Hi guys,
In my old car I had my radar detector wired right to my fuse box, but i didn't care about the car so it was a real mickey mouse job. Has anyone done this to thier TLS? How did you do it to make it look nice where did you run the wires etc..

Thanks
Joe

 

jbn,

check out these posts.. probably the cleanest radar installs I've seen.

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...ighlight=radar

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=18503

 

Those are great but I have a Escort 4500 and I don't have a smart cord. I want to run the power cord down the drivers side of the car and then to the fuse box. I'm not sure how i could attach the power to the fuse box though, so the radar goes on when the car goes on.

 

I have the same detector.

You can connect the power cord one of two ways.

If your power cord has an inline fuse, you can just splice it into the the wires powering the cigarette lighter in the dash or the power receptacle in the console.

I did it the following way:

I found a fuse for an item that is not critical (i.e. Power socket/cigarette lighter) so that you don't risk a system like the airbags, ABS or your lights.

I pulled the fuse and used a test light to find out which side was HOT (i.e. carried the power). I stripped a little of the wire off of the detector's power cord and and wrapped it around one of the fuse prongs (key here is to only strip of a little here, otherwise you won't be able to reinsert the fuse). I then reinserted the fuse with the prong that had the wire OPPOSITE the hot receptacle in the fuse box. Since my power cord doesn't have an inline fuse, this method still provides protection in the event the detector shorts out by blowing the fuse, otherwise if the wire was connected on the HOT side and a short would occur, the wires would melt. If you have an inline fuse, it doesn't matter which side you use. I then wrapped the negative wire (stripped end of course) around a screw that went into the firewall or other metal part.

I then ran the cord up the side of the dash, the driver's side "A" pillar and along the top of the headliner/windshield to just above my rear view mirror to where the detector is mounted.

Aside from opening the fuse box, I didn't have to disassemble anything and I didn't have to run much wire.

It was really pretty easy. It looks very clean and since the detector is mounted near the tint band, it's very difficult to notice the detector from the outside and NO WIRES.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks Goaub, I hooked my radar up like that and it looks good. I have one question though. On my last car i hooked it up to the radio fuse so the radar only went on when i turned the power on in my car. On the TL the fuse always seems to have power to it so i have to turn my radar on and off by its power swtich. Is there a way to change that? I hooked it up to NAV/Daytimerunning fuse because i don't have any either of those options.

 

jbn:

I believe the cigarette/power outlet is also wired through the ignition so when you turn the key off it should power off the detector.

I just checked, mine is hooked into fuse #8 on the driver's side panel (4th down on the right hand side).

Mine turns off when I turn off the ignition.

Let me know if it helps.