1HOT NSX:

I just also mounted the V1 on the passenger side sun visor, and it didn't get trigerred off by the Nav screen.

I still need a way to wire it. I tried your method, but stopped in the middle as I am not sure if using a section of phone cord not supplied by Valentine would work with the color coding as you did. I read in Valentine's website that the order of the wires are reversed if one uses a regular phone cord. I wanted to use a cord not supplied by Valentine as I needed one of just the right length. Also, could you please commend on which end of the rear view mirrow connector you put the 2 wires of the phone cord into? The lower end closer to the mirror or the other end? Which end do you think the wires would be more securely held in by the connector? Thanks.

 

As far as using a different phone cord. I read the same thing, but I have used several other phone cords without altering anythign and they worked just fine. Why not test your cord by using it with the cig lighter adapter. Then you will know if it will work or not.

 

1HOT NSX:

Sorry, I just read your post again, and it answered the questions I posted above. If you have anything else you could add, I appreciate it.

VP911: Good point. Thanks.

 

I used a regular phone cord of the right length and I connected it to the upper end of the mirror at the roof liner. I don't know if the wires would be more secure at the other end but my install has not had a problem and I've had it for a few months now. Just make sure you push the wires firmly into the back of the connector and secure the cord with a plastic tie before you put it all back together. I don't know if you read the instructions I posted a while back so here they are just in case:

Here are the instructions to hard wire your V1 using the power from the mirror:

First remove a plastic cover above the rearview mirror, it's like a 2x2 inch square, then remove another small plastic cover at the top of the mirror mount - now you have the wire with the connector exposed. Detach the connector by pushing down on the tab above the connector and pulling out. Connect the green wire of the phone cord to the grey wire on the connector (middle wire) and the red wire of the phone cord to the white wire on the connector (my detector is a Valentine V1 that uses a regular phone cord). Yo do not have to molest the existing wires, just push the peeled green and red wires into the back of the connector. Secure the phone wire to the mirror wire with a small plastic tie. Run the detector (phone) wire under the trim to your chosen location. This is tricky because the roof lining will not allow you to simply push the wire under it, you first need to lift the corner of the trim next to the cover you just removed and slip the wire under that corner, then carefully push the rest of the wire with a flat screwdriver under the trim. You need a little patience but the results are great! You will not see the wire at all and it will not interfere with any existing covers. Plug in the connector and replace the two covers

A curious note: the power to your detector will go off when you put the car in reverse. I don't know why the power to the mirror is somehow connected to the transmission I hope this is helpful to you

 

1HOT NSX:

Thanks again. I am wonder if the wires would be more secure if they were to be placed into the leading edge of the connector so that they would be held in tight by the connector and its mating part in the headliner. There may not be enough room between the two connectors for the wires.

 

No, they wouldn't, because you need to reconnect the connector after you push the phone cord wires into the back of it. If the phone cord wires are interfering with the mating of the two connector parts, they will either be cut in the process or moved out of position which IMO would make them much more likely to lose a good connection. Do it just the way I did it, it's a solid connection that will not come off. Good luck!

 

Good point. Thanks again.

 

It turned out to be much more difficult to hardwire the V1 from the rear view mirror harness than I thought. The wires of the phone cord did not want to go into the connector or stay. Well, I have to admit that I don't have the hands to do this; I thought I have good hands since I do surgery for a living. Now I am going to try doing it the other way as as done by vp911. 1 HOT NSX you have better hands/skills than I do.

vp911: Could you go into a little detail how you took apart the door seal? Thanks.

 

The rubber seal? Simply get your fingers underneath the seal a little and pull. It just pulls out... there is nothing clipping it in place or anything else. It won't be too difficult. Then you can just push it back in.

 

I'm sorry to hear you had troubles making the connection, it is not that hard. I'm certainly no surgeon, just a regular guy with average handyman abilities. I don't remember exactly how I peeled and pushed the phone wires into the connector, but it did not take me too many tries - perhaps two. The wires of course have to be peeled off the main jacket and inserted individually into the cavities at the back of the connector where the other two wires are attached. I would offer to do it for you if you were near where I live - perhaps you can find another forum member in your area who might be willing to do it for you.

 

Thanks for the offer. I used to live in SF, but now I am on the other side of the country and could not take advantage of your skill. I was having problem with the tiny brided wires after burning off the green and red plastic shields. These wires bend and broke when I attempted to push them into the connector. I just didn't have the confidence that they would stay.

