My custom x50 hardwire
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From: Cleveland/Toledo OH
My custom x50 hardwire I’ve had my Escort passport x50 in my car now for about a year and a half, mounted high above the rear view mirror, but just finally got around to hardwiring it. Since I wanted to make this look very nice and unnoticeable in my car, I put a little extra work into it.
I went to best buy, and bought the hardwire kit for my radar detector. What you get is the main unit, that has a mute button, power indicator, and alert indicator, and the wiring that is needed to hook it all up (power, ground, and detector wire).
Hardwire kit:
I took the main unit apart, putting the sticker off to the side. Then I pulled the interior panel out of my car where I wanted to install the hardwire kit. I drilled 3 holes to match the 2 led’s and mute button into the interior panel. Then I had to sand down the face of the hardwire main unit so that everything would show nicely, and the mute button was usable. I then lined up the main unit behind the 3 holes I drilled, and epoxy’d it all around to hold it in place. Wired it up, and put everything back together. The last thing I did was put the sticker of the hardwire kit back over the 3 holes I drilled.
I have it wired to a source that only gets power when the car is on, but I also added a switch to it so I could turn it off if I wanted. You can see that in the following pictures as well.
This is the final product. I know a lot of people have done this, and I think it looks great. Sorry I didn’t take any “in progress” pics, but if you have any questions just ask, it really wasn’t too difficult.
And the x50 located above the rear view mirror, just below the tint strip
I went to best buy, and bought the hardwire kit for my radar detector. What you get is the main unit, that has a mute button, power indicator, and alert indicator, and the wiring that is needed to hook it all up (power, ground, and detector wire).
Hardwire kit:
I took the main unit apart, putting the sticker off to the side. Then I pulled the interior panel out of my car where I wanted to install the hardwire kit. I drilled 3 holes to match the 2 led’s and mute button into the interior panel. Then I had to sand down the face of the hardwire main unit so that everything would show nicely, and the mute button was usable. I then lined up the main unit behind the 3 holes I drilled, and epoxy’d it all around to hold it in place. Wired it up, and put everything back together. The last thing I did was put the sticker of the hardwire kit back over the 3 holes I drilled.
I have it wired to a source that only gets power when the car is on, but I also added a switch to it so I could turn it off if I wanted. You can see that in the following pictures as well.
This is the final product. I know a lot of people have done this, and I think it looks great. Sorry I didn’t take any “in progress” pics, but if you have any questions just ask, it really wasn’t too difficult.
And the x50 located above the rear view mirror, just below the tint strip
That is kick ***. I like it. I am not that good at that kind of thing I just velcro'd the remote mute botton on the panel under the steering wheel. Why would you add a switch to turn if off instead of the factory on/off switch?
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From: Cleveland/Toledo OH
Originally Posted by dragonrage
I don't like the positioning of the remote stuff.
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From: Cleveland/Toledo OH
Yea, I guess like I said I just got used to it because thats where the old power cord was plugged in. Now I love it there. I was trying to find other places to put it, but it wouldn't have looked nearly as good. I like to just reach down and press the mute button whenever I get a false. I don't even have to look to hit it. Really I only look at the detector itself. The hardwire kit only shows if your getting an alert, not what radar band it is or how many signals.
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
I agree. I have my remote mounted in a similar way and don't have any problem with it. It's almost never necessary to look at it since the audible alert tells me what type and how strong a signal I'm picking up. Passengers find it interesting though.
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From: Cumming, GA
Just another piece of info. It is better to have a radar detector mounted low on the windshield to pick up radar bands. It is better to have a laser detector mounted high in the windshield to pick up laser bands. Probably more than 90% of the time you get hit with radar. So I would recommend moving the radar detector toward the bottom of the windshield. You did spend a lot of money on that radar detector, why put it somewhere that doesn't pick up a good signal?
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On The Tree
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From: Cleveland/Toledo OH
Just another piece of info. It is better to have a radar detector mounted low on the windshield to pick up radar bands. It is better to have a laser detector mounted high in the windshield to pick up laser bands. Probably more than 90% of the time you get hit with radar. So I would recommend moving the radar detector toward the bottom of the windshield. You did spend a lot of money on that radar detector, why put it somewhere that doesn't pick up a good signal?
