Im thinking of getting atleast a niice decent expensive radar detector. not the V1, its way too big, heavy and pricie. im thinking of the beltronic something around 1-2 hundred or the escort 8500 used. but where is the power jack in the car. only one i found is in the center console compartment.

 

http://invisicord.com/

 

Invisicord works flawlessly in my other car. I've been meaning to get one for the G.

In my G sedan, I just run a non-coiled straight wire through the little opening in the armrest, and plug it in the center console jack under the lid. I have a Valentine and it has paid for itself many times over in the 6 years that I've owned it.

I have a 6 speed manual, but I guess it's the same for an auto?

 

I used to run my radar from the cigarette lighter. No problems at all. Not sure what the fuss is about re cigarette lighter vs power port. They are both 12 volt source. and a lighter takes a lot of amps to get red hot. Much more than a radar detector.

Now I have it hard wired into my mirror. Did it myself for about $3 for plug from radio shack to fit the power plug on my detector. Then took the solid core wire and pushed it into the correct pin sockets on the factory mirror wiring harness, after figuring out which was +12V and ground. Works just fine and saved a bunch compared to invisicord.

I now run my GPS from the lighter socket. Again, no problems. Some day I will hardwire a wire plug into the mirror harness, so both can be plugged in at once, with QD for each for easy removal. But that's a project for another day.

 

I got mine hardwired down to the fuse box with a flat cord.

 

Took me about 1/2 hour to hardwire my 8500 into mirror wiring. Also hard mounted it to mirror with parts from Home Depot. It hangs just below mirror. Next I am installing remote start. Last two vehicles I've done took 4 hours each.

 

I found my thread from when I did this - pasted below:


I used the wires from the mirror. There are three:
Black - ground
Black w/red - hot power
Black w/pink - switched power

The 2005 may be different, because I have read that the w/red is the switched. I tried this first and it is actually hot. I cut the suppled straight cord to a desired length (actually too long) and used the green for ground and red for the switched.

Directions:
Remove the plug from the mirrors back. Position mirror out of the way. Remove the plastic covers that run from the headliner to the mirrors base (two pieces that pull straight down for the top piece and straight up for the bottom piece). Slit the sheathing around the wires underneath the plastic pieces exposing the three wires. This will hide the splicing under the plastic pieces. Carefully cut some insulation from the desired wires. Attach the two wires from the V1 supplied straight cord or any telephone cord (rj11 I think) and wrap with tape to secure them after soldering. Reinstall the plastic pieces, Reinsert the mirrors plug, connect the V1 cord to the V1 port and speed, err test...

 

I got a smartcord (wire with the lights and mute button) for my 9500i. Its wired into the fuse box using the 3m wire splicer thing.

I ran the wire up the a pillar, along the headliner and down the little plastic mirror tunnel thats on the windshiled, the wire comes out and right into my detector which I mount just under/behind my mirror. My rear laser probably suffers a bit but it looks good and is perfect for all front detection. (rear radar detection works fine) Since laser is usually shot at the front of a car anyway.. it works.

I mounted the mute/remote lights thing near my right knee on the side off the center console. Easy to reach and out of the way. The wires for it are just tucked under the dash. For the 9500i, having the button close is nice. It allows me to store locations/signals to ignore or speedtraps, etc and mute signals.

 

i have my escort 8500 wired through the homelink mirror. I placed it to the left of the mirror up top right under neath the tint line. Instead of a invisicord I used a spare piece of 2 pair CAT3 data/telephone wire, and crimped a RJ-11 end onto it which plugs into the radar. I used one wire of each of the twisted pairs. The inner two wires (pins 2 and 3) are the leads which I tested with a volt meter for polarity. On the other end I stripped about a 1/4" of the two wires and similar to the inviscord, i "wedged" the wires into the plug harness on the back of the mirror. The CAT3 I used had solid wires so it wedged in pretty well. IIRC i may have folded over the wire once to double the thickness for it to wedge better. I found somewhere the wiring diagrams for the mirror, theres a couple wires that plug in, a switched +12VDC, a constant +12VDC and a ground, maybe another idk. I have it plugged in with the switched wire and the ground. I zipped tied the piece of wire snug so it doesnt move loose and it has worked great since i put it in a few months ago.

 

if you have the aluminum trim, I would do a search and find out if using the cigarette lighter is causing the yellow stain on the aluminum right above that. I know members here have been told by the dealer that its caused by heat but can't tell if its from the radio unit or the lighter when used for long period of time.