Best way to hardwire a radar detector??

[csfloyd]

Yes... I *AM* trying to install a radar detector in my '03 Disco. Not that it's a sports car, but there are plenty of speed traps between my house and my boat, and they give tickets on the highway around here if you're going 70 (ask me how I know )

So, since I don't have the shop manual (or even the damn owners manual....grrr) I'm wondering if someone can tell me the best place to tap into an ignition wire to hardwire the radar detector. I'd like to mount the detector on the top left windscreen area, and run the +12v wire to the closest source.

Anyone have any suggestions before I start ripping trim apart?

TIA

Chris Floyd
Raleigh, NC USA
'03 Disco S

 

[rmuller]

not that this helps you at all.. but I got a ticket the first week I had my disco backroads, no one around.. no noticable speed markings.. and when i asked to see the radar readout, it was -10miles than he told me it was.. got it reduced in court.

 

[Joey]

Try the vanity light in the center of the roof. It is 12v and has a ground right there. Of course I would have a radar detector that didn't do both front and rear, so mounting in the center would be a better place. But that is just me.

 

[Disco_Stu]

I ran mine up behind the headliner at the center mirror, across to the drivers side pillar down behind the plastic into the fuse box below the steering wheel, and tapped into the radio circuit. That way it turns on and off with the ignition, also if something goes wrong it is on the accessory fuse so you wont loose any major systems if the fuse goes.

 

[Eric N.]

Be careful if you drive through Virginia with that radar detector on.. The troopers might pull you over and give you a ticket since they are illeagel here. They use SPECTRE which almost no radar detector can hide from unlike the old VG-2 they used to use.

 

[Rocky]

There are several add a fuse type products, if you have no unused circuits in your fuse box that you can tap into.
Unused would for example include sunroof rear ac
Failing that there are "add a fuse" products pepboys autozone have these, Wirth, littelfuse are two companies with these products that piggyback a second fuse on to an existing fuse not ideal but.....

 

[ChrismonDA]

A radar detector is about the biggest waste of money you can spend. Do you think that a 200 to 300 dollar piece of equipment will protect you from a police radar that cost several thousands of dollars? Radar equipment today is very sophisticated and is same lane directional. What people do not realize is that when an officer is running radar the only time that he has a signal he has already clocked and received your speed before you radar detector reads it.

 

[Gumarcel]

Cig lighter?

 

[Alyssa]

Ok, but what about the safety messages that get relayed via the radar detector? Emergency Vehicle, work zone, school zone, etc? As Ron will attest, I am not a speeder by any stretch of the imagination. (Sorry to admit, but my average speed on the new RR has been 11.6 so far!) I love the radar detector for the safety stuff.

I've never cared about having one hardwired before (especially since we go to Canada, Virginia, and D.C. a lot, and all of them outlaw radar detectors), but with the RR, there isn't any good place to put the cord... it runs right in front of the nav/radio.

 

[Axel]

For road reports, Ch19 on the CB is much more efficient than a radar detector will ever be....

Actually, on the Interstate, I have found that Ch19 is much more efficient as a speed trap warning, too...

 

[Andrew Homan]

Chris, is it a radar detector or a laser detector? If your local heat is using a laser your radar detector is useless, Which I think they are anyway. I don't know how many tickets I've wrote to people who have them. Plus in court judges can see them as a sign that you speed. If they are using a laser your hosed. The one I use cost about $4k and works about a 1/2 mile away. You may know this but it shoots a very small ultra violet light that is coded to that laser. Kinda like dna for light if you will. If you have a laser detector you can pick it up but the beam has to hit the detector and like I said before that beam is small and so is the detector. I aim for front license plates because of their reflective nature. If the detector is not there you won't be warned. And even if it goes off the laser ( and radar for that matter) travels at the speed of light so no time to react. Unfortuntately this technology doesn't help make up for some chicken shit cops who will write tickets for speeds barely over the limit. Sorry I'm not one of them.

Remember radar will shoot a large cone of radio waves. It select the fastest, largets and closest moving targets. So if you are next to semi going 70 and you are doing 75 the semi might give the reading. Thats why we have to use visual observations with the reading. A laser is vehicle specific. Put the dot on the car you want and hold it very still. If it is not still enough no reading! the good thing about this is there are no multiple readings flashing back and forth.

Sorry to say I'm so what of an expert in this field. Maybe it's time to transfer back into narcotics. Save the money from the detector and buy rover parts.

Cheers Andy 95 D1

 

[Andrew Homan]

Ryan the -10 mph could be where he locked the reading. Typically you track the vehicle and he may have locked the radar as you were slowing down. May not be the case but often the reading on the radar is a slower speed than alledged, because most people slow down whe they see the cop. Hell I still do and I've bee doing it ten years. Wasn't there so I don't know just some speculation.

Cheers Andy 95 D1

 

[csfloyd]

I already have the detector

The detector came off my 350Z, and if they are using laser here in NC, it's the minority of cops.

I already have the detector. The detector (a mid-range Bell model) has saved my ass *many* times in the Z. I usually only get about a 4-5 second warning before I see the cop, which probably means a 2-3 second warning before he has a read on me.

The trick is knowing all the places where there are false alarms...
Also, most of the cops around here (and probably everywhere) 'blip' their radar at passing cars, so there isn't a constant signal. But if a cop is doing that 1/2 mile up, you still pick up the blips (at least with my detector you do). I know the "Valentine 1" is supposed to be a better detector, but mine seems to work, and since I have it, I might as well use it.

As far as Virginia, DC, etc... The power connector on the unit can be unhooked and it can be taken down just as easily as if it were using the cig-adapter. There is just no annoying cable running up the dash and up the middle of the windscreen.

