It also seems that the cigarette lighter stays activated for a long period of time. I have my dash cam plugged to the lighter. We went to a restaurant last night and we were in there for a long time. When we came back out I looked through the glass and the plug still had power. I had read on a forum that after you shut the truck off that the power to the cigarette plug stops after 15 minutes. This is not the case.

 

I received the fuse tap that I ordered off of E-Bay. It plugged into the fuse panel without any problem: http://www.ebay.com/itm/201443576416?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

Awesome! That one is clearly a bit different from the Lumison that I bought through Amazon.

Is it fully seated in the socket and providing the switched power like you wanted?

 

It is seated nicely. I have not been able to do any additional work with it due to work, wife, kids, and more work. I will try to get some progress on it this next week.

 

OK, this is kind of embarrassing, but after after being inspired by your pic I went back and tried 1 more stinking time to get the Bussman ATR Micro2 Add-a-Circuit to fit into interior fuse position 36 of my 2016 truck. And it did!

Apparently, all this time I just wasn't holding my mouth right. It's in there. Doesn't feel super tight, but we'll see how it holds up...

The great thing is that it is switched with the ignition! Radar detector turns on when I start the truck, shuts off as soon as I turn the key off (not delayed until door is opened).

 

Oh good. So are the fuses hot from the center out? Do I have mine positioned right? What are you using for the ground?

 

Yes, your's looks to be positioned correctly. Mine is the same way, with the fuses facing up and the new circuit exiting to the left. For the left column of the panel, the right side of each Micro2 fuse position is the hot side.

For the ground, I drilled a small hole in the driver's side knee bolster and used a self tapping screw. This is a steel plate located just behind the plastic trim panel below the steering wheel (the lower dash panel). The entire panel including the lighting controls will fold down on hinges if you gently pull out on it from the top edge; no prying or screw removal necessary.

Be careful - I found all edges of the steel plate to be razor sharp - it will slice your hands and nick any wires you pull across it (learned the hard way). I installed a piece of split wire loom behind it to protect my wires.

Just in case anyone's wondering, the driver's side ground connection was convenient because the Escort/Beltronics hardwire kits have an in-line "SmartCord" control module that needs to be mounted on that side anyway:



I attached the SmartCord control to the plastic panel with 3M trim tape, and routed the wires through one of the slits in the rubber gasket that surrounds the steering column. From there the wires run up behind the driver's side A-pillar trim and are tucked along the front edge of the headliner tray to (same place as the rear-view mirror wires) to the mirror, where the detector is mounted to the stem with a "BlendMount" bracket.

http://www.blendmount.com/

I'll snap some pics and upload later.

 

lbmii, not sure if you've seen this or if it would work in your application, but it might save you some trouble:

http://www.blendmount.com/mirrortap.html

It was not a solution for me because I wanted to have the dash-mounted SmartCord control (a lot easier than leaning forward and reaching up to the mirror to mute a radar alert, plus its indicator light allows you to keep the RD display "dark" if you want).

 

Yeah I have a XL truck so I do not have the auto mirror. The cameras and mirror I ordered are on their way from China. Hopefully I will get them in soon. Then let the fun begin. I did get the remote control relay in the other day. My plan is to place a backup camera on the back of the camper shell I currently have on order. I think I will mount a front camera at the bottom of the Ford emblem on the front grill. I will control the backup camera with the backup lights. I will control the front camera with the remote. http://www.ebay.com/itm/381567523964...84.m1436.l2649

 

Sounds like an interesting project. Good luck!

 

Hey guys I read this, all the other forum posts linked off of this and I got so tired of this! First I tried to find a tap on the driver's side. I am installing a smart cord for my escort radar detector. The lines are all too small for my blue tap. I tried pinching it and I found some wires that seemed to work but it didn't properly connect to the wire. Than I said F it I will go to the fuse panel. I went there and there was nothing to tap! I ordered some taps and all the stuff came and they were TOO big. Even the multiple types pack. When I went out there I was fuming I was so angry. Frustrated that I couldn't get to it I said ok I am going to go to the battery through the firewall but then I realized that too was a problem because I wanted switched and I really didn't want to go through the firewall because that's just a PITA and I am too darn big to get under this dash. Frustrated I walked away and then I said ok I'm just tearing apart the dash. I did what any sane person would do and I tapped the back of the cigarette lighter. Its the best thing in the world. Large enough wire for the tap. I ran it down to the fuse panel are and hooked up a cigarette lighter plug for my dash cam and tied in the smart cord for the radar detector. Was faster, easier and just plain works.

TLR; Tear apart the center stack and get to the cigarette lighter adapter and tap the white wire. Black is negative (obviously). Its the best way to go in my opinion.

Neil