I am thinking to buy a radar detector, however, the one I am interested was pretty long and narrow.. (passport 8500 X50)

most of people put it in front of the window. This is not bad except you hard wiring it, otherwise if you wanna use the 12V plug in, then the wire will be so messy.

so where did everyone put it in his/her car? any pic for my reference?
thx

 

Hardwired:



Remote mute and light:


Hardwiring is REALLY easy, but if you want something to make the 12v plug easier to use, I could hook you up with this:


Just shoot me a PM.

 

That is nice looking...

I went to the futureshop yesterday, the sales told me i need to order hardwire from the manuefactory of passport 8500. that will costs me 100 bucks... Do you know where can i get CHEAPER hardwire for passport 8500 X50 from?

 

if you even have basic electronic knowledge and a few hours to kill i would recommend doing it yourself, the hardwire cable from escort is 20-30 dollars (could probably find it cheaper on ebay) and another few dollars at radio shack. there are multiple walkthroughs on here, and the many that have done it already would be glad to help if you have any extra questions

 

ebay has em for cheap.... about 10 bucks without the indicator modual. its just reg. telphone wire with a fuse.

 

plz code me the specific hardwire stuff name in order to hardwiring it?

1.hadwire cable from escort
2...
3...


anything else?

thx , i am nooby on electonic behavious...

 

To hardwire an 8500 X50 (did it this past month):

1) Go to best buy and get their hardwire kit (doesnt matter if it doesnt work with the X50, it already has the wires mostly pre-soldered....fuse holder is integrated), its like $10.99 or something like that.

2) Get a length of phone chord long enough to make it from the detector to where it hides behind the trim (so the upcoming solder is not visible). Cut the phone chord and strip the red and green wires.

3) Next, cut the power chord from the kit at the adapter for the detector, and strip both wires.

4) Then solder the "red" phone chord wire to the wire on the power chord that has the inline fuse holder.

5) Next solder the "green" phone chord wire to the power wire that does NOT have the fuse holder (only other wire).

6) Then connect the ground wire to the bolt next to the fuse box on the driver's side (quite a few things grounded to it already) and the power to the 10A accessory fuse (lower left, I believe...check the chart to make sure its the one....nothing should be plugged into it). You should now be good to go.

Oh, and make sure to properly protect your solders.....dont want any of those volts getting through! You might also need to change out the adapter on the power chord, where it connects to the fuse box...cant remember, though.

This will work just like ruexp's one, but there will be no "auto mute" buttom to mount up (will have to be silenced by the button on the unit), but that is not really a problem in the S, in an SUV maybe...

Power Chord
This one will work, all you have to do is cut the phone chord tip off, and re-solder the phone chord length you have cut above to the proper wires described above.

John

 

I did a somewhat crude but clean kluge.

1st I removed the drivers visor and mount. Just a couple of screws. I find the visor in my AP1 is nearly useless anyway. (I keep a duckbill cap under the seat just in case).

2nd I removed the suction cups from the window holder and mounted the clip with short screws drilled into the header (I suggest using large headed, pan head 1/4" long sheet metal screws painted black). I mounted the clip so the detector top just level with the bottom of the header as close to the car center as posssible.

3rd I just worked the black cord around the window and down the pillar by working it under the trim rubber and pillar plastic. Down to the fuse block in the drivers left foot-well side. KEEP IN MIND MY BUILD YEAR 2001, LATER MODELS MAY HAVE THE FUSE BLOCK RELOCATED.

4th Use a volt meter or a car test light (12vdc) to find a fuse block point that comes on with the ignition switch. My was the spade type so I bought a female spade and crimped it on the + side of the radar detector cable (you may need an electrical type to tell this, I just cut the cable near the lighter plug and measured which cable had voltage when in the lighter). I also mounted a 2 amp in line fuse in series with the female spade. Strip the insulation off the wires to use Butt splices (or even small grey wire nuts in a pinch) will work good for this. Then mount the other power wire to a ground screw attached to metal in the fire wall area.
Note: all these things, in line fuse, butt splice, spade plug etc can be got at a Radio Shack, ask a salesman and explain what you want to do and ask him how to crimp etc if you are a novice. Bring the detector and power cord with you.

5th Dressed the wire nicely at the top to the radar detector with phone cable tie down (black), but leave some slack to unplug it when you want to yank the detector (parking with top down etc).

The unit now is permanent and comes on every time I start the car. I have an Escort 8500 regular unit.

 

The best place for a radar in an s2000 is to the left or to the right of the rearview mirror. That way, it has a clear view of the front, and if you have a V1, of the back.

 

And if it's to the right of the mirror and flys off, it hits the passenger in the head, and to the left of the mirror hits the driver in the head.

I vote for the right side myself.