Here's my install of the Valentine One using a direct-wire method. I accessed the cable that runs behind the rearview to the homelink system. It has has some ignition-switched pwr wires.

Basically, I took a regular 2-wire phone cord, ran the green wire to the 8's black wire, and ran the red wire to the 8's black w/green stripe wire. These wires power the auto-dimmer of the rearview. Interestingly, I found they cut out when you put the car in reverse. This is ok, though, as I don't plan on needing the detector while running the car in reverse :p

Enjoy

 

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It looks pretty good, I have been trying to figure out how to do the direct wire for my Valentine.

I usually leave my detector on the dash, run the wires along the base of the windshield and into the fuse box.

I personally don't like the detector on the windshield. That just screams "follow me on the highway because I have a Valentine". Also, the rubber suction cups seem to fall off whenever it is an emergency.

 

Hi myrx8 -
Thanks. Yeah - there's lots of options to installing these things. For me, I have pretty dark tint, so the "follow me" thing is not a big issue. But, another drawback to my method is that it is so visible. So, I take it down & I put it in the glovebox if I am concerned about theft in certain situations. Nevertheless, I chose this method because its simple, clean, and provides excellent signal reception.

Also, I found that if you moisten those cups before sticking them - they don't fall off - ever. You can look at them really close and see if there's any air bubbles trapped in there. If so, you need to squeeze it out. It will stick.

 

Look at some other threads on installation. Someone else took your idea and may have improved on it.

 

Did you keep the inline fuse from the V1 hardwire install kit? If not, you are asking for trouble, the inline fuse is only 1amp and the mirror is probably on a 10 amp circuit. If you do have a short for some reason you could fry your $400 detector before the fuse blows.