Crusader Rabbit

Hi all,

Looking for some help/advice here from those of you who have hard wired in devices (eg. radar/laser detectors) and/or are "electronically minded"!!. I know Pete, Cedric, Adam and others have posted on this before (have read all the posts) but I seem to be having problems!.

I'll state up front.......I'm 100% clueless about this sort of thing (didn't even know what a spade connector was until I bought them in Halfords last night!) so apologies if I am doing something stupid!.

Bought a Snooper S6 Neo in the group buy and tried to hard wire it in last night based on various instructions posted in previous threads.

The S6 comes with a wire for you to hard wire the unit in. It is twin core which splits at one end (one +ve to hook up to the power and one -ve to earth). It has an in-line fuse already built in.

Based on previous threads I decided to put a female spade connector on the end of the +ve wire and plug this into one of the three spare spade terminals underneath the dash (where your right knee normally is). Based on photo's provided I was aiming to plug it into the "ignition on" terminal.

Did all of the above twice and on both occasions could not get power to the unit. I then tried all three terminals, again with no result.

The unit works OK (tried on mains power and also cigarette lighter). Also checked the in-line fuse and this seems OK too. Tried getting power when ignition off and on........again no result!.

I'm basically stuck and not sure now what to do. My only other thought was that I had not put the female spade connector on properly (ie. not a clean connection). Never used these before but how hard can it be?.......put wire into little hole, clamp down with pliers to "pinch" wire........voila?.

Starting to run out of +ve wire now (not much wire before in-line fuse and have had to cut two spade connectors off already!) so cannot afford many more mistakes!.

Any comments/advice/thoughts from anyone out there?.

Alternatively, I've heard that I could hard wire this onto any live wire under the dash with a piggy back clip (as I have in in-line fuse in the wire already). Not sure what these are or how to go about doing this but again, advice welcome!.

Apologies for long note but hopefully this may help others as well.........those who also bought S6's in the group buy as well as anyone else looking to hard wire in units, clocks etc. etc.

THANKS!.

Neil

Frenchie

Neil, you've not said anything about the negative wire. What have you connected that to? Are you sure it's a good grounding to earth?

Back in the early days, when I had an MG Midget, I made a little test rig. Still got it

Take two long wires and a spare, say, sidelamp, bulb (but any 12v bulb will do really). Fix the wires to the + and - part of the bulb, then use the rig to test any connections you're thinking of using.

HTH

Pete

PS
Quite often what look like a good earth point, isn't due to the amount of non-metal bits used in modern cars. Just because you can see a bolt head, doesn't mean to say it will provide a connection back to earth. Find an existing negative connection (I think there's one on the steering column) or piggy-back off an existing one

simmo

Hi Neil,

Check out this thread done by Frisky. The last Pic shows where to put the positve spade for LIVE when the ignition is on.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...threadid=106330

The Best earth point is on the wing next to the fuse box. You will need a small socket set and extension bar to reach the Screw and a socket which was either 6 -10 not to sure.
If you look at the fuse box then look to the right and up there is a brass screw with lots of earths on.

You will need an earth connector with the hole in the middle with about a six mil hole in. Undo this screw and be careful not to drop it into the trim.

In all it took about 5 minutes to do, when installing the R/A and Bel.

Crusader Rabbit

Cheers Pete!.

So let me check.......and my total ignorance of electronics is about to shine through here......if I didn't have the -ve wire earthed to anything (ie. flapping about in the footwell!!) then the unit would not work ie. must have it properly earthed to work?.

I had planned to get it working first and then find a suitable earthing point but sounds like you need to do this in order to make it work!!!.

If this is the case then I'll give it another go tonight and then also go out and buy myself a "plonkers guide to wiring" book from WHSmith!!.

Cheers Pete!.....once more to the rescue!.

Crusader Rabbit

Simmo,

Thanks for the advice. Frisky's piccies were really useful to identify the right terminal!. Problem seems to be that I did not earth the -ve wire!!!. I'll try to find a suitable earthing point and your comments on this will be really useful!.

Thanks again!.

Neil

Nick Graves

Neil,

I'm sorry if this reads a bit patronising, but if you really are unsure about electrics, it is important that you realise the following:

Your car has what is known as negative earth electrics. The positive lead fron the battery is wired via the fuse box to things. Things are then attached on their negative side to the bodyshell, so is the battery. Thus the bodyshell acts as a wire back to the battery completing the circuit.

It is therefore essential that your positive wire is properly insulated, including the spade connector and any joins you have made in the wire are covered with proper insulating tape. Otherwise, if the live wire touches the body, it will short circuit, and with no resistance become very hot, and your car may catch fire.

That is also why you should ensure all joins are good ones, so they don't overheat (although your detector doesn't draw too much current, so this is less of an issue).

If in doubt, seek professional help.

Chris Type R

Theres a good earth point about 2 - 3 inches above & right of where you've connected the positive. You will see a number of wires(4/5) with round connectors attached to the body with a size 8 or 10 bolt. You will need a largish round connector (from halfords to link your neg wire. A picture would be worth a 1k words, sadly I don't have one

Chris

Frenchie

Correct.... as you've discovered .

FYI, Car electrics jargon (i.e. "earth") is not the same as house electrics.

You need to have the current flow from the + side of the battery (i.e. via the fuse box) down the + wire to and through the unit/item you're powering , down the - wire to an earthing (or more correctly grounding) point from whence it flows back through the body to to the negative side of the battery. If this continuous flow is interrupted at any point, the electricity ceases to flow.

Glad you have it sorted, anyway

Pete

Crusader Rabbit

Thanks for all the advice guys!.

Will hopefully try again tonight assuming I can get away from work in the daylight hours!.

Nick.......your note was really helpful!. Cheers!. I think I've got all the bits I need now........fully insulated female spade connectors, ring connectors for the earth and so on (Halfords is useful for something I guess!). No joins in the wiring so no issue there!.

One question did come up.........the spade connectors etc. come with different fuse ratings (5 amp fuse, 15 amp fuse etc). Does it matter which one I use?. If in doubt, the higher the better?. Also, not clear which one is which........in typical Halfords form they are colour coded but there is no explanation as to which is which!.

Thanks for all the help.......as you can see, not my area of expertise!. If anyone ever wants to know about the regulatory environment for health and beauty care products........I'm your man!........I do know something about that!!.

Frenchie

I'm no expert either, but I would say that, as the current you will be drawing is very small, you need use only the lightest (i.e. smallest) amperage rating for your spade connector

Pete