Valentine 1 mounting

[Medman]

Hi there gang,

Just wondering, for those of you who own a Valentine 1 radar dectector, where did you mount the main unit for the best results. I've toyed around with several ideas, but I wanted several opinions before I install mine.

[WyrreJ]

Right above the mirror on the right side. Up as high as possible and as close to center as possible is the best position.

[Yefim]

I have mine right below the mirror in the middle. Didn't have time to run the wiring from the map lights so just using a lighter adapter now. If someone wired it permanently please let me know how you did it.

thanks!

[autox-racer]

I mounted my just under mirror and ran wire under edge of head liner(good idea to tie knot in wire so it will not pull out from HL) to drivers A pillar then treaded down to the fuse box area.

This was using the V1 wire provided with in line fuse. Kind of wish i had their remote button. I have to reach up to hit mute and it is "just" out of reach in my driving possition.

[driver3]

I mounted mine just to the left of the mirror, ran the hard wire across the top of the headliner and down the a pillar. I can reach it from where I sit, the rear sensor has a good view out the back window, it's really nice, beep, and glance to the right...

[VehiGAZ]

I finally hard-wired the power cord for my Valentine the other day. I ran the wire to the dash as driver3 described, and tapped into a switched-power wire on a conveniently-located wiring harness. If anyone is interested, I'll post the pics showing how I wired it and where I mounted it all. Let me know...

[Tone]

ABOVE the mirror for best distance and theft protection - add an eyebrow of non metallic tint. I've been stopped many times and never had it noticed either.

[xdfarrx]

Could someone post a pic of there install?
thanks!

[dog]

Attached by a velcro strip to the dash, left side near post.

[VehiGAZ]

I'll post my pics later tonight, along with a quick how-to description.

[driver3]

Attached by a velcro strip to the dash, left side near post.

You won't get very good rear protection that way, that back window is really high up there...

[VehiGAZ]

Ok, here we go:

I hard-wired the power cord for my Valentine 1 radar detector into the VX electrical system behind the dash for a neat, unobtrusive installation. It came with the necessary wires and power connector, so I will assume you have those. I am writing this from memory, so it may not be 100% accurate, but you should be able to figure out anywhere I messed up.

1) Interior Dissassembly:

Pull passenger side door gasket/seal away from the door frame from below the dash to the top of the A-pillar. Carefully pry off the light grey A-pillar trim piece from the TOP, then pull up to remove it from the slot it hooks into on the bottom. Next, remove the lower dash right-side end-piece by removing two screws. Then, remove the two screws holding the glove box hinges underneath the glove box. Hold the box with one hand, open the latch with the other, and remove the glove box. Don't lose your screws!

2) Install power cord:

Wash your hands! Dirty hands will make a mess of the headliner.

Leave a couple of inches of the power cord free near the rear-view mirror (you can run it through the middle of the coiled wire if you're feeling fancy), and pass the power cord through the notch in the headliner that the coiled wire for the rear-view mirror runs through. See the picture below.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/V1_005.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/V1_005.jpg)

Straighten out the power cord and run it toward the passenger side A-pillar, tucking it under the front edge of the headliner all the way. Use a clean pointy object to get it under the edge of the headliner, if necessary. Run the power cord down the A-pillar behind the sharp finger-slicing bracket and cable-tie it to the other small wires, one at the top and one at the bottom, tightening the power cord to reduce slack. Next, pass the power cord down through the hole between the dash and the A-pillar, and pull it down under the dash.

3) Power Connector wiring:

I decided I wanted the power adaptor as close to the lower center console as possible, so if I ever got the remote display, I could run its wire between the glove box and the center console and hook it into the connector. The rest of this install only makes sense with that in mind. Otherwise, you could easily locate the power connector on the far right side behind the dash and be done with it.

Anyway, I used the blue plastic wire tap thingy provided with the Valentine to tap into a switched positive wire I found in the wiring harness, as seen on the right side of the picture below. DON'T TAP IN WITHOUT CHECKING THE WIRE ON YOUR OWN! Maybe the same wire in your VX will work, maybe it won't. Check it with a multimeter with the key on RUN and with it OFF to make sure. The red wire from the power connector plugs into the blue plastic wire tap thingy.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/V1_004.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/V1_004.jpg)

Next, I drilled a hole through the silvery metal dash frame and used a spare self-tapping screw to ground the black wire, as seen on the left side of the above picture.

4) Power Connector mounting:

I used two self-adhesive cable-tie anchors for this part. These little guys are some of the most useful things in my tool chest! Anyway, I stuck them to the ventilation system housing behind the glove box, off to the left a bit where they wouldn't be in the way of anything. I'm not sure if this space is free in the VXs with climate control - but you'll find out if you try this, I guess. I cable-tied the power connector (with the power cord plugged into it already) to the anchor on the left, and bundled up the slack in all of the wires (leaving the fuse holder free) and cable-tied them to the anchor on the right. See the two pictures below for details.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/V1_003.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/V1_003.jpg)

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/V1_002.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/V1_002.jpg)

Test it to make sure it works by switching the key on and off and making sure your V1 goes on and off wityh the ignition. Mine makes a cycling sound when starting the VX - I guess the electrical power cycles when starting. Whatever.

5) Reassembly:

Reassemble everything in the reverse order, and you're done!

Good luck! PM or post if you have any questions!