Hi Guys,

After having my v1 on the dash for a while, I got around to hardwiring it. I looked online to the various guides that people had but everyone was hardwiring the thing on the front of the car right above the rear view mirror. It is functional but in my honest opinion, messes up the clean look of the front cabin. Soo....after much brainstorming, I came up with the idea of mounting the v1 on the rear dash. The v1 gets a clear view to the front and rear of the car.

This mod and location of the v1 has been TESTED AS WORKING by me via a drive to and from Las Vegas from LA. The v1 is able to pickup the usual radar signals around my neighborhood at the new location. I emailed the Valentine One guys and they also said that the location is fine for the unit.

I think that for those of you with no navi, this would actually be a BETTER location than above the mirror since it will have a better chance of picking up LASER.

For those of you WITH navi, you need to disable the LASER detection on the unit since the navi screen will set it off. (who cares about LASER anyways?).

To disable LASER detection, use this link:
http://www.valentine1.com/Lab/MikesLabRpt3.asp


Alright, enough of the intro. Lets start with the Howto!.

Contents
---------
1. Building the Box
2. Mounting the V1
3. Running the wires
4. Installing the Remote
5. Hardwiring the V1 for power



1. Building the Box
Materials:

Radio Shack Project Box
Sheet of acrylic (acrylic is clearer than lexan/plexi) from Home Depot
Dremel
Super Glue

To build the box, cut windows into the ends of the Project box while leaving a 1/4" border on the right and left sides of the box.

Next, cut two acrylic "windows" to a size that will fit in the box. The pieces should be wider than the holes that you cut out from the box.

There are screw posts in the corners of the project box. You will wedge the pieces of acrylic between the posts and the side of the box to keep it in the box. A bit of dremeling is required to get the gaps deeper since there's plastic connecting the screw post to the side of the box.

There's a flat piece that covers the box. This will be the box bottom. Get a dremel and drill a hole into the front passenger's side of the cover. This hole will be for the rj11 (phone) cord.

Before screwing the box close, remember to turn the unit on and set your volumes. I set my main volume to about 3/4 max and set the mute volume to 1/4 max. There's no need for a "full silence" since if you get pulled over, you should have your engine off anyways.

Now place the v1 on top of the box cover. Use any pieces of extra acrylic or some cardboard to put under the v1 so that it is raised within the box. This will allow for a clearer view out of the window.

Glue the pieces of acrylic down and then mount the v1 to the box bottom using some velcro.

Screw the box together with three screws. I left out the screw on the rear passenger's side since it's in close proximity to the rear facing sensor.

2. Mounting the V1
To mount the box, I got a flat piece of metal from OSH and bent it.

I used a bolt cutter to cut the metal AFTER i bent it. Bolt cutters are $8 at harbor freight go get yourself one if you don't have one. I painted the mount black to match the interior.

Didn't feel like looking for a ruler so I used a cd case to show scale/size.


Here's a picture of me cutting the extra length of mount after I test fitted it in the car.


Picture of painted mount.


The mount will be wedged beween the plastic trim piece that sits in front of the rear center speaker that's located on the rear dash. This piece does not to be taped or screwed down.

Here's a picture showing everything. The box isnt as cleanly cut as I want it since there was a lot of trial and error. I'll be redoing it in the near future. The red line is the crack that you wedge the mount into.


Put a piece of velcro on the Metal piece and piece of velcro on the rear bottom of the Box. These two pieces of velcro should be enough to hold it back there.

 

3. Running the wires
Run an RJ11 cable from the rear dash to the front driver's wheel well. Here is the path that the cable takes:

down the back of the rear driver's side seat



under the rear seat

under the carpet to the center console



Through the driver's side of the center console

out the front center console in the driver's wheel well.




4. Installing the remote.

Mount the remote under the tach with double sided tape.


run the wire along the left of the steering column and down into the panel under the steering wheel.

 

5. Hardwiring the V1 for power

There's a panel in the drivers wheel well under the steering wheel. It is mounted with one screw located by the hood release lever. Remove the screw and pull on the notch on the middle of the panel.





Once the panel is off, you want to remove the panel on the right side of the driver's wheel well (the one with the cigarette lighter). This panel is held on with two screws. Remove the screws and carefully pull the panel out. Use a towel to cover your center console and be careful not to scratch the center console.





Remove the black heatshrink around the wires going to the cig lighter. It will reveal a black wire and a red/black wire. You want to use the vampire connector that came with your v1 to tap into the red/black wire.


Connect the red wire of the hardwire unit to the vampire connector.

This picture shows how you use the connector. The wire you tap into is actually red and black striped.

