Hard Wiring Radar Detector

[bradenkeith]

Hello everyone, I'm trying to hard wire my new radar detector. I purchased a Dynex hard wiring kit from Best Buy. I'm not too sure where to start in this whole operation. Let me give you some details:

1) I have a Grand Prix '01
2) I don't work in electrical that often so terms may be foreign to me.

Am I supposed to split that head? Fold it around an active wire (ie: 12v)? What is that head? Does it plug directly into the fuse box perhaps?

If I do have to take out the fuse box to get behind it then what's the easiest way to do this?


Any help is greatly appreciated.

[TheOtherNick]

What i have found that works well for wiring is a fuse tap. It will go around the prong on the fuse and leave a tab sticking up and you will be able to plug a female connector on it. The end you have I have only used for grounds, but i bet some one knows the way to get it to work.

[Warhellride]

There's an accessory power drop under the dash. It has switched power, constant power, and ground. You can get a plug for it from a dealership or ZZP:
ZZ Performance

The power drop is located under the glove box. Start pulling back the carpet under the glove box, on the far right side (towards the passenger door). It's stuck up there pretty far, but you'll see it without pulling back too much carpet.

[bradenkeith]

Hi guys! Thanks for your replies, special thanks to Warhellride as I'm so glad to have found that power drop! That will be helpful in the future I'm sure.

Here's what I ended up doing:

I went to my friendly Autozone and spent about an hour and $1 and got a fuse to bare wire, crimped my radar detector end (after stripping what was in that picture above) with the fuse (doubler? not sure the name) and walla! Plugged the fuse into my Rear Defog and everythings golden. Picture are attached for the curious.

Thanks for your help! Glad to have found this forum as I just got my Grand Prix last month (love it!) and it's nice to have a forum dedicated to my car!


I ran it up through the side opening, into the lining of my car door, inbetween my roof and windshield, right into my radar detector.

[Z28]

So the radar detector has no ground? You just plugged it into a fuse slot?

[bradenkeith]

ah no. The ground is not in the photo, I just screwed it in near the fuse box, right above the glove box.

[Z28]

ah...ground isn't accessible in the fuse box i guess