▀▄ eas | DIY: Valentine One Radar Detector Hardwire

[milk242]

Stupid question, is power only flowing through those wires when the engine is on?

I'm using an invisicord mirror tap and seems to not be getting any power. When I have the car turned to accessory mode.

[PDACPA]

I think mine has power when I put the car in accessory mode. I bet you do not have the two pins fully pushed in. Becareful as they will bend easily.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by milk242

Stupid question, is power only flowing through those wires when the engine is on?

I'm using an invisicord mirror tap and seems to not be getting any power. When I have the car turned to accessory mode.

Correct, these are +12V switched leads (same that power the mirror compass).

[tom @ eas]

reminder: Guide can also be used for wiring dashcams.

Note: If your dashcam requires constant power for recording while away, it would be better to instead run the power wire to the trunk mounted fuse-panel and isolated battery pack.

[Cooltones]

tom @ eas: reminder: Guide can also be used for wiring dashcams.

Hi *again* Tom! Found this thread useful when I installed my V1, and now just saw another post pop up regarding the Dash Cam.

Curious: Do you think it's ok to tap the same sources (currently being used by my V1) to equip a Dashcam as well? I wasn't going to go with the "stay on, even when the car is parked mode...)?

Haven't had any problems with my V1 install (back in Sept. 2015) thanks to you!


-Tony

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by Cooltones

tom @ eas: reminder: Guide can also be used for wiring dashcams.

Hi *again* Tom! Found this thread useful when I installed my V1, and now just saw another post pop up regarding the Dash Cam.

Curious: Do you think it's ok to tap the same sources (currently being used by my V1) to equip a Dashcam as well? I wasn't going to go with the "stay on, even when the car is parked mode...)?

Haven't had any problems with my V1 install (back in Sept. 2015) thanks to you!


-Tony

While both devices use very little power, it's shouldn't be a problem. It would be safer to utilize a relay to everything gets sufficient power

[Cooltones]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

While both devices use very little power, it's shouldn't be a problem. It would be safer to utilize a relay to everything gets sufficient power

Thanks Tom. I've decided to hardwire my Dash Cam *AND* also utilize an external battery (Cellink B) so that I don't have to worry about draining the BMW battery and/or not having sufficient power as you've described.

Thanks *again* for your helpful feedback.
-Tony

[Baseball7382]

Tom, just got my '16 M4 with carbon fiber roof and trYing to remove the dome light, and it seems to be different. I see the 2 clips, but nothing seems to happen when I press them in and try to pull the dome light down. Any thoughts?

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by Baseball7382

Tom, just got my '16 M4 with carbon fiber roof and trYing to remove the dome light, and it seems to be different. I see the 2 clips, but nothing seems to happen when I press them in and try to pull the dome light down. Any thoughts?

Assuming the grill has already been removed, push the tabs towards the center one corner at a time to work it out of place:

[bmw0perat0r]

So...why not just use the mirrortap method? Much easier, same result.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by bmw0perat0r

So...why not just use the mirrortap method? Much easier, same result.

There's no reason to spend an additional $40 on a harness if you don't have to.

[bmw0perat0r]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

There's no reason to spend an additional $40 on a harness if you don't have to.

Touche

[captainaudio]

I installed my V1 with the Savvy, Brown Out Booster, V1 Connect and the Remote Display.

[Baseball7382]

So finally got this to work for my 16' F82. Had to really use some force to pull out the dome lighting piece as those 2 clips hold it in the roof pretty securely. Also, in the windshield wiring, their are 2 wires that are brown and black stripped, one which will not provide power for the radar detector. If you tap into one of them and get no power, find the other and that should be the winner.

[FrenchBoy]

Thanks for some great instructions. I did it over the weekend on my 2016 F80 M3 and it worked like a charm.

I made a couple of modifications to the original instructions which I think make it even easier.
1. Instead of using ScotchLock and Male Spade connectors, I used POSI-TAP. Simpler, cleaner and less risk of damaging the wire.
2. Although I did initially remove the mirror plastic shells, I ended up tapping the wire above the light cluster. So I would say no need to take these plastic parts off
3. I bundled the V1 Hardwire Kit and RJ11 cable together, wrapped the whole thing in foam with a zip tie. Tucked the bundle between the headliner and CF roof. No rattle.

