Shinj1EVA

Seeing as how I had nothing better to do today, I decided to hardwire my radar detector

I'll write up a tutorial later if anyone is interested, I just used the smart cord that came with the radar detector. Oh, and the power LED isn't working because I put in a 5mm blue led, but I think the chip doesn't output enough power through there, either that or I did a really bad solder job on one of the LED's legs and it came off, oh well. I'll fix that some other time.




I'll straigten that out later, when I go back to the car :P

Shinj1EVA

Oh, the mute button is working. I haven't had a chance to see the warning light go on, so I'm not sure if that's working or not. It SHOULD be, I didn't change that one.

jastor3759

nice job. How did you affix the mute button to the plastic plate? Does the plate come out?

Shinj1EVA

Yeah, if you open up the area, you can release it. Once I got it out, drilled a few holes, had to use a dremel and clean out the back though. There's a bunch of plastic on the back. Kind of hard to fit the switch w/out doing so.

dwcolt

I'd suggest a black phone cord instead of the gray; it blends nicely into the windshield. I used the black with my V1 and it's practically invisible in the same location.

Shinj1EVA

Why moved? It's not really pertaining to any bluetooth, navigation, audio or video.. then again.. probably more fitting in picture gallery than here..

as far as the black phone cord is concerned, I didn't have one lying around, plus it doesn't bother me that much. I did everything there w/ stuff i already had around the house

etirps

i'm just curious, why do people put their detectors on the passenger side of the car ... most of the ones i see are always mounted to the right of the mirror ... any reason or just personal preference

etirps

oh yeah ... and for those with an 8500, does it look possible, to remove the casing, stuff the electronics somewhere hidden, and place the sensors on the window (ie make it a completely unobtrusive hidden system

¿GotJazz?

Shinj1EVA - I'm betting you got your Anode / Cathode swapped. You did check the old LED voltage and the new LED polarity before you soldered the new one in, right?

BTW, I didn't mount mine where you mounted yours because the warning LED would be hidden by a portion of my steering column at my normal seating postion.

etirps -

Regarding the question of mounting on the passenger side of the mirror - It keeps the detector from getting in the way of viewing the mirror while keeping the detector as high as possible. The inward angling of the 8500 display still keeps it very visible from the driver's point of view.

And, no - you can't remove the casing on the 8500 and put the sensors somewhere else. The radar horn needs to mount on the circuit card to work.

Shinj1EVA

Yeah, I wanted to hide the detector too and move out all the parts, I opened up the casing. There's no way to remove it w/out breaking the device :P

etirps: what ¿GotJazz? said. There's just no other good place to put it, unless you want to put it on the bottom of your windshield, then you can mount practically anywhere, but if you want it up high for greater coverage (worse for laser, but if your hit by laser, it's pretty much over anyway), the right of the mirror is the best position for visibility.

¿GotJazz?: I'm pretty sure I didn't swap the two. I made DAMN SURE that they were the right way comparing the original LED and the one that I added. It might just be that I killed the trace, I'll have to take a look at it tomorrow. And no, I didn't bother to check if it would work properly prior to fitting it in I figured if it didn't work, it's not really that big of a deal. Kind of annoying to have a green LED always on over there anyway. Too tired to do anything about it right now.

Shinj1EVA

Oh yeah, and I think the smart wire chip is broken in there, I'll probably just go get the hardwire from escort and hack it up again. I know the red light never came on before, I'm pretty sure it's defective. My friend's escort goes on whenever the radar detects something.

Nukeman

Any problem or trick in routing the wire past the side curtin airbag in the windshield post???

Shinj1EVA

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83364

If you look at that V1 installation, you can see this bar of wires coming down through the column, just tape it or zip tie it to that and you should be fine, that's what I did. Okay, time to write this "make your own smart cable" tutorial

Shinj1EVA

Well, since rets garaged this (thanks ), I decided to be a little more helpful for ppl coming along in the future. So here's my tutorial.

What's required
1. Solder, Soldering Iron, Desoldering Braid
2. Drill
3. Dremel
4. Hot Glue Gun
5. Electrical Tape
6. Wire
7. Telephone cable

You probably CAN manage without the dremel, but it makes life a lot easier. And you could probably get by with mounting the switch and LEDs with silicon or something else, but it'll probably be a lot tougher. And, it really helps if you have previous soldering experience, but the solder pads are so big it shouldn't be too much of an issue, just be sure not to desolder so much that you lift the traces. Also, Soldering Flux is very helpful in getting solder to bond to copper as the telephone wire is made of copper, so was the power and ground hookup wires I purchased. With all that being said, let's get started:

Step 1 Taking apart the adapter
Disassemble the 12v cigarette plug smart cord that came with the radar detector. There are two screws holding it together and should be relatively easy to remove. Remove all the components from the plastic housing, we're interested in the chip.


Step 2 Desoldering
Now that we have the chip, we need to desolder all the existing connections on the chip so we can attatch our own wires. Simply deesolder the wire connections, the LEDs, and the switch from the chip. Try to remember the position of the LEDs as far as the anode and cathodes are concerned. The EASIEST way to desolder is probably with a desoldering braid.


