projekt-h

Don't know if this really classifies as a DIY, but I'm generally very particular about my radar cables. After about 2.5 months of using the horrible pigtail cord (and a few weeks of not having it at all because it was out for repairs) I couldn't stand it.



For what it's worth, this is with my Escort iX. I can share my two cents about that at the end of the post, in case anyone cares.

After eyeballing where I wanted the controller mounted, and figuring out which fuse panel I needed to run this to, I did a preliminary run of the wiring to make sure it'd reach. Running it the way I did it just barely made it. I had also made a realization after the power wire was run that could have given me a little extra.



After figuring out where I wanted it, I left it loose there, and began running the wires. Fortunately, this little gap in my 958.1 was about the perfect size to tuck the wires with no adhesives needed. The power wires went in first, being smaller, and the fatter control wire followed, to hold the smaller wires inside. A small allen wrench proved to be useful to tuck them in nicely. This picture does not display that method, but shows what I'm talking about.



Conveniently, it tucks nicely behind the passenger inboard vent trim with no adhesives or removal needed, and lines it up perfectly where I wanted it.



Originally, I ran the power wire in a less-than-idea way, but still worked out fine, so I left it. I think I ran it behind the dash trim securing panel, under the dash and out to the fuse panel. Ideally this should be ran how I ran the controller wire, which was behind the securing panel and through the passenger outboard vent cavity.

To get to all that, I removed the fuse panel cover, and there were two small torx screws on the side of the vent. With those removed and a couple good tugs, the vent was out and I was able to get the wood dash trim out. That was a bit of a dance, but it'll go with some finaggling. There were 3 more torx head screws on the fabric-covered trim-securing panel I removed, and forced the wires behind that piece. (This photo does not show them ran behind the piece. Pardon the messy glove box, life happens)



With all that ran, I first continued with the power and ground, to make sure I had a solid source of both..... after I spent all that time running the wires. Probably not the best order of operations, but I was confident in what I was doing here. I grounded it to the screw that holds in the fuse panel at the bottom (the wiring just goes around the screw and stays nicely in place)



The power I ended up running from my front 12v accessory power / cigarette lighter fuse, so it will come on when unlocked, but shut off after time being locked. There's this odd clippy guy in the kit, that attaches to the power wire and made to chomp into a smaller piece of wire that you then affix to your power source. I stripped the shielding off a piece of ~18g wire, looped the exposed wire under the teeth of my fuse, and shoved the fuse in. I've been running these like this for years with zero failures. To prevent any rattles, I taped the in-line fuse for the power wire to the inside of the lower dash/knee panel. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures of that to show, as it was getting chilly in my garage, and my brain gets mildly useless sometimes)

I decided to plug in the control wire and install it from there and work back, as that would leave any excess wire tucked away in the fuse panel. I looped the cord fairly taught over the top of the front of the unit, making sure not to block any sensors, and up into the mirror mounting covers, poking it in with a dull-tipped flathead screwdriver. (I cleaned it up a bit more after finishing the routing. Bonus content: a now-neglected E36 M3 jealously lurking in it's time-out corner)



From there, I tucked it into the gap in the headliner, across to the A-pillar. Normally, I run these down the A-pillar to the dash, but with the tight panel fit and intricate curves where it meets the dash, I wouldn't be able to get as clean of a finish as I wanted for this car. I crossed the wire over to the outside behind where the A-pillar meets the headliner. This was a long game of trial and error to get it to sit somewhere that wouldn't make a gap in the a-pillar trim, so I can't really tell exactly how I got it. Right around where my boogerhook is pointing is where it met with the weatherstripping, which I then tucked it behind that and the pillar trim and ran down.



I played with a few configurations for the last leg of the routing. What I found for the cleanest result was pulling this trim panel out slightly, running the wire behind that, about halfway down. Again, our lovely hand model shows where it ran from outside, tucked behind the weatherstripping, behind the trim, to the inside, where it all buttoned up nice and neat.



I miraculously managed to use super glue to secure the controller to the underside of the panel, without making a mess or gluing my hands together (I think this is the 2nd time I've been able to do that) and finished tucking the wires away.



Because the lights on this are enough to blind me in a moderately-lit garage, I used some electrical tape trimmed with an xacto knife to cover the face of the controller.

I'll get some better photos of the finished product once I finally give it a proper bath soon.