I'll probably do the radio-fuse location. Thanks!

-Chris Floyd
Raleigh, NC

 

[Eric N.]

Alyssa, you could get a cordless radar detector. I have a Escort Solo S2 which is cordless and it works pretty well. If you want to learn more about how radar detectors stack up against each other then go check out www.radarbusters.com. They have a nice testing section.

 

[Joey]

Interesting Thread, I have ran CB's in Vehicles for years (about 18) in that time I have found that Truckers have become more modern so to speak. Basically they care only about themselves and wouldn't offer you any info on speed traps unless they just happen to be in a real good mood. About the only thing I have found that the CB is good for anymore is to listen to a bunch of young mouthy kids cursing about how they think other people can't drive....so I haven't even been turning mine on lately.

As far a Radar Detectors go, they are only as good as the Operator. If you know your detector works properly (I use a Valentine One) and you know how to listen for false alarms when they are given - doesn't normally happen to mine. You slow down when you hear it go off even a little, mine has picked up radar and laser long before I even see the Officer. As Andrew stated, laser is a small beam and they point in at the most reflective part of the vehicle...which with reflect the beam in more than one direction. So if you have a good laser detector you will get a reading.

The last speeding ticket I received I have no idea who the officer was clocking, I had the cruise set at 65 in VA and he stated he clocked me at 75....just goes to show you sometimes Radar Detector or not you can still get a ticket. I would have fought the ticket, but I was leaving before the court date for Desert Storm.

Normally I don't even put my Detector in my Disco, just don't drive that fast, usually set the cruise around 77 or 78 mph in WV they normally will not touch you unless you are over 80.

In my car my radar detector doesn't even work and I have to have an external antenna for my GPS (something in the windshield).

 

[Alyssa]

Alyssa, you could get a cordless radar detector. I have a Escort Solo S2 which is cordless and it works pretty well. If you want to learn more about how radar detectors stack up against each other then go check out www.radarbusters.com. They have a nice testing section.

Hmmm. Hadn't thought about that. But since we just got this one recently I'm probably going to stick with it. ...and hey, what should you know-- you live in VA!

And as a side point, doesn't everyone just call them RADAR detectors, no matter whether they detect radar, laser, moon beams, whatever? Isn't it like calling a tissue a Kleenex, but without the brand name implication?

 

[rmuller]

If radar detectors are still effective is an arguement a lot of people like to have.. but I'd just have to say, the only two times i've ever gotten speeding tickets is when I have not had a radar detector in my car.. once when I was borrowing a car, then when I first got my rover I have didn't put it in right away, and of course a couple weeks later I got one..

I'm not an excessive speeder, but my track record is, when I've had a radar detector in the car, I've been safe..

If you want the ultimate protection to avoid speeding tickets, add a winch bumper w/ a winch, a roof rack, some pelican cases, a fridge in the back, etc.. then you wont be able to go fast

 

[Axel]

Interesting Thread, I have ran CB's in Vehicles for years (about 18) in that time I have found that Truckers have become more modern so to speak. Basically they care only about themselves and wouldn't offer you any info on speed traps unless they just happen to be in a real good mood.

Depends on where you drive. In and around big cities where there are a lot of local trucks around, what you say is pretty much true. I rarely put the CB on when I am at home. But on the major cross country interstates where you get more long haul truckers, I have found that the information on Ch19 is much more useful - if you can stand listening to all the chit-chat in between the interesting stuff.

Also, truckers tend not to give you the time of day if they think you are in a regular car (four wheeler, as they call it). There is a trick to get around that, however. If you have a female travelling in the car with you, have her get on the CB and request whatever information you need. Sexist and not PC I know, but it's a fact of life on the road.......

 

[Disco_Stu]

I lived up in Northern Virginia for a few years, and went into DC fairly often, and I always had my detector on. Of course back then I had a cheaper one then I do now, but not once did I ever get in trouble for it. In fact I got pulled over twice in VA, once for speeding, once for something else, and both times the cops just said "you know those are illegal right?" I responded with a yes and that was the end of the conversation. And I recently drove through VA to the Outer Banks with my Valentine on the whole way, without any issues (in fact my buddy was behind me with his radar detector on).

As for radar detectors not working against "Police equipment costing thousands of dollars" it mostly comes down to understanding how radar, and laser work, knowing what equipment is being used in your area, and understanding how your particular unit reponds. They most certainly do work, but you definitely get what you pay for in a radar detector. And you have to know how to use and understand what they are doing. Also for those of you that live in an area with Laser look into a laser jammer like the Lidatek or similar.

I am a habitual speeder, always have been, and probably always will. I am doing about 80 or better whenever I am on the interstate, so the radar detector is just one component of several different measures I take to keep myself out of trouble, as much as I can.

And I agree about CH19 on the CB, you will find more detailed information about where cops are hiding on their than you can imagine, which is one main reason I have a CB in my car as well.

 

[skydiver]

The detector came off my 350Z, and if they are using laser here in NC, it's the minority of cops.

I already have the detector. The detector (a mid-range Bell model) has saved my ass *many* times in the Z. I usually only get about a 4-5 second warning before I see the cop, which probably means a 2-3 second warning before he has a read on me.

Is it a remote mount unit (ie 615StIR, 815StIR,915StIR, etc) ?

I've installed a bunch of these in my various vehicles, and for friends & family.
I have a 915StIR in my DII. I took the antenna out of the housing, and have it mounted under the binacle cover (plenty of room in there.) In my old DI, I had the antenna mounted behind the front (plastic) grill.

Email me if you want to chat more about mounting ideas...

-Tommy