How to access fuse panel, and which fuse for radar detector?

[WS6Fury]

Been trying like crazy to access the fuse panel behind the instrument column. Thing is so far up there I can't really reach in with a good angle. Any easier way to access it?

 

Also need to hard wire the radar detector and need to know what fuse to tap into so when the car shuts off, door open, the detector will turn off with the power. Thanks all!

[built2prfctn]

Im with you. My radar is sitting in my garage waiting for a solution. I have a rear view mirror mount i had in my previous car and the the wired tied right into the electronic mirror. Dont think theres any wire near ours =(

[WS6Fury]

I was thinking maybe I can go behind one of the wires in the rearview mirror, but I can't figure out how to remove the black plastic trim that is there without fear of breaking it. Not intuitive enough for me to try and figure out how to seperate the two pieces that encompass the mount of the mirror. Not like the old one where you just pull it off easily.

[squeaky]

I know this is old but anyone solve this?

Trying to figure out how to get into fuse box and it is well hidden

[POWERSTROKE]

WHY BOTHER with a radar detector? Around here all the cops use LASER, point and shoot, accurate to fractions of a mph, Takes your picture in the car and measures distance to your car, basically impossible to fight in court. GOOGLE it!

 

As a County Sheriff Deputy told me after stopping me doing 64 in a 55 one afternoon and noticed my old ESCORT on my sun visor, "Go home and give that old thing to somebody you hate!". And that was 17 years ago!

[TheWizard]

That may be one of the most misleading things I've read in a while. First some facts... LIDAR (LASER) is not replacing RADAR in any police agency in the entire country mostly because it is so much more expensive but also because it has many limitations compared to RADAR. It is being used to supplement RADAR but is still not the primary speed measuring device anywhere. LIDAR requires a stable and stationary platform eliminating its use in moving vehicles which is very common with dash mount RADAR. LIDAR doesn't work in inclement weather conditions and has been banned from use after dark due to fears of eye damage to targeted drivers. And no, the type of LIDAR that is used by LEOs does not take photos... only permanent mount photo speed detectors do that and those are in extremely limited use. Why spend five times as much for a LIDAR based photo speed detector when RADAR based is just as effective and can be used at night and in the rain?

 

RADAR detectors are not the magic solution to never getting a speeding ticket - never speeding is the only sure way to guarantee that. But RADAR detectors are useful tools even if only used as a reminder to watch your speed. I have had a remote mount RADAR detector in every car I have owned for the past 20 years and I have not been ticketed in over 40 years. That's not because of the detector (although there have been a couple of times where it has helped) but because I don't drive excessively fast or in a way that attracts attention. Still, the detector is a useful reminder that there are speed traps out there.

 

These days, so few people use detectors that police often don't bother to turn off their dash mount guns anymore. They are finding that LIDAR is only worth the expense, extra training, weather and location limitations in situations where the selectivity is a great benefit due to multi-lane heavy traffic. So it is being used as an added weapon for their arsenal rather than a replacement for older technology.

[airforceixi]

I tapped my 8500ix directly to a wire coming from the BCM/Fuse Panel. If you take the storage cubby out and look at the panel, you can see a loom of wire going up from the panel (attached to the panel by a large connector). Moving or removing some of the tape you'll find a brown wire with a yellow stripe. This wire is attached to fuse 23 (10A). This circuit is used to enable/power on the DC/AC Inverter, Vista Roof Module, and Driver Door Controls so they don't use very much current. It's a pain to get in there and find the wire but once you have the wire isolated it's pretty easy. Just be sure when you tap to it to put an inline fuse close to the tap to keep the wiring safe (I used a 3A fuse).

 

The other option is to use a Micro Fuse Tap (Type ATR) and tap into Fuse 23. This is the safer option but was a bit of a hassle for me because no auto parts stores near me carried one in stock.

 

I chose Fuse 23 because it's attached to accessory power. The radar does not turn on until I start the engine and shuts off after I turn off the engine and open a door.