 

Ground the black wire from the hardwire unit to the bolt as seen in the picture.



Now Plug the unit and remote into this hardwire unit and test that the unit works. If it doesnt, check your connections.

I mounted my hardwire unit in a corner towards the left as shown in the picture with double sided tape.



If everything works, tuck the wires and put the plastic panels back on in the reverse order that they came off.

Finished Pics:






Hope this was helpful. I'd really appreciate any feedback or props






Enjoy your hardwired v1's and Drive Safe.

~randy

 

Alright. Tutorial is done. Ill do the pics for box construction when I redo my box.

Please let me know if I should be more detailed about any part of the install or if you have questions.

~randy

 

I have a question and I didnt want to open up a new thred just for this. The dealership is going to install a cable that goes from the fuse box through the A-pillar, and along (inside) the roof. They will drill a hole close to the windshield straight ahead of where the Sunglass compartment is so that my V1 gets the power from there instead of from the cigar lighter. I am supposed to go to Radioshack and buy a special female and male connector so that the cable going to the roof of my car ends in a small female connector, and they switch my stock V1 power cable to one that works with the male connector.

When I went to Radioshack and explained this to them, these guys gave me some Phone Jack connectors (1/8" Mono) and well I dont think those are the right ones. I told them that I'd come later cuz I dont think those were the correct ones.

Can someone help me out and tell me which of these...

http://www.radioshack.com/category.a...5%5F000&Page=1

should I get? (I suppose I need to get POWER CABLES not PHONE JACK and PHONE PLUG right?)

I saw an FX with that thing done to it, and the V1 power cable ended in something like



and the roof had a hole drilled where something like this...



was.

So basically I need to buy a pair of those, but I have no idea what size or which ones I am supposed to buy. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated (I ordered my V1 yesturday want to get these things ASAP to have my V1 working).

 

I'd stay away from the dealership and any kind of drilling holes that aren't necessary for this to be completed. Let me try to get some pics later today of what I did to hardwire my V1 and see if that might help you complete this yourself and not go to the dealer.

 

i mounted mine on the rear view mirror.....pulled power from the mirror wires and did not have to run wires anywhere

i just soldered the connections and did not use connectors.....

hope this will helps........

https://g35driver.com/forums/interior-exterior/50656-escort-passport-8500-mounting-options.html

 

Thanx you for your help guys.

shooter - that mirror mount is great, that way, I can just leave the radar there and it wont bother when I put on my windshield cover... then, when I get my 15% tints all round, no one will ever see the V1 is sitting there (taking it out and putting it on the glove compartment or just leaving it there will make no diff as there will b no way to see inside anyway). I have one thing im conserned about this mount though... the V1 is supposed to be much heavier than the 8500... wont that extra weight make the mirror slowly detach or something?

SLVRG35 - the only reason Im doing this with the dealership is because I managed to get it for free when we were negociating. I saw it on the FX as I said, and they used those connectors that im talking about. The hole is very tiny... I too dont like unnecessary holes, but if you want it that clean, there is no other way...

Once that install is done, there is no cable anywhere, just the socket tiny socket on the roof. The only cable is the one that goes from your Radar to the socket which is real short as the V1 will sit just below the roof.

 

g35_coupe_6mt.......i have had my passport hardwired for a few months and so far no problems........sorry i dont know if the v1 will cause problems with the weight pulling the mirror off..........

post some pics when you get 'er installed!

 

sounds good, make sure to post some pics after its done.

 

I dloaded the Valentine One manual in PDF format and there is a Parts list that comes with the V1. Under power adapters it reads...

*Lighter power adapter (powers Valentine One from car's lighter socket)
*Direct-wire power adapter (powers V1 directly from car's wiring)

Not 100% sure yet, but I think that these are what I need to buy and fiddle around with the Direct-wire power adapter:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=274%2D1573


http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=274%2D1576

Anyone with better idea than me can help me out if these are the plugs I need to buy?

Pardon my noobness in this matter, but what the hell is Coaxial?

 

hmmmmm i got a v1 too....wonder if theres a way to mod those built in mirror ones

 

Interesting positioning. Umm, how do you changes modes and mute the thing when it's going bonkers when you pull next to the drug store or grocery? Are you using the remote display for that or is there a V1 remote control?

 

^ you have three choices, there are three modes All, Logic, and Advanced logic.

All tells you everything, Logic starts X alerts in mute, and Advanced does not even alert you about X unless signal is strong.

What I do, I set it to All, and press on the button when the unwanted X appears... pressing the button mutes (lowers volume to mute volume) for that alarm untill it finds another.