not to just jump in on here, but in my friends cavalier, we are working on ripping apart the radar detector he has and running speaker wire from the little speaker in there to a larger tweeter in the vehicle itself, where the radar will be mounted in the grill of the car with silicone to keep it waterproof

the thing will be completely hidden, and you will only see the tweeter that will be mounted somewhere on the dash

probably more work than you want, but if you want something that isnt noticable and you dont have to deal with this is the way to go, just run a toggle to the power wire and your set after hardwiring it to the battery

 

Some radar detectors have remote displays so you can mount them inside your bumper and use the remote display inside. I think the V1 might have one.

 

These are what I used:

Ground: http://www.monstercable.com/mpc/productPag...p;section=power

Power: http://www.monstercable.com/mpc/productPag...p;section=power

Or, you could go with an ATC fuse style block:

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productse...sp?Product=4402




It does, but the V1 is not weatherproof.

 

Wow, that last link is absotively perfect! And that does power for each side, then you just ground to the frame right?

I started looking at more of these Cobra, I want one that does power and ground in one unit. What do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Boat-Marine...emZ120311348066
I think this one does both in one unit.

This is the same one, different picture.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BOAT-ATO-AT...emZ330274367911


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Boat-Marine...emZ120311348083
This is the same type, larger unit.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ATO-ATC-Fus...emZ280153239576


I'm leaning towards getting 2 of the smaller blocks, and have one switched and the other to the keyed power. I figure 6 or 10 on each should be good, and chain the 2 of them together with a switch in between, then I can get rid of my current distro box that has the spring loaded clamp things. I hate it.

 

Yeah, the silver square area is your ground bus. You connect ground from your accessories to the spades with female spade connectors then run at least an 8Ga. ground wire with a ring terminal from the big stud in the middle of the ground area to either the chassis or the battery. If you look at your battery's negative terminal, you should see at least one wire that goes to the chassis somewhere. Where it attaches to the chassis, there's probably a few ground wires there. I'd run the ground back to this point. I'd also add up the amperage for all of the fuses you decide to run on the block and run an inline fuse on the power wire equal to the total amperage. I'd power the block with an 8Ga. wire. Place the inline fuse within 12" of the battery.

 

http://bluesea.com/category/5/21/products/5025

I just picked up 2 of these. Kinda overkill, but with some split spade connectors, I'll never have to worry about my stuff again.

What do you guys think?

I'll just need to run a decent power wire, split it into 2 , with one going to a switch to one of these, and the other not, both only powered when the key is on.

I might have a power line I can already tap, but I think when I pull everything else out, I'll just continue to tap the lighter socket, as I don't use it for anything else and it's pretty decent. Nothing on here draws much power, it's all lighting and 2 small LCD screens.

 

open sunglasses cover
remove sunglasses
remove clear map light covers
remove 4 screws on the corners of the sunroof console
drop sunroof console down
using a knife, remove some of the shielding from a wire leading to the sunroof switch, just enough to expose wire, but do not damage the wire
hook up multimeter from a ground bolt on the chassis to the bear wire
turn on car and turn off car to verify reading changes
use electrical tape to seal the shielding back off
once you find the hot-at-on wire, use a wire tap to access power from it
if the load exceeds 1-2 amps, then use a relay to get power from elsewhere, or run a wire directly to the lighter socket.
hook your power to the identified wire
hook ground to a bolt using a crimp connector
replace 4 screws
replace map light covers
replace sunglasses
close sunglasses cover

 

I don't know how I feel about running 2 LCD's off the lighter. That's only like a 18Ga. wire. I'd run 8Ga. to one block then jump over to the other block with another 8Ga. with a remote switched breaker in between. The breaker will function as a switch to let you turn off the second block and will also function like a fuse. If you can't find a remote switched one, just put the breaker somewhere accessible, like in the glovebox. My $.02.

 

I ended up getting a power socket from AutoZone and putting it behind my shifter console, then running the wire up above my vents. It beat hacking up my power supply and was about the easiest solution, plus it only cost me $5 and about 30min. I have about a 3" stub of wire coming out of my dash.

 

I think he meant 2 LED displays. There aren't too many radar detectors that come with LCDs. Small LCDs like the ones on GPS units do not draw much power either.