Hi Folks
I thought a few individuals might be interested in a fairly stealthy install of a Valentine 1 radar detector. I really don't like radar detectors hanging off mirrors or windshields, mainly for aesthetic reasons and somewhere I read about someone installing one in the rear headrest. I decided to place the concealed display in the cigarette tray where the sliding cover can obscure it and to place the control unit in the center arm rest bin. With all of those closed nothing is visible.
Equipment:
Wire cutter
Wire stripper
RJ-11 crimper
Soldering iron
Voltmeter
Drill and bits
Supplies:
Bussmann BP/HHH ATM Add-A-Fuse
2A or 3A mini blade fuse
RJ-11 plugs
Cat 6 ethernet cable 15’ or so (23 gauge)
Flat telephone cable
18g red and black wire (8’ of each)
Shrink tubing
Velcro (black)
Points I learnt in the process.
1. You must use 23g cat 6 twisted pair wire to go from the remote audio adapter to the Valentine 1. The voltage drop in regular 26-28g telephone wire is too great and it won’t power up.
2. The RJ-11 plugs are reverse wired end-to-end. For example at one plug the wires might be colored blue-red-green-yellow. At the other end they need to be yellow-green-red-blue.
Steps:
1. Remove the rear headrest. Using a large flat-bladed tool to push the black plastic “clip” (see photo) out, to open up the guts of the headrest. You don’t need to cut anything to get inside the headrest. Remove the plastic button on the side of the headrest. Remove the leather covering. Cut out the shape of the Valentine 1 in the foam and install the unit (see photos). Reassemble in reverse order. Replace headrest.
After reinstallation.
2. Run Cat 6 wire from headrest around car. Remove the plastic / fake chrome foot steps to get at the wiring channel that will allow feeding the wire down the side of the car. See photo.
3. Tuck the wiring away out of sight where appropriate. This the wire as you see it through the rear window.
http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd456/scbody/photo12.jpg
4. Remove the panel at the bottom of the bin where the iPod connector is located. Loosen the four 10mm screws at the base of the bin.
5. Drill out a 5/16” hole in the plastic center at bottom of the bin. See photo.
6. Drill two 3/16” holes at the edge of the plastic panel you removed.
7. Drill a 3/16” hole on its left hand side of the cigarette tray. This is where the display unit will go when fitted. See photo.
8. Feed telephone cable through the holes according to the wiring diagram. Crimp RJ-11 plugs on the wiring. Add some black shrink tubing to the cat 6 wiring so it is less visible against the black background of the bin. See photo.
9. Run power from passenger fuse panel to the Valentine direct wiring power adapter using the Bussmann Add-a-fuse.
10. Check all wiring, especially the telephone and cat 6 RJ-11 plugs for the correct orientation.
11. Tuck everything away so it’s not visible. Tighten down the four screws in the bin. Attach the Remote Audio Adapter to the side of the bin with some Velcro.
12. Avoid paying extra taxes !
Drive safely.
