Wiring in a Radar Detector

One thing I found out when I picked up the 308 is that the cigarette lighter is the type where you just stick the cigarette in the middle to light it.  That precludes using the normal plugs for radar detectors, cell phones, etc.

There is a 12V outlet under the dash but it uses a special plug only available on the accessory light that is part of the tool kit.

I got an extra light and wired the plug up to a regular cigarette lighter splitter, replacing the plug part with the plug from the light.

That works OK, but the weight of it and the wiring tends to make it fall out of the jack.  So I decided to put permanent wiring in for my Valentine 1 radar detector.  The previous owner had put in some wiring but that couldn't be used for the V1 which uses a 4 wire telephone extension cable.

The first problem was to figure out how to take off the A pillar covers and the panel under the top of the windshield.  After looking at the A pillars for a while and not figuring out how they were installed, I went to the parts book.  The white trim pieces in the middle of the pillars simply snap into place.  Careful prying got them off and I could see three tiny screws that held the cover on.  The top section is held on with 4 tiny screws hidden under the sun visors.

The next problem was to get the wire run through the A pillar and across to the opening where the interior light is recessed.  I had to try a couple of times with an electrician's fishing tape before I was able to get it to turn the corner at the top of the pillar.  I finally got it through and pulled back a cord.  I tried pulling the new wire using the cord, but the phone jack at the end kept getting stuck and I didn't want to pull too hard and cut the cord on a sharp edge.  Eventually I pulled a 10 gauge copper wire through using the string and used that to pull the phone wire.

The last part was finishing the wiring under the dash.  The 308 is quite nice in that respect since the fuses are about where a glove box would be on a typical car.  Very easy access.  The V1 has a small power supply that installs with some self-stick Velcro.  I ended up attaching the + side to the fuse with the electric fuel pump.  That circuit is one both when the ignition is on and when the car is being started.  Since the V1 wiring has an inline fuse, I wasn't worried about it shorting out the fuel pump fuse and leaving me stopped somewhere.  This way the detector doesn't go through its beeping startup every time you use the starter.