Here are a few shots. Good luck and Thank You EAS

[bb1857]

Another great DIY on the forum that I just used so thanks Tom! I ended up using the MirrorTap dual end RJ11 cable because I have the bluetooth module and I wasn't sure how to splice in another connector so it was worth the $22. I velcroed the bluetooth module on top of the overhead light controls in between the roof and headliner. Now I have a super clean install that fires right up and the bluetooth kicks on immediately!

[Marth06]

I would like to do this to power up my dash cam. By the sounds of it, the wires that you tap into are the wires which power the compass on the rear vision mirror. However, we don't heve the compass here in Australia on the rear vision mirror. Would the wires that I need to tap into still be there? I don't want to tap into the crash avoidance wires like the other post.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by Marth06

I would like to do this to power up my dash cam. By the sounds of it, the wires that you tap into are the wires which power the compass on the rear vision mirror. However, we don't heve the compass here in Australia on the rear vision mirror. Would the wires that I need to tap into still be there? I don't want to tap into the crash avoidance wires like the other post.

The wires may still be in there, check to see beforehand.

[Marth06]

So, after finally getting the scotch locks to work (make contact) and testing with a multimeter getting 12 volts, I hooked up my dash cam and pushed the ignition......then a bright flash from dash cam screen and a burning smell.
I checked all the connections, checked the dash cam instructions and specs., couldn't work out what I did wrong......checked it all again a second time.......until I looked at the dash cam cigarette lighter connector which had a little sticker on it saying 12 volt input, 5.1 volt output.

I forgot about the stepdown in power...... Doh!!

[ktc]

I just did this today, and have a few suggestions to make it easier. Note the context of this is that my pre-existing V1 hardwire stuff was left on another car, and I was only moving the actual V1 + windshield suction cup mount to the M3.

1. I bought the MirrorTap MTX1020 since I want a clean setup and did not need the V1 splitter dongle. It costs a bit more, but I'm really glad I did it (see below) instead. The 20" is not needed for where I mounted the V1 (see photos), the 15" is enough.

2. I took off the sunroof/SOS panel as instructed by Tom/EAS, but after 15 minutes could still not pry down the panel despite significant pushing away of the two tabs. After breaking my nails and scream-cursing like a little girl, I gave up and went to remove the mirror mount plastic housing by pressing along the midline. That was much easier to do.





3. Pictures are included as to what the mirror/lighting package/rain sensor wiring looks like from the front and side. The +12V green/brown wire is the left bottom wire (bottom row, 3rd from right), and the ground black/brown wire is the top right wire (2nd from bottom row, right-most position). I put the LARGEST Mirrortap pins into these; the middle size pins did NOT make contact.





4. The Mirrortap wiring ran parallel with the OEM wiring for the mirror housing, the top of which ends right at the roof liner. I just shoved the remainder of the slack into the roofliner (you have to pull the liner down just a bit while doing this), and left a few inches hanging down for the V1.

Note: If I had bought the V1 tap setup, the accessory power splitter box would require removal of the moonroof panel.

5. Reassemble mirror plastic housing by pressing them together.

Voila! That's it. No need to even open the SOS/Moonroof panel at all.



Hope this helps others trying to do the same.

[kevolution]

I was able to do my install last night. It wasn't too hard just had to pry apart the plastic covering the rear-view mirror.

I tapped into the green-brown (+12V) and the brown-black (ground) with the provided MirrorTap pins. It took some wiggling and when I was testing it, there was some intermittent on/off for the V1, but eventually if you really stick the pins in there and have it oriented such that the wires don't move much, it will stick. Once I was able to determine that, I closed the plastic and used a cord organizer recommended by another person on this forum (on Amazon) to neatly store the hanging RJ11 cable.

It was definitely a pain trying to navigate the wires and moving the pins around. It was like playing Operation (the board game). I also was lazy and didn't remove the connector and was trying to navigate around the mirror.

[Ricfutures]

Thanks for the guide Tom, very helpful though I have an issue that I'm hoping you can help address.

I used the same installation method that you described but when I turn the V1 on I get a "P" with two dots lit up and then a constant all dots alert that doesn't stop unless I turn off the device. Rinse and repeat every time I turn it on.

Any idea as to what could be the culprit?