I just finished up hardwiring my Passport 8500 radar detector. Wasn't too tough at all, just clipped the power cord near the bottom, and took off radio part of dash. Ran power cord from radar detector dowm behind radio and air vents, anmd hooked into the cig. lighter power and ground. When you snip the power cord, there will be four wires: Red, Green, Black and Yellow. The red is power, and green is ground. You hook the red wire into the orange cable going into cigarette lighter adapter. The green wire goes into the black wire. Works great, 1 bad thing is no longer have mute funstion right by my shifter. O well, still worth it to hide the cord. If anyone is looking for more help with this just ask and I will help ya out.

 

Where are you mounting your detector? Bottom center? Right now, I have the detector positioned to the left of the rearview mirror but that isn't very stealthy. It is hard to remain stealthy and get good performance. Ideally, I'd put it at the very top of the windshield but I'm told the laser performance will be completely shot that way. Too low and the wipers and what not obstruct the detector.

 

I have mine mounted in the bottom center. Its the easiest way to wire it directly down the dash. If you really like having it mounted by your mirror, you can run wires up, and around your windshield, to the side and back into the center to the cigarette lighter. I don't think its that important that you have that laser detection completely accurate, because with laser, if your detector goes off, it means you have jsut been pegged, and there is nothing you can do about it, except pull over now before teh cop throws on his lights. But either way, hardwiring is definitely the way to go so that you dont have cords hanging all over.

 

Yeah, I do have it hardwired up top. I still feel inclined to take the detector down when I am right next to a cop though. Way up top, very few people can see it but the tint will kill the laser signal. I am convinced that the laser performance of the 8500 has saved my *** at least twice... but times giving me just enough distance to slow down. Any less and you are right... done deal.

 

I just bought my car and someone already hardwired a power cord to the rear view mirror.

 

why does it matter if cops see your radar detector, I got my 8500 to the left of my rear view...im thinking about putting it above my rear view but im not to sure

 

I don't want to give them a reason to pull me over. If they wanted to, they can flag me for my clear corners, HIDs (color, no high beams), etc. If they do pull me over, seeing the detector isn't going to sway them to let me off with a warning either.

Above the rearview would be optimal for stealth but again, you are behind the tint.

 

got my V1 mounted just below the rear view mirror...power cord runs up the rear view mirror, into the headliner, to the driver side A pillar, down under, across the dash, and into the radio power/ground. Works great.
I left it high so it has the greatest reach...plus, it's got rear detection, so i gotta leave it high on the windshield. As for cops, I don't think it's a biggie...they'd hafta be pretty close to see it, and by then, I should have visual sight of them anyways.

1 more thing...since getting my rear window and windshild] tinted with titanium metallic tint, the effectiveness has dropped considerably. i'm disappointed.

Jae

 

I was wondering how you wired from your power/ground source (prob cig lighter like mine) all the way around upto the top by the rear view mirror. I am mounting my detector right above my mirror, and was lookign for a way to run wire there without it hanging down right in front of my view. I wanna run through the A pillars if possible, any help would be great.

 

Just start tucking the wire into the headliner. Then pull the A-pillar cover off (pull towards center dome light...it'll pop off). Then feed the cord down the dash and fish for it at the bottom. Pretty easy, takes a few minutes.
Mine's just under the rear view mirror. You can't tell it's there cuz my windshield's tinted and the angled view of a cop gives a reflection. Works for me.
About lasers...if a radar detector company tells you that the only way you'll get a laser signal is if you're already tagged, then you have a crappy radar detector. The good ones will pick up the laser bouncing off another car or object, giving you some warning. Another way around it is to spray your car with antireflective coating. I found some on shopping.yahoo.com for $14/can. I'm gonna get some.
Jae

 

does anyone have a cobra radar detector? i was wondering what color the power/ground was so i could hardwire mine.

 

bump?

 

I would say just cut the power cord apart, splice the wires, and doa test by tapping into the power/ground on the cig lighter, u will be able to know which is which real quick. And oh yea, I also redid my job, and rewired my radar detector up top, sitting on top of my rear view mirror. I wired it into the light up top. I knew that the source was a constant, but I dont really care much that the radar detector will stay on when car is off. No big deal, not gonna kill the battery too bad.

 

thanks for the write up. I have had my 8500 for over a year and just hard wired it today.. thanks for the info

 

I need a lil help. The wire that came with the 8500 isn't long enuf. I'm going to use a regular 2-line telephone cord. You're saying that 1 of the lateral wires is power and 1 of the medial ones is ground, right? How do I know which is which?
Jae