Step 3 Attatching new cables
Naturally, it's time to re-attach our cables. The chip is marked with the color of the wires, it's helpful if you have a telephone wire already crimped, make sure the heads match the original connector:

First, Original. Second, crimped wire.
Order should be YELLOW GREEN RED BLACK.
So we will take this new cable and solder it onto the chip. Once that is done, take some strands of wire and reconnect the lights and switches. You DO NOT want the lights and switches remounted on the board or there will be no way to mount them to the plastic panel. ALso grab some thicker wire for the power and ground and reattach them. The board is labeled for you, I don't remember EXACTLY what the points were, but i think R/W was for power and GND was for the ground. The other labels are for the colors. Finished Product:

The green wires are to the LEDs and the switch. Red and Black to power and ground respectively. Grey is the telephone cable. Now that that is done, wrap it up with electrical tape. You don't want it shorting out somewhere behind your stearing wheel.


Step 4 The plastic mount
Now, it's time to butcher up that little plastic piece from the car. You have to remove the panel directly under the steering wheel to pop this one out. There is one screw on the bottom right holding the panel. Unscrew and remove. If you look behind the plastic piece, it is held together by two tabs, just push the bottom one up and it will pop right out. Take your drill and the label from the original lighter device. Line up the holes and drill. Use a dremel w/ a sanding bit to clear out the back of the plastic piece. DO NOT REMOVE THE TABS! If you remove the tabs, you won't be able to reattach the piece (duh..). You have to dremel out the back a bit since all that excess plastic will make it difficult to fit the switches and LEDs. Here's what it should look like once it's done:


Step 5 Reassembly
Time to put it all together. We have our "smart" cable and the prepped plastic mount. Take the switch and LEDs and position them, then glue gun them into place. Let it dry and it should hold just fine. Apply hot glue liberally to the back until you fill it up. This will help keep the solder points from slipping over time since the points aren't that sturdy. Once that is all said and done, feed all the wires and cables through the hole of the plastic mounting clip, and attach the clip. Run the wire up through the side column, to the headliner and to wherever u want to mount your radar. Mount the power and ground using the other tutorials available on the site. You can do whatever method pleases you, I chose to buy the Add-a-Circuit at Pep Boys and attached it to one of the IGC fuses w/ 7.5A.

That's it, you're done. I hope this helped someone. If it did tip the scale .

Shinj1EVA

Hmm, I can't edit my original post anymore.. can a mod put "scroll down for tutorial" somewhere?

etirps

hey shinj1eva, since you opened up your x50, does it look like the lcd/dot panel can be moved?

Shinj1EVA

yeah that's easy to remove, just desolder it and solder in some new wires. Open it up urself, there are only 3 screws holding the thing together.

bklynpanman

Nice job.. take a look at my SR7 install. i pu the led in that spot but reversed it with the VSA button so I can see it easier.. http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...ht=sr7+install

Shinj1EVA

Nice, I was thinking about doing that. I just noticed how my stearing wheel obstructs my view. I have to fix the LEDs first though. Your detector doesn't have a rear sensor? I'd mount my radar out there too, except it would obstruct anything coming from behind the car.

Tecciztecatl

I've been meaning to add to this. I used the same ideas given here - THANKS!!! It really made this easy.

One tip would be to use a soldering gun with a cutting/melting tip to clean up the plastic behind the blank plate. Using the special tip let's you clean up that mess in 10 seconds and makes it look clean, it cuts through the plastic like butter. (just don't go crazy and cut too much)

Then I just added a little toggle switch for the power, I tried to find a push button, but they just would not fit right, since there is limited space ... I then just glue gunned the LEDs in place an voila! Works great and looks cool! This baby has already saved my butt a couple of times ... as long as they use radar I am golden!

Thanks for the original post, this group is great!!!

NFLblitze1

can you still see the LCD Screen when its in that position...? or do you just listen to the beeps...the x50 is tilted so things like this will try not to become a problem. but has anyone put the radar detector ABOVE the rear view mirror? awesome installs though..great job

Tecciztecatl

I have the 8500 on the right side of my rearview mirror and I can see it great! I put it up high, so you cannot see it from the outside, but it still works great ... except for maybe laser ...but with them you are pretty much toast anyway. Although I did get a laser warning once, so I do not know how much the top tint reduces the signal. I can also see the LEDs from that position, that's why I moved the VSA button .... I put the alarm LED to the left and the power to the right, so I see the alarm easier. Yet most of the time I go by the sound ... just gotta watch the radio volume.

I leave mine mounted all the time, since it is not visible from the outside and I have safe parking during the day and night. I also commute 3.5 hrs a day, so this baby is a must in reducing my tickets ... haven't gotten one yet!

NFLblitze1

do you possibly have any pics of where its mounted? is it mounted in the same exact place that Shinj1eva has it mounted or is right above the rear view mirror?

also....tecciztecatl that is an amazing job...i really think it would have been amazing if you made an OEM button and put it over that area and drilled holes in the button for the lights or put them at the top and make the button a little smaller....i think you should try harder to do that because that would look incredible aswell as very nice..im sure if u order the button from acura u could probably do it.....just my :twocents:

also...PLEEEEASE pics..i will forever be greatful...:-)

Tecciztecatl

Here is a pic I took today, yes it is basically in the same place as Shinj1eva, except a little higher, this way it is not visible from the outside and protected from the sun. I also mounted 2 little rubber domes where the 8500 makes contact with the windshield, as it made and annoying rattle before.

jeeper31

Does the tinting effect the performance of the radar detector? I thought it would so I have mine under the rear view mirror.

scarabs

Should've got a valentine One for complete warning system...

Sarushibai

I was considering doing that, but i worry about leaving the detector up there, once its hard wired, can you move the placement of the detector? stupid question i know. But i didnt know if the input plug was just not inside the frame of the car, or if the detector is hard wired as well