My V1 showed up today, but my 02SE is in the shop getting repainted. Question is - how difficult is it to remove the over head console to tap into the map light power? The interiors of Nissan's seem to come apart pretty easily, but I would hate to break a hidden clip.

 

I would tap it to an ignition power. I believe you can find wiring instructions on http://www.5thgenmaximas.com

 

I would not tap into the map lights ... by doing so the radar will be on all the time unless you turn it off. It would risk running your battery down by doing this ...

Yes tapping into an ignition source would be ideal. I had the Passport hardwire kit for mine and it is easy. All I did was run the wire under the roof liner and down the a pillar. I then ran it into the fusebox and tapped into an ignition source there.

Just some suggestions ...

 

I have had mine wired there for over 2 years now. I usually don't bother turning it off unless I'm going to be gone for awhile. I've never had any battery problems at all. Keeping the radar detector on probably doesn't use much more power than that blinking red light on our dashes. It took me about an hour to hook it up to there and you really don't have to worry about breaking anything. You do need to be careful though when you take it off. There are some small pieces for the sunroof that are kinda loose and it won't work without them.

 

Mines wire to the map lights......the Max has a timer on all lighting so that everything gets turned off after a minute or so. Of course when you unlock the car, even with the remote, your radar detector goes through its whole squak routine