cchan

I'm relatively late to the P-car scene, having had my GT3 for almost a year now, but hope this info may be of use - another idea on drawing power for radar detectors and other devices from the center console (I would presume it should also work in all 996s with the connector):

I was looking for a way to hardwire my Valentine. But, not being a fan of splicing into my car's wiring, I was hoping to find a way to tap into a switched power source without using scoth-lok taps (sometimes poor connections or risk of cutting through the wire) and easily/completely removeable.

I know a lot of people on here have tapped into the cell phone connector in the center console of their 996s. So I thought it would be great to see if I could actually find the connector that fits... Alas, no such luck after a decent search through various electronics supplier (it's probably a custom OEM connector by AMP?). It looks similar Molex connectors, but the holes were bigger than the largest pins I could find were 0.093".

So I gave up on that until I happened to run across these "GM Weather Pack" pins at Pep Boys the other day. They are indeed bigger than the 0.093" Molex pins and to fit the cell phone connector holes just right! And at 14-16 gauge, the crimp connectors exactly matches the size of the red and black wires that feed the V1 hardwire module!

So I just crimped them on to the ends of the hardwire module, and then used heat shrink tubing to cover the exposed metal parts (I even used green to color code the +12V red lead with the green/black wire in the connector). Inserted them into the appropriate holes (ground to the brown wire hole, +12V to the green/black switched 12V hole), and then used fabric friction tape to keep everything tight and secure. Tucked it away and closed up the console panel.

From the center console, I just fished a regular phone line up around the A pillar to the dome light, following instructions such as Itzkirby's.

Attached pictures are of the pins; crimped and heat shrunk on the ends of the V1 hardwire; and plugged into the cell phone connector.

brianbento

Cchan, Great looking out. Info like this can be used all around!!!!! Bri

cchan

While I'm at it, anyone who does not want to bother doing the A-pillar run and is willing to live with unswitched power from the dome light, I found that a $1.29 computer fan extension cable from Fry's could be used inline with the 3-wire connector to the dome light.

The female end of the cable needs to be Dremeled or filed down so that it fits the key notching in the socket in the dome light. (the last photo attachment shows the wiring harness plug to the dome light on the left, and the extension cable female end on the right, you can see the shape difference than needs to be filed down to fit) Then you can splice a telephone cord into the extension cable easily at a workbench or table rather than soldering in the car and risking a bad accident. Plus it's removable! This will wire the V1 directly to power, without the hardwire splitter module. Unless you are going to use the remote display, it does not seem necessary. I did not bother adding a fuse, but that is possible if desired.

Just remember that the red/yellow/black color of the wires on the extension are going to be irrelevant. On my cable, the yellow wire mated to the brown ground cable in the wiring harness, and the black to the +12V red/black wire. So those were the two wires that I spliced to the phone cord.

Phone cord wiring pinouts varies depending on which end of the cord you use. Easiest was to look at how it plugs into the V1 and figure out which two are ground and +12V (2 and 3 respectively, if we are looking at the socket on the V1 and counting left to right).

When done, the male end of the cable goes into the wiring harness connector, the female end goes into the dome light connector, and the phone wire gets routed out the front of the headliner to the V1. Snap the dome light back in and should be good to go.

jkb

wow nice! good stuff. perfect timing - just got my V1 yesterday and was going to hardware this weekend. do you mind if i ask you three questions:

1) what is the difference between switched power and unswitched power?
2) which one did you end up doing? i'd rather not run the wire down A pillar.
3) wow you in redwood city. i am in santa clara and just got a 2003 996 cab as a 2nd car a week ago. are you coming to porsche drive this saturday @ carlsen?

btw, did you custom program your V1? if not, we can meetup and i can help and talk your ear off about V1 (already have V1 in my bmw)

Phokaioglaukos

Can you also point out, maybe with a photo, where the cell phone connector in the center console lives?

How did you attach the V1 itself?

This is GREAT stuff.

cchan

Since I had cross referenced this thread on the 996 forum, I found out that Becker recently started making a wiring cable with the plug for only $5! (Credit for that info goes to ToolPants!) Photo/link/info got added to that thread, so look that one up for the details.

jkb - am planning on going to Carlsen, we can chat there. I have not done any custom programming. Unswitched means that the power is on all the time - risk is that you forget to turn the V1 off when you park and it drains the battery. Switched power turns off when you shut down the car. I actually did both, first the unswitched off the dome light, then later I figured out the plug into the center console. Running down the A pillar wasn't that bad, I was able to use the tucking in method rather than actually taking the cover off. I'm not familiar enough with cabs, but I get the sense that it might be harder to run the wire.

Phokaioglaukos - I'll reference Itzkirb's DIY photos for now at http://gallery.rennlist.com/gallery/albur30, maybe can add some photos at home later when I get a chance. A number of other people have already posted info on the center console and A pillar run, so I skipped those parts. I'm just using the suction mount or visor clip, a few people have come up with other mounting techniques.

Phokaioglaukos

Thanks again. I did the center console delete quite a while ago and I just do not remember seeing the cell phone connector. Maybe if I stick my head under there I can find it without removing any parts.

jkb

cool. i'll be looking for a GT3 with a hardwired V1. what color?

i definately want switched power. there is no switched power in the dome light assembly?

cchan

IIRC, the wire comes from under the dash and front of the car, as opposed to up from the floor/shifter. So I'd guess look up rather than down.

jkb- my car is black. will try to remember to bring the V1, since I rarely use it around town. It doesn't seem like there is a switched source up in the dome light, or at least I never found anything about it in various searches. I did see a thread in the 997 forum where they found a switched source, but that doesn't help us 996 folks.

jkb

cool... do you want me to help you reprogramm it as documented here:

http://www.radardetector.net/K-Band-...ies-11240t.php
http://valentine1.com/lab/MikesLabRpt3.asp

or you happy with what you get out of V1 now?

cchan

Wow, didn't know we could change those settings. Not going to bother myself, as I don't bother the V1 for daily driving locally and on road trips I would want everything on.

jkb

heh, well, you should at least turn off X band. there is no reason to have it here in California.

but IMHO even on road trips you dont want false alarms. those sudden flase K band alerts on 280 for traffic info dont bother you? my V1 is so finetuned that when it beeps, it gets my attention.

of course its your choice and i am not going to arm-twist you, but if you feel like at least turning off X band, we can do it saturday.

cchan

Hmmm, maybe... will think about it overnight, see you tomorrow!