since we all know that in the 2005 f150 the cigarette lighter in the front always stay on. so i want to know if anyone has connected their radar detector to a switch and if so how? im dying to know because its really annoying hahaha

 

yea, ford really screwed up by not having any 12v plugs turn off with the ignition... it is sooo annoying to have to turn them off every time..

you would have a tap into the cig lighter 12v power, run it to a switch of your choice ( SP ST) and then put a cig. plug hidden under the dash to make it nice and clean...

you could switch the stock plugs if you really wanted to, but hiding a 2nd one would be cleaner....

 

aww i see...and i was planning on hiding the added 12v...have you tried this at all or know of anyone that has...also what does SP and ST mean i kind of a newbie when it comes to electrical work

 

why dont you just wire it up direct to the acc switched wire going to the stereo so when you turn the key on and off it will cycle with the key isnt that what your after.

 

well yeah but there are times when i dont want it on while the truck is on, for instance, at drive-in theatres that thing goes crazy and other places as well. so i thought hiding the wire and connecting it to a switch would be the best idea...you know what i mean

 

it doesnt have an on off switch on the side of it or a plug in for the power on the side of it?

 

yeah it does but im also wanting to hide the cable to make it look a lot cleaner instead of have a kinky cord hanging over the dash. so if im gonna hide the cable i might as well hook it up to a switch thats empty on my auxiliary panel i made. so i was wondering how to do that

 

If you are going to mount the unit up by the visors, why not use the power in the overhead console that is hot in the run / accy position ?

There is a White w/ Lt Blue stripe wire, that is only hot with the key on, that you can use for the radar unit.

Did this on my 2001 SCrew as well as my 2006.

Just a thought, rather then running a wire on a switch up the a-pillar cover or using an add-a-fuse in the radio position in the fuse panel, and running up the pass side A-pillar.

 

To get the desired effect, you'll need to pull a new wire into the headliner from a circuit that's only hot when the engine is running. I like the Fuel Pump relay output because it goes dead if the engine stops, like when you're at a drive-in or just listening to the radio while tailgating, both with the key forward in RUN or back in ACC. But you could tap the instrument cluster key-switched power (R/Y) if you don't mind it staying on when the key is in RUN.

It's also pretty easy to add a switch so the cigar lighter & powerpoint sockets can be set for constant power (stock) or key-on power.

Common switches & relays are described in 4 ways: how much current they can handle (Amps rating), how the contacts work in relation to each other (shorting/non-shorting, i.e. make-before-break/break-before-make), how many circuits (poles) they can handle, and how many outputs there are for each circuit (throws). But current & shorting are more technical than most people need to know, so they're commonly only described by poles & throws. SPST means Single Pole, Single Throw, meaning there's one input (pole) and only one output (throw): 2 terminals. An SPDT would have 3 terminals because of the Double Throw designation. DP3T would handle 2 independent circuits & offer 3 outputs for each, making 8 terminals. But a 4PST would also have 8 terminals, so you can't tell just by counting them.

 

hey steve thanks for all the clarification on common switches and relays...greatly appeciated.

what i decided to do was buy a add a cig lighter, which was 6 bucks at radioshack, and hid it behind the dash. then connected the new cig hot wire to the switch and ran a power supply from the switch to the battery. also the new cig lighter has a ground as well so i grounded that to the truck. now it looks super clean and can turn it on and off by the switch. thanks for all your guys advice i appreciate it.