location (and the ones built into it already) are already very useful, as are the auto mute and no X-band functions.

LukasBMW

I just hardwired the V1 into my C55.

I pulled down the overhead light assembly and ended up tapping into the Blue/Grey wire (power) and brown wire (ground) on the very last and smallest connector (only had 3 wires).

I used this kit off Amazon and used the smallest pins in the kit:


It works like a charm. Powers up on ignition and switches off on ignition.

I had tried to use a multi meter with no luck. Only after reading a ton of threads on here did I find someone else mention the beautiful blue/gray wire. I can confirm it works.