Ditto all the above about the value of a V-1.

I have "semi-hard wired" mine as follows:
The unit itself is mounted with suction cups just to the left of the interior rear-view mirror.
The wire runs:
1) from the cigarette lighter in front of the shift lever up under the dash to the passenger door frame.
2) hidden behind the door frame weather seal, then up the "A" pillar behind the interior trim to the headliner.
3) hidden under the headliner, running across the front of the car right behind the windshield.
4) the telephone-jack end-piece is left exposed jutting out from the headliner - there's a small set-back area dead center in the windshield and it fits there perfectly.
Normally the detector is in my glove box - no point in tempting someone to smash a window and take it. There's about 3 inches of slack in the wire in the headliner; when I need to use the detector, I mount it by the mirror, pull the slack length of wire out of the headliner, plug it in and go. The wire Valentine supplied that has the cigarette lighter adaptor on it was just exactly the right length to do this without problems. I didn't hardwire it because I'm too lazy to go looking for a power source wire.

 

I am ready to hardwire my V1 now. Can someone tell me how to remove the driver's side cover on the pillar?

Thanks for any info.

Pete

 

I simply used a small screwdriver to pull up the edge of the trim piece so I could slip the cable inside. . .

 

I know a guy who lived in a radar illegal state who mounted his detector behind the grill of his car and then wired the light into his 'brake light' (the one that indicates a brake failure) in this case it warned him that it was time to use the brakes.

I've used the V1 and the escort, radar detectors usually pay for themselves very quickly, but even if you're obeying the speed limits, sometimes its nice simply to know where the police are.

 

Sorry about this, but, why do you need something to tell you if police cars are near you?

 

Today I wasn't running my detector, pulling on to the highway, the onramp makes a sharp 90 degree turn, I was accelarating (I know thats not spelled right) and had to slam on the brakes cause an officer had someone pulled over. If I had my detector on I would have waited to accelarate, making things safer as the pavement was still wet. It is also a bit comfort to know because out here in the burbs the police rarely use their sirens, just lights if that and ignore traffic control devices, I perefer to know when they are coming so I can get out of the way, and let them do their job.

 

I have had a V1 for several years and it works well but you will still get caught with instant on radar that police use if no one is in front of you for a long distance. I find using the cruise control is my best defense from going too fast.

Colorado's finest caugth me with instant on at 11 over on I-70 when I was driving my new car home from KC. I wasn't using cruise control because I was still varing my speed and RPM during break in and mentioning this didn't help any, the department of revenue needed the money. In Oregon 11 over would not normally get one a ticket on the freeway but our max speed is only 65 mph.

I put some small 3M velcro like plastic connectors in the center of my dash and I mount my Garmin GPS on top of the detector. I made a DC adapter to plug both units into and a cord goes down to the cigarette lighter jack. When parked it is easy to grab both and put them in the glove box.

In a 99 Acura CL I used the dome light by the reveiw mirror for power and hard wired a power cable to it. The cover popped off easily so it was easy to get to the connectors. I would leave the short cord above the visor when I didn't have the detector mounted. The MINI has lights in the same place but I haven't tried to see how difficult it is to remove the assembly but there would be power there to use so one wouldn't have to run a wire down to the dash area.

 

My V1 is behind the RV mirror where I can't see it (and don't want to - small enough windshield already!). I used the "stealth" accesory remote, mounting that under the toggle switch panel tapping into the cigarette lighter's power (running down the tube out of sight) and then running the "phone cord" up the passenger pillar behind the weather stripping and then stuffed above the headliner to the middle of the windshield where the detector itself is suctioned to the windshield. Install was easy and quick. The 'rear' sensor is on the right side of the unit and just clears the RV mirror. By tapping into the cigarette lighter's power, the unit switches itself on and off with the car as I really can't see it. This is a perfect install for me - I don't even know its there!

FWIW.... Valentine rocks, hardly falses and when its a chirpin there's always radar lurking.

 

The V1 website mentions a few specific models that emit a laser-like light from the 3rd brakelight. I've noticed it happening quite a bit, actually. I think I also had a Caddy behind me recently with some kind of *radar* blasting away. It gets a little annoying around the city sometimes. I've talked with GBMINI about working up a circuit to tie into the phone and R/T MFSW buttons to function as the mute button and also to trip a relay for power so I can turn the V1 off easily. Given the way the R/T button seems to work, however, I may just modify the MFSW's wiring harness to re-route those wires.

 

You probably know this, but that's not the optimal location. It needs to be as high as possible to "see" the radar with as much range as possible. I went with the remote display velcroed to the dash next to the tach (which gives me perfect visibility to it) and the V1 suctioned to the windshield to the right of the rearview mirror. It's still fairly easy to remove the V1 from either the clip or remove the clip from the windshield, and the power cable is tucked up into the headliner. Lots of other folks have done the same thing. Having spent such a large chunk of cash on the V1, I *really* want to get the best performance out of it. ;-)

 

As YuccaPatrol said, you don't need to remove it. In fact, the Bentley manual says that you *destroy* the cover when removing it and must have a new one ready to replace it. I don't really buy that; how many of those parts do you think the dealership goes through chasing down rattles?! :-)

I used the power cable that came with the V1 and ran the cord from just to the right of the rearview mirror, and left to the A pillar. I then used a plastic putty knife to stuff the cable behind that trim piece. In places I was able to just push the cord between the glass and the trim, but in others I had to gently pry the trim away from the glass to give a little more space for the cord. I popped off the access panel on the left side of the dash and ran the cord through there and down to the fuse panel. You have to know where to look to even see it; it's not perfect, but I never see it day-to-day.

 

Speeding with nobody in front of you is probably the best way to get nabbed. :-)

There's an article on Gizmodo by Alex Roy of Gumball fame that talks about radar detectors and has major kudos for the V1. He mentions keeping traffic about a half mile ahead of you. I've got a lousy sense of distance, so I brought a stopwatch with me on my last roadtrip and worked out just how far half a mile away is at, say (for argument's sake) 90mph. That means your canary (or sacrificial lamb, if you like) has to reach a reference point 22.5 seconds ahead of you. It's almost as far as you can see! And it's tough to judge that car's speed from so far back. But the V1 can detect even instant-on radar emissions from at least that far away, so you just hope the cop's satisfying his curiosity with other less-egregious offenders and inadvertently gives away his presence.

Closed course, professional driver, don't try this at home, yadda yadda yadda. ;-)

 

Has anyone tried tapping into the clock's ignition power'd portion to power the V1? I haven't taken voltage readings, but I think an idea mounting location would be right next to the clock above the mirror, the surface area is large enough and there is a good gap between the roof and the mirror.

 

I used the power from the passenger airbag light. Really simple to splice into with the included splice kit. There is even a hole you can simply use with a metal screw for the ground. Took about 5 minutes.

 

This location is best when you have the optional remote piece - otherwise its hard to see/read up there (i.e.out of direct line of sight).

 

Any pics by chance of the Magellan install?