I am trading in my current 04 MC for an 05. Currently I have my Valentine One wired to the clock in the head liner which I did myself by "popping" the clock out and splcing the red/green wire to the V1 power cable, then mounting the ground to a screw up in there.

My question is, now that the 2005's no longer have the clock there, am I able to do the same thing using the map light/ambeint light that has taken the place of the clock. Does it pop out easily, and if so...can I wire it to the same red/green wire?

Any ideas are appreciated...

 

Just run it down the a-pillar and behind the fuse box and tap into the green wire of the obd-tool port behind the knee bolster under the steering wheel. It's so easy.

 

I would but I dont know what wire your talking about. I dont wanna mess with the power to the OBD and I dont want the wire running across my headliner over to the a-pillar

 

the V1 wire tucks right inbetween the windshield and the headliner, nothing has to be removed. Doesn't get easier than that. And if you look under your knee bolster about inline with the clutch pedal, you will see the port for the OBD. Drop down the knee bolster by pulling hard and you will see the wiring for the OBD. Just grab the green one and clip into it using the supplied splice connector from Valentine or get more at radio shack. It's switched power too, so it comes on/goes off with the car.
easy peasy. :smile:

 

Sounds good, where can i ground down there?

 

Shoot, now you had to go and ask a hard question!

You know, it's been so long, but I'm pretty sure i grounded it to a metal brace under there.

 

All the 05 have 12v switched power going to the mirror even if you do not have the autodimming mirror. I wired my Passport 8500 to this power on my MCS Cabrio by dropping down the light assembly and splicing the wire and drilled a hole for the ground. The install was faster and easier than my 03 cooper, and it is off when the key is off.

 

MINI Rolls:

What is involved in dropping the ambient lights, and what color wire is the one I should splice into?

 

Mini-rolls has info at www.psmini.org in how to forum.

 

The attached photos show the light panel removed, on the cabrio it has two spring clips on the side to the rear of the car, gently pry down on the light panel with a screw driver, I wrapped it with a cloth, and the panel will come out. Unplug the cannon plug and set the light aside. The Wire going to the mirror is green and yellow; check it for power with a test light or multi-meter, a sharp point on the tester will go through the plastic of the wire with no problem. I then used a quick splice so that I did not have to cut the wire and it is removable. Drilled a hole in the frame and attached the ground and done. Pretty easy.

 

Awesome, thanks Rolls. One more question...what is a quick splice? I hate cutting into wires.

 

A quick splice is a an adapter that clips on a wire and the second wire sits in inside of it also. There is a metal piece in the middle of the splice and that metal piece pushes down into the splice and nicks through the outside cover of the wire and allows current to flow across one wire to the other. When you want to remove it you pry it open pull out the wire and put a small piece of tape over the spot. I use these in the brakelight mod kits that I sell.

Here is a photo of what they look like, you can get them at most auto parts stores and places like target or Walmart.

 

One other thing, you can feed the wire under the front of the headliner at the top of the windshield and it tucks away very nicely. All theextra wire can remain in the headliner.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

I did mine by running the wire down the driver's side A pillar tothe fuse box. Got power from one of the accesory fuses by using a add-a-fuse that I got at Autozone. Beauty of this is that no wires were cut, tapped or spliced. I got ground off of one the bolts by the fuse box.

 

I've had Valentine Ones for a long time and I've always tried to "switch" them. In the '05 Mini I used the overhead switch for the right map lite. I removed the bulb and wired directly to the socket. You can even "store" the bulb in the plastic housing.

The socket automatically dims and turns off after the doors have been closed so your V1 won't run the battery down if you forget about turning it off. The main reason for the switch preference is if you pick up a bogey at night and he's right behind you - you can quickly kill the detector (giving an innocent appearance).

 

That's why I like having the concealed display



It is also good since you can place it lower, in the vicinity of the gauges/nav, rather then having to look up.

 

I Hard Wired mine today , and thanks to all of ya`lls input made it a very easy operation.

Heres where mine ended up .

 

Looks good! That's how I wired mine.

 

This is just a preference thing. If you can have a short wire run and still have the power you then so be it. Running from the light assembly and just having wire shorter is better for me. The small piece of the headliner in the CABRIO is hard plastic not same as the hardtop, so running under the headliner is much more difficult. Popping the mirror off and putting the power plug out the front was simple, this install took all of 10 minutes. But for those that want to run to the fuse box that is your choice.

Here is the install completed;

 

MINI Rolls, I got an 05 hardtop as a loaner today (still waiting for mine to come in) and I popped off the map light assembly to see what you were talking about. Much to my chagrin there are no cords running to the mirror so this must be a cabrio only thing. However there are three cords running to the map lights much like the cords in the 04 clock. Do you know if I can hardwire to any of these? If so, which one?

 

There is a switched power supply that goes to the passenger airbag light in the light assembly. Even though this light only comes on when you turn on the ignition and stays on for a few seconds, the power going to it is 12 volts and stays hot while the ignition is on. I wired my V1 here and used the large antenna nut as the ground - very easy installation.

 

A little off topic, but I just got my V1 in the mail toady... what mode do you run yours on and what type of area do you live?


I live in Houston, a metropolitan area and was wondering if I should use the logic modes....

 

oooo good thinking! Do you have any pix or directions?

 

The first adjustment I made to the V1 was to deactivate the X band. Very few police agencies used this anymore and there are just too many false alarms on x band.

As far as installation goes - remove the light assembly by gently prying down the front edge (edge closest to the driver). There are two spring clips holding the front edge. Remove the harness and put this assembly aside. You can reach inside and slide off the connector to the airbag light. I don't remember which of the two wires is hot but a voltmeter can easily be used. The ignition switch must be on to get the reading. Splice into this hot wire.
I then removed the antenna nut and attached the ground wire to the metal
guide and reattached the nut. Probably will take about an hour.