I recently purchased a kit for my Bel 936 radar detector to hardwire it into my truck. It has a "t" tap and spade connector. I am looking for a source of power under the steering colum (Wire Color and location) that is only active with the key. That way the radar detector will only come on in the run or on position. From the seach function I found that the red wire with the black stripe is such a source. U just want to verify that beofre I tap into it. Thanks in advance for any help. Rob

 

I tapped mine into the radio fuse. Just wrapped the wire around the fuse and plugged it back in.

 

That's what I was going to suggest. I can't remember the exact wire color but, I'll do a little searching to see what I can come up with.

RP

 

How do you exactly tap it into the radio fuse? I don't think that I want to do that because the wiring kit comes set up with the spade tap. Let me know what you come up with and thanks for the help.

 

It was FordMan4Life that said he tapped into the fuse... hehehe... not me.

Trust me... I'm not sure you want me giving you electrical advice...

RP

 

I cut the connector off the line. My power cord that came with the radar detector came with an inline fuse. I mounted my R.D. over my rear view mirror. The mounting bracket I found at Best Buy came with suction cups. I routed my wires behind the headliner and down the side of the windshield. I grounded it under the dash and wrapped the hot wire around the fuse.

 

Are there no empty slots in the fuse box? Used to be fuse boxes had an empty battery and switched hot power point...

 

You could splice it into the temp/compass wiring in the overhead console. Only need about 12 inches of wire then.

Fritz

 

Guess it coems down to where you want to mount it at, as to which wire and what location you want to use.

The large AWG wire ( Red with a black stripe ) under the dash is the key in run position power from the ign switch. This is if you are going to mount the RD low on the dash, and run the wire along the windshield, down the side, and under the dash.

If you are going to mount is overhead by the console, that has a temp / comp in it, then there is a ground and power up there.

So if you can post back where you want to put it, that would help.

 

Last night I was able to mount the radar detector overhead to the left of the overhead console using the visor clip they provided. I wanted to tap into the power in the overhead console, but I have the power moonroof in my truck and I couldn't find the mounting screw that everyone was talking about for those people who don't have the moonroof.

With that said, I ran the wires across the headliner, down the A pillar, and through the dash adjacent to the emergency brake pedal. Now I just have to find a power source.

Where is the large AWG red and black wire for the radio power?What harness is it in? One wire has an eyelte to mount to the ground and the other has a spade to mount into a "t-tap". Thanks in advance for your help.

Rob

 

Rob,

The large awg wire is up by the connector block by the ign switch. This is what runs all the items for when the key is on ( not just the radio ).

If you stick your head up under the dash, and look towards where the key is at in the steering column, you will see the connector for the ign switch, and the harness running away from it. Remember to put an inline fuse on this, if your RD or RD cord has a problem, and takes out the fuse, the truck dies on the spot. It is either a 40 ro 50 amp maxi fuse running this circuit, don't rely on the factory fuses to fuse the RD.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the help...

I'll look when I get home from work today. The power cord to the radar detector has a 1 amp inline fuse in it. I should be alright with this, correct? THe radar detector runs at 300 milliamps, so the 1 amp fuse seems correct.

So the wire is actually off of the ignition assembly under the dash?

THanks.... Rob

 

Rob,

Yes a 1 amp fuse is fine. 5 would be fine as well. For the RD it is more so if you get chaffing or the likes on the cord and short to ground. Speaking of which, make sure of what you grab under there as a ground. Just because it is metal, doesn't make it a ground. i.e. the bracket that the hood latch is on. No ground there. There is a green screw behind the HVAC cover over the center hump on my SCrew. Maybe it is the same on yours. This is just to the right of the gas pedal.

You will see the wire coming down from the ign switch connector, can't miss that big SOB

Get a 12 AWG T-Tap for it ( yellow ) don't try to use a blue one for 14 AWG, you'll clip some of the stands if you try that.

You should be all et, if not post back, and I can try to help

Good luckh

Steve

 

TO all......

I just wanted to let you know that I finished the install last night and it works great. I found the green grounding screw to the right of the gas pedal no problem. I inadvertently tapped into the wrong red wire with black stripe and it didn't work. I then remembered that it was a 12 AWG, so it would be thicker than the 18 GA I tapped into by accident the first time. After looking at the second wire, the first looked more like pink with a black stripe.

I could't get the inline tap to work on the 12 AWG wire, so I just scraped away the insulation on the wire and then soddered the wire from the radar detector to the red and black power wire.

So again.... thanks for everybodies help. Please write if you have any questions that I can help you with.

Rob