Valentine 1 Radar Detector

scull20 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:04 pm

Before I start...let me just say I did not drive around at unsafe or ridiculous speeds in my Liberty before installing the radar detector...and will continue to not do so now that I have it installed. That being said...I like many of the people out there do a fair amount of driving and may from time to time find themselves cruising on the highway at a speed that is over the speed limit which is where a radar detector can be useful. Additionally, I would never spend 400$ on such a device...I received this as a birthday present.

I figured I would take some pics to show off my little bracket I made to mount the unit. I uses a standard RJ11 phone wire for power. I wrapped the power cable around the bundle of wires for the rear view mirror. Using a credit card I shoved the wire above the headliner across the drivers side, then took the A-Pillar molding off and ran it from the roof, down the A-Pillar and under the steering wheel. The V1 comes with a little box that you plug the phone cord into. The box has hot and ground wires coming off of it. I wired the hot lead into the radio fuse using a fuse tap and wired the ground to the steering column (found a convenient hole and just put a machine screw and nut through it). It turns on when I turn on the ignition and off when I turn it off...just like the radio.

The bracket is mounted to the roof using the clip for the sun visor. I then got some "super-duper" velcro and attached it to the windshield for extra support. The clip that holds the V1 in place is also velcro'ed to the bracket itself. I made the bracket out of 22 gauge steel that I found in the hardware section of Lowe's...made a cardboard cutout of it first to use as a model. After I had it traced out I cut it out using a Dremel and bent it by hand using a vise. After it was cutout and bent I got some enamel flat black paint for 99 cents at Walmart. Overall...it is a bit crude, but I think it turned out pretty well...It serves its purpose.

Comments welcome.

-Ryan

MtnLuvr · **Posted:** Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:04 pm

scull20,

Interesting. Very creative mounting. Do you have a photo with the visor in the down position (since it looks like the V1 may restrict your visor from flipping all the way down)?

I received my new V1 a week or so ago and am having a hard time figuring out where I'm going to mount it in my KK. In my other cars, I mount the V1 above the rearview mirror. A great place and you can hardly see it from outside the vehicle due to the tinting along the top edge of the windshield. This doesn't appear to be an option on my KK for 2 reasons: 1) I'd have to have the rearview mirror mount lowered to have enough clearance for the V1 to sit level due to the overhead hump with lights, etc in it and 2) I have uConnect and the microphones for the voice control and hands-free cell are in the top of the rearview mirror. I'm still in limbo wishing I could find a better place to mount it than via the suction mount and just below the rearview mirror. I may have to see if your approach may help me.

Again, nicely done.

scull20 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:06 pm

With the V1 mounted where it is, I cannot make use of the sun visor flipped down in front of me. I can still take it off to put it sideways without a problem though. I've only used the sun visor to block the sun in front of me a few times anyway...my sunglasses/tilting my head down with a hat on usually suffice. I had it mounted about 3 inches to the left of where it is now using the suction mount when I first got it. Its nice that the black dots are sandwiched in between the the plies of the glass and not on the inside...made utilizing the suction mount less of a headache.

long_tall_texan · **Posted:** Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:04 pm

Looks good. I am an Escort Passport guy, but the V1's are the only thing on the market with equal capability.

scull20 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:39 pm

long_tall_texan wrote:

Looks good. I am an Escort Passport guy, but the V1's are the only thing on the market with equal capability.

I had looked at the passports a year or so ago, almost bought one until I needed to get my brakes done. I've looked at some comparisons between the two though. I like the GPS feature it had, and after watching some videos of them, I like the sounds for the difference bands more than the ones the V1 has.

MtnLuvr · **Posted:** Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:45 pm

On page 2 of this thread, you can see how I wound up mounting my V1 and remote display.

Valentine 1 Radar Detector

Who is online