My garage was finally above subzero, so dicided to use today to complete one of my many projects for the new ride. This is a simple project but thought i would share my experience in case you are mulling it over. I used Passorts Smartcord (mute button...which is a must) to wire my Escort 8500. Only took my 20 mins once I figured out exactly how I wanted to do it.

Started by removing the boot from around the gear shift. Next pulled the plastic piece that surrounds the gear shift which extends up to the base of the headunit...its ok to tug on it a bit there are no screws holding it in.

There are 3 wires running into the cigarette lighter. Green is lighter, yellow for the little light, and obviously black is the negative. I used a T Tap (think that is what they are called) and pinched it to the green wire. The power end of the Smartcord inserts into the end of that.


Next grounded it by removing the lower right screw of the headunit.


Then pushed the mute button down through the left side of the center connsole and pulled the wires though. Mounted the mute button between the seat and center console. Tucked the power cord up along the center console right up to the undernearth of the dash board.


after running the cord all the length of the center console almost all the way to the pedals i feed it behind the tray under the steering column area and ran it forward through area under the bottom of the steering wheel. Then feed it through the opening in the below pic. tucked up and around the crevice that is between the movable steering column and the dash board.


Pretty simple, next weekend having Tein Springs installed. Then taillight covers, roof spoiler and buffing

 

The thing i don't like about that location is that the detector is visible from the outside. Even if you remove it when you park, the mount is still visible and too me, that increases your risk of break in. I have my escort mounted on the visor with visor clip. You really can't see it from the outside and I never remove it. I have it powered with an invisicord to the rearview mirror and tuck the cable in the headliner. Just something to think about.

 

I hear ya, but that blocks the rear shooting radar. And if i am somewhere that is bad i take the whole thing down. but honestly i am not that concerned about a break in. that is what insurance is for

 

My question is...why didn't you hardwire it to your fusebox. That way, you can wire it to the left of your rearview mirror, where the radar detector has better detection and is more stealth to cops/thieves? You went through all that trouble not to mention voiding your warranty. With an add-a-fuse kit, you get to keep all your warranty intact and you won't have problems because you aren't splicing any wires. You don't have to take apart the center console.

 

Because of the mute button feature. Radar isnt illegal in MO either, so not concerned about that

 

You can connect using the smartcord hardwire kit...which does have the mute button.


It's much safer than to do what you did. Your method has a risk of shorting out electrical components, not to mention that you're running some components that are out of spec. This may cause premature failure in your electrical components later down the line.

This is the add a fuse kit from Amazon:

With this method, you aren't running any electrical component out of spec, which is why I don't use Invisicord either.

 

Dude r u kidding...did you not read, this is what i have. and furthermore i wired exactly how passport instructs you. its on a single loop 15amp fuse for the lighter which is more than enough to support a detector. my father inlaw who is an eletrical engineer for boeing was watching me do it and i think he knows what he is talking about

 

What I was talking about is to use the add-a-fuse kit to your fusebox. Not taking apart the center console and hardwiring through your cigarette lighter. Now you can't plug things into your cigarette lighter because the amperage is lower than a normal cigarette lighter. Your cigarette lighter can only output 10amps (from your fuse in your fusebox). With your radar detector sucking up around 3 amps, you are only left with around 7 amps in your cigarette lighter.

Some handheld GPS's need 10 amps (or other cigarette lighter plug in devices), so they will run out of spec too if you plug them into your cigarette lighter.

You don't need to be an electrical engineer to understand the Ampere's Law.

Obviously your method will work, because your radar detector only needs around 3 amps (less than the 10 amps that is allowed into your cigarette lighter.) However, if you go over the 10 amps limit by plugging in another electrical component through your cigarette lighter, your electronics won't get the power they need, and may cause malfunctions.

 

Dude, the way he did it is fine and I can pretty much say that its 100% fine and nothing will happen. your saying everyone who ever made a splitter for a cigarette outlet is retarded.. because its the same thing.. a radar detector takes very low amperage to run

 

You kind of contradicting yourself when you say "I can pretty much say that its 100% fine." That means you aren't completely sure.

Yeah, that's why those splitters have that warning labels placed on them saying do not put devices over 5 amperage each into those splitters. You can add as many devices you want as long as it doesn't go over the allowed amperage.

The Add-a-fuse kit does not affect this at all, because the hardwire kit for the radar detector would be on a completely different circuit on its own. It will not affect any electrical component in the car.

A handheld GPS should NEVER be plugged into a splitter.

Obviously the car won't blow up or anything. I'm just saying you run into the risk of having electronic devices shorting out or malfunctioning.

What you said just proved my point more. His cigarette lighter now is not the standard cigarette lighter electrical output (less amperage than what was designed for). Pretty much all the cigarette lighter adapters he's going to use are not going to be designed for his car. I'm not saying it won't work, but there's a risk if he uses the cigarette adapter for higher powered devices.

A quick google search shows this:
"The first thing to know is that circuits should only be loaded at 80% of the total circuit load. To help you understand the concept, if you have a 15-amp circuit, the safe operating amperage would be no greater than 12 amps." This means that the operating "safe" amperage for the cigarette lighter is lower than expected.

 

nice work!