 

Technical details: From BCM, using Accessory Delay Relay, Fuse #23 10A, Connector C2280F Pin 30, Circuit CBP23, Color BN-YE, 22 Gauge Wire

[GT500R]

Valentine 1 Owner here.

 

I had the same issue, but read (and can't remember where) that eventually the cigarette lighter (do they still call them that?) eventually turns off when a certain voltage is reached in the battery. I have left my car with the radar detector plugged in and on, locked the car, and day after it was off, Radar detector turned right back on when I turned the ignition on and have not had a dead battery once.

 

And to POWERSTROKE, I was Lasered in CT but a trooper going 80, but by the time he finally locked on me... was going 65 and didn't break a sweat. Lasers take a second or two to lock on which gives me time to slow down.

[TheWizard]

Valentine 1 Owner here.

 

I had the same issue, but read (and can't remember where) that eventually the cigarette lighter (do they still call them that?) eventually turns off when a certain voltage is reached in the battery. I have left my car with the radar detector plugged in and on, locked the car, and day after it was off, Radar detector turned right back on when I turned the ignition on and have not had a dead battery once.

 

And to POWERSTROKE, I was Lasered in CT but a trooper going 80, but by the time he finally locked on me... was going 65 and didn't break a sweat. Lasers take a second or two to lock on which gives me time to slow down.

I'm afraid you're dreaming if you think you actually beat a laser ticket. First of all, a LIDAR gun can get an initial speed reading AND a second confirmation reading in a total of about 400 milliseconds... less time than it takes you to move your foot from the accelerator to the brake. But even if your "second or two" was real, you still could not scrub that excess 15 mph off your speed in that time "without breaking a sweat" because that would mean about 0.8G deceleration which is standing on the brakes fairly hard. You must have been one of those very lucky people whose detector picked up the extremely narrow spread of the laser targeting a vehicle in front of you. Otherwise you would not have been able to avoid a ticket - it's a matter of physics.

[GT500R]

 

Looks to take more then 400 milliseconds to me, again like I said, around 1-2 seconds to lock then get a speed....

 

And since I can brake more then 15 mph within 2 seconds I wouldn't be caught

[TheWizard]

The video you posted is misleading for several reasons including the fact that it shows an old LIDAR gun that doesn't have the processing power of more current ones and that it is being shot from inside a vehicle (through glass which disperses the beam). Even so, what you are viewing is not the acquisition time but the combination of acquisition and display time. How long it takes for the gun to display the speed is not a concern if it has already acquired your speed.

 

I did some additional research and found that my 400 millisecond acquisition time was incorrect... it's actually 300 milliseconds. There are numerous websites for you to research and confirm this but here is one example: http://www.lasertech.com/Speed-Enforcement-Measurement.aspx

 

Now, as for being able to slow down as you describe, let's assume you are an above average driver with an above average car driving under excellent weather conditions on clean, dry, unbroken pavement with good tires and brakes. It's safe to assume that you weren't anticipating the police being there because you would have slowed down in advance if you knew they were there. So that means the detector's laser alert was unexpected. The braking reaction time of an above average driver who is expecting the need (e.g. approaching a light that has been green for a while) is 0.7 second - already more than the 0.3 second LIDAR acquisition time but let's continue anyway. The reaction time of an above average driver to an unexpected braking event is about 1.25 seconds (it's even longer for a surprise event such as an animal running out in front of you). So we've totally blown away the actual speed acquisition time and you haven't even started slowing yet. If we go with your upper limit two second slowing time, you have 0.75 second left to scrub 15 mph off your speed. An above average driver in ideal street conditions can brake with a force of about .75G or 24 feet per second per second without risking losing control (a professional driver under controlled conditions on a track can achieve 1G braking with some street legal cars). In 3/4 second that's 18 fpsps. Your 80mph starting speed is 117fps and your 65mph ending speed is 95fps, a difference of 22fps... close but a little more than you could reduce speed in the time available without risking losing control.