The Escort iX Radar Detector: I've had this for a bit over a year, and have pretty much hated it until the last two weeks or so. I bought this after a very astute police officer informed me that my long-time companion, my old 8500 X50 wasn't working as well as it should, with a lovely driving award! Having been a long-time fan of Escort detectors, I ordered this. Their Max360 was above my budget at the time, and I hated the size. Arrows are something I can live without, even after driving with a V1. It's *supposed to have* the GPS functionality similar to the 9500ix model, with better range and "in-vehicle technology" filter. Neither of which features (except range) had worked AT ALL. Chrysler Pacifica blind spot monitors are my current primary annoyance. After a TERRIBLE bout with their customer service, having sent several emails over the course of a few months with ZERO response, I called and was given a snarky "well, we've been busy" response when I asked why the emails were never responded to, and being told it would take a month to fix it, and they couldn't promise functionality because they didn't have the software update finished yet. I asked to speak with a manger and was told to send an email ATTN: supervisor. That got a response.... intended for some guy named steve asking about bluetooth. At this point I gave up until the display recently crapped the bed. I decided to jump right to calling, much to my surprise this time I got someone kind, knowledgeable, and actually wanted to do their job. She informed me they were still working on software, but that should be done soon to fix the terrible IVT and GPS function, and had me send it in to fix the screen and run an update. It kinda works now, much better than before, so I suppose I'll have to wait and see what the next update holds. Overall, I'm conflicted if I would or will buy one of their products again. It has better range and less false alerts than a V1 from what I've noticed, though I haven't used one in a while, but I think it's terrible to sell a product based on features that don't actually work. Either way, I guess I'm stuck with it unless a V1 will work with this power/control wire... because I'm not doing this again until it's on a different vehicle.

gnat

Nice work. Looks familiar: https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...y-install.html



My only complaint is that your wire is obstructing the airbag where you ran it across the A pillar. I ran mine down against the windshield and then you can (at least with the V1 cable, don't know what your cable ends look like) bring it around the bottom of the A pillar (airbag only extends about halfway down) and feed it directly into the fuse box area.

Bobcat Sig

Nice write up.

The advantage of V1s is that they can be updated with new firmware and software. And, as you illustrated; simply work.

projekt-h

Thank you.

These can be updated right from your computer... when Escort gets off their *** and finishes it

My only problem with any V1 I've driven with is the insane amount of false alerts. They could have changed some things since then, I'd hope.

Bobcat Sig

That's fair. Valentine 1 will update your unit... if you send it in, which isn't ideal. Especially in this day and age. However, these updates are meant to keep your unit current with frequencies, false alerts and as you mentioned, this newer radar used for adaptive cruise control and lane departure systems.

If you have a V1, you can check your serial number on their site to see if it's current or not. I just wish it was something that we, the end use, could do simply by plugging it in to our computer.

For me, I rarely drive with it on in the city. Too many signals, no matter the unit. It's the interstate and bombing around backroads where it sees the value.

gnat

Yeah my V1 is about 10 years old at this point and I stopped using it except for road trips (not frequent) due to the falses. I know I could send it in, but last I checked the upgrade was going to cost about the same as a new unit. Cops just don't setup in my area like they used to so it just hasn't seemed worth it anymore.

Bobcat Sig

How do they set-up? I mean, they kind of need to be there to hand out our favorite speeding awards, no?

gnat

The just don't anymore. There used to be places where you could count on them hiding 90% of the time.

Now they rarely set up in my area (really only one spot I still see them use semi-regularly). They just drive around with their radar on all the time and get the people that aren't paying attention.

carlege

Thats one of the reasons i like the SAVVY on my V1. i set it for 45mph and anything below that speed limit gets automatically muted.

boxsternewbie

but the V1s don't have gps that blocks out fake signals. I'd never get a V1 until they add gps.

Bobcat Sig

Again, city vs. rural driving.

boxsternewbie

that's too bad about the iX. I bought the Escort Passport Max and tested it against my 9500xi to see if it was worth the upgrade. It was not, they detected the same. The Max's screen was also too dim to see in daylight so it went back. The 9500xi is a good radar detector, I now have three, one in each vehicle.

projekt-h

It's gotten better, I guess I just have to wait for them to finish the updates... that should have been done before it was released. I've expressed my displeasure to them multiple times, and probably will a couple more, judging by that I probably would have been better off saving a couple hundred and buying the old model.

projekt-h

Huh, so apparently Escort can come out with new models without even getting their current lineup working properly. Neat.

Vortex Radar

haha yeah new detectors.. it's funny, some of the issues from the current Max360, such as locking up when detecting a brief K band signal, have carried over to the new Max360c as well.

One thing that is nice though is that BSM's, like the ones that Chrysler Pacificas emit, are much more subdued on Escort's more modern detectors. They'll still cause the Max series detectors to false, but at least they won't be the same full tilt K band blasts the way the iX alerts. That's definitely one of the iX's biggest limitations...