jamiew

I have been reading this forum for a long time but this is my first new thread posting...

I have been trying to hook up my Valentine 1 radar detector using the direct power adapter in my '96 Targa, to no avail. I followed the DIY instructions on p-car.com carefully. I tried to hook it up to the sunroof switch first, and then tried the Targa sunshade switch. Neither one worked for me.

After much frustration, I bought a multimeter to test the voltages. My voltage reading on both switches is only 9.5 volts. Since this sounded very strange to me, I called V1 customer service to ask if they had heard of this before; the tech said no. Now, I don't know what to do. There are two issues:

1) I can't get my V1 to work with the direct power adapter and need to find another way to hook it up (another place in the car where I can tap into for power).

2) I have a low voltage problem in the car and don't know whether this is a problem or how to fix it.

Any advice?

Jeff 993TT

You can also tap the stereo power.. There's a switched power source in there.

That's were I wired mine to.

mike cap

Jamie,

Robin's p-car DIY connection for the sunroof worked fine for me. This connection is only hot with the ignition on. It is a little tough to access, but you said that you followed the directions carefully.

It's impossible that you'd only have battery bus voltage of 9.5 vdc. You car wouldn't even think about starting with voltage that low. Check your battery voltage at the battery terminals. Are you sure you're reading the VOM correctly?

CLL ACAB

Jamiew,

I just did mine this weekend on my 996-don't know if it is the same for yours...... I ran the cord around the headliner over the driver's side and down to the fusebox. There are a couple of torx screws to loosen (center console lights, visor and left side of dash near door) , but the cable fits nicely in the headliner. Once over to the fuse box, I had a stereo shop locate a fuse that was keyed by the ignition and tapped into that. To ground the unit, if you remove the four screws inside the fuse box, the carpeted panel around the box comes off. There is a a ground screw attached to the chassis just left of the fuse box-loosen and attached ground wire. Works perfectly.

graham_mitchell

Voltage drops along wiring. The higher the resistance of the cable and the longer the piece, the more the voltage across the V1 at the end will drop. Poor connections can have the same effect. If you replace the power connection with a higher gauge wire with clean, secure connections all the way through, you should not have a problem.

You could measure the voltage at various places on the circuit between the V1 and the battery. This would help you to localise the problem.

jamiew

I will test the voltage at the battery tonight.

Why would the voltage drop in my car be so much greater than what others have in their cars?

Ray Calvo

jamiew (whoever you are), on my '95 I ran two power lines directly from the in-trunk circuit board into the car. One is switched, one unswitched. On each line I installed an in-line fuse. No problem using these to power my CB radio, Valentine radar detector, and garage door opener.

graham_mitchell

Maybe I wasn't very clear... These could all be a factor

i) excessivley long cables
ii) cables too thin
iii) poor connections along cables
iv) another very high current device on same branch of power circuit

Carrera Mike

I posted this last year, Highlighted the text in red which could solve your problems. hope it'll help:

Got the Passport 8500(NA) last week but wasn't happy. In My Humble Oppinion(IMHO) It was too long and the top mounted rear facing antenna/receiver was useless when I hang it on the visor. Returned it and ordered the V1(NA). Received it 2 days later. Much lighter, and shorter(little bit wider though/and no manual dimmer), plus the rear facing wave guide is right on the face where its not blocked when hanged on the visor. I installed the remote display in the ashtray after I pulled the plastic liner out.

-I tapped the power from the sunroof switch as a gentleman in P-car.com DIY did, then routed through the forward tunnel of the center console and back to the back side ash tray. You have to remove the ash tray assembly by pulling the top flap, pix below, to access the 2 mounting screws. I removed the ashtray bulb so I would not have that background light at night.

-I also used the blue splicer(2nd pix) that came with the V1, instead of sodering(which they soder it on the p-car DIY).

-Also, I did not splice the negative wire(like they did in DIY p-car.com). I just tapped from a mounting screw for ground. (where the screw driver is pointed in the 3rd pix below). Use a good tester to ensure good ground.


I always have fun doing the work myself whenever I can and not depend on shops who most of the time don't put the quality on the work.

Here's some pix.

jamiew

OK. I tested the voltages in my car today. Here they are:

At battery (car off): 12.6 volts
At battery (car running): 14.1 volts

Cigarette lighter: 12.1 volts

Targa sunshade switch: 9.5 volts
Targa roof switch: 9.5 volts

Rear spoiler switch: 11.1 volts

So, based on this, I think I have the following options:

1) If the V1 will run on 11.1 volts, I can tap into the rear spoiler switch and power it from there.

2) If the V1 will not run on anything less than ~12 volts, then I have to tap into an alternative power source.

The suggested power sources could be found either by running a new line into the fusebox area, or by tapping into the power for the radio or cigarette lighter. I couldn't find an easy place to tap into near the fusebox without disassembling the whole thing. And, I don't have the DIN removal tools needed to pull out the radio to tap into the power there.

Any suggestions? Am I thinking about this correctly?

graham_mitchell

The radio should be connected to power via pretty heavy duty cabling, meaning that you should be getting ~14V there. If not, that's a worthwhile upgrade in itself. In any case, that power source should work well. It might not be easy, but it should be possible to find the power cable and splice into it without removing the stereo, by accessing the cabling from underneath the dash/console.