 

Had my Valentine One on the driver visor and it constantly
was chirping due to the conflict with the NAV system.

Yesterday I moved it down, just to the left of the rearview
mirror and there is no longer any interference.

 

I tried both the driver and passenger side visors, and mounted the V1 close to the center of the car on each visor. No problem with the Nav screen, so I am keeping it on the passenger visor. Mounting it next to the rear view mirror is more stealth, but I think mounting it on the visor is more secure. I am concerned of it flying off from where it is mounted during a hard stop or crash.

The angle of the visor may be the factor in trigerring off the Nav screen, but I didn't really test it. My visor is placed a little more horizontal than its fully closed position, and I keep it in that position with a small pad placed between the roof and the visor. So now the v1 is aiming higher than if I let the visor close all the up to the roof.

 

I installed my V1 on the rear deck of my S4. When I get an RL (or whatever I end up with) I'll want to do something similar).

http://stuff.tungstentech.com/Cars/G...1_install.html

 

on the back? hmmm thats interesting, but anyway i just noticed this topic and was going to say that i have a v1 also and ever since i got a hid retrofit i have gotten a lot more laser warnings then i have had before so im just adding in my 2 cents

 

This set up in the RL would triger the laser warning in the V1 like cazy when the Nav screen is on. It would not work.

 

Pretty interesting thread.
Just wanted to share that Bluetooth can also set off you detector. I have a SonyEricson P800 phone and with Bluetooth turned on...when I layed my phone on the dash it made my laser detector go nuts. ( Was not constant.. but in cycles every 5 or 10 seconds.)

 

Weird. I have never had this problem... maybe it is phone specific? Perhaps the screen on the phone?

 

I don't think it is the screen because if I turn the bluetooth off.. it does not do it. A friend of mine is coming over today and he has a motorola phone with Btooth. I will try it with his.

 

Sounds like its the blue light that blinks on most phones when you turn on Bluetooth. Specially sense the detector is going off in a consistant interval. Check to see if its in time with the led indicator on your phone. In which case if you really need to have your phone on your dash you can point the inidcator away or cover it with something.

 

Thats a good point, I completely forgot about that blue light. I have only had one bluetooth phone with the blue light indicator...all the others don't have it.

 

If you check out my site you'll see that I have an Audi hat over the detector. No laser detection for me. It's pretty useless anyway so I don't mind. Forward sensitivity appears to be unaffected. The few times I've been shot on a surface street I see the signal way before it's a problem. On the freeway most shots come from the back so there I actually have an advantage.

To me this setup has two big advantages: 1) a half pound block of aluminum is stuck securily to the car rather than flying loose in case of an accident. 2) no casual observer can see I have an expensive detector.

 

I am very impressed by the install - I may consider doing this in the RL.

 

Thanks! I intend to try to repeat it. I've been very happy with the result.

 

I agree with you on the advantages of placing the radar detector on the rear, and this was where I had my Escort.

 

Seems that you might be right about the blue LED or perhaps the display. A friend brought his Motorola phone over with Bluetooth. I tried to duplicate the behavior with no success. Looks like it is this Sony phone.
Funny thing is that the blue LED flashes on and off about once every 2 or 3 seconds. But the radar detector goes off like crazy only every 10 seconds? I will play around with it some more to see if I can isolate what specifically is triggering it.

 

I am still exploring ways of hard wiring the V1. I want to extend the idea of taping power off the rear view mirror by actually taking the harness off the auto-dimming mirror to power the V1. Does anyone know how to take apart the mirror?

 

Thank you for the info. I've ordered two invisicords (one for the RL, one for the Corvette) and the colors are different than you list for a regular phone cord. Can you tell me which wire (green or white) is 12v and which is ground?

Also for those of you that have difficulty attaching the cord, take a look at www.invisicord.com - the connectors make it very easy and it comes very highly recommended on the Corvette forum.

Thanks again!

 

Sorry, I don't know which one is which but it should be easy to test once you have the wires connected and the ignition on. No power will get to the connector when the car is in reverse. Just try it both ways and see which one works.

 

I installed the detector tonight... I used the Invisicord (www.invisicord.com). The yellow plug slides into the yellow wire from the mirror harness (slot 4) and the black plug slides into the black wire from the mirror harness (slot 6). The unit turns on and off with the ignition, and it does not shut off when the car goes into reverse.

Works great!!

 

Excellent will be huge dur install of my V1

 

What is your plan? I may be able to help. (If you like that is.)