 

Again, this information is readily available but here are a couple of links:

Reaction time: http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/reactiontime.html

Stopping distance and time: http://www.csgnetwork.com/stopdistinfo.html

 

Since I assume you are an honest guy, the only explanation is that your detector actually picked up the targeting of someone in front of you and you were able to react to that before being targeted. That still shows the value of having a detector but without violating the physics.

[GT500R]

Na, I would assume 1 second reaction with 1 second to brake which is easily enough time. Thanks for doing the math though.

[POWERSTROKE]

That may be one of the most misleading things I've read in a while. First some facts... LIDAR (LASER) is not replacing RADAR in any police agency in the entire country mostly because it is so much more expensive but also because it has many limitations compared to RADAR. It is being used to supplement RADAR but is still not the primary speed measuring device anywhere. LIDAR requires a stable and stationary platform eliminating its use in moving vehicles which is very common with dash mount RADAR. LIDAR doesn't work in inclement weather conditions and has been banned from use after dark due to fears of eye damage to targeted drivers. And no, the type of LIDAR that is used by LEOs does not take photos... only permanent mount photo speed detectors do that and those are in extremely limited use. Why spend five times as much for a LIDAR based photo speed detector when RADAR based is just as effective and can be used at night and in the rain?

 

RADAR detectors are not the magic solution to never getting a speeding ticket - never speeding is the only sure way to guarantee that. But RADAR detectors are useful tools even if only used as a reminder to watch your speed. I have had a remote mount RADAR detector in every car I have owned for the past 20 years and I have not been ticketed in over 40 years. That's not because of the detector (although there have been a couple of times where it has helped) but because I don't drive excessively fast or in a way that attracts attention. Still, the detector is a useful reminder that there are speed traps out there.

 

These days, so few people use detectors that police often don't bother to turn off their dash mount guns anymore. They are finding that LIDAR is only worth the expense, extra training, weather and location limitations in situations where the selectivity is a great benefit due to multi-lane heavy traffic. So it is being used as an added weapon for their arsenal rather than a replacement for older technology.

You are COMPLETELY WRONG! My county put a special task force together to reduce speeding they said, what they meant was generate income catching people on the way to/from work in mornings & evenings. I got caught one morning 3-1/2 years ago. It WAS LIDAR, picture was available upon request. Task force was six Deputies, six new cruisers, six LIDAR's. I even read the bio on the Deputy that wrote my ticket. He had a very poor attitude for someone half my age.

 

The fact I live close to the state capital may effect the state's willingness to use LIDAR. But there's 49 other state capitals too. I know law enforcement visibly increases in other state capitals I've been through. Laws governing how radar/LIDAR is used vary state to state. I've had my Escort 35 years, used it a couple million miles, and have to agree, best way to not get stopped for speeding is to not speed. Driving a Volvo helps too. Sometimes.

[TheWizard]

Completely wrong about what? Let's see, I didn't say that LIDAR wasn't in common use only that it was not replacing RADAR. The industry's own estimates have LIDAR representing about 30% of speed detection devices nationwide. As I mentioned, LIDAR is especially useful in heavy traffic situations because it can target individual vehicles more precisely so I am not at all surprised that it was being used during rush hour. There is no way that they were targeting LIDAR from moving patrol cars... it simply is not possible. They could be using the guns from a stationary car through lowered side windows but not through any glass.

 

I suppose I should have said that handheld police LIDAR guns don't come with photo capability built-in but there are external add-on accessories for a couple of brands (SpeedLaser of Atlanta makes such an accessory) to capture what's in the viewfinder when the gun is triggered. The two most popular police LIDAR guns (Stalker and Kustom Signals) have no such capability (yet) but they will probably add that in the near future. Still, photos are a relatively unimportant option used merely to eliminate arguments about "it wasn't me". If you get tagged by LIDAR, you have very little chance of beating the ticket.