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I'm thinking of hardwiring my X50. But, I am a complete and total dumba** when it comes to anything that requires more skill than plugging something in and flipping a switch or pressing an "on" button. How difficult will it be for me to do the installation? Does the kit come with instructions? Would it be worth it to take my car to a shop and just pay a mechanic do it?
I have not electronics expertise whatsoever so I took it to Circuit City and for $25, they did an excellent job doing it. They did my V995 and my V1. For me, this is an excellent option but just make sure you tell them how you want it (where you want mute button, how much extra cord you want so you can tuck in what you don't, etc..).
There are instructions and it seems pretty straight forward, but I'd rather pay 25 bucks and have it done right. They hide the wire perfectly.
I like to utilize unused terminals in my vehicle fuse panel for stuff like this, it just gives a cleaner and more professional job. This can be difficult though I suppose for the average person because it usually involves removing the panel to access it from behind and connect the wires.
I don't like those squeeze on wire taps, at all, but they are very easy to use even for someone that's marginally clueless. If you take it in to a shop for them to wire its a 99% probability this is all they are going to use. If you knew how easy it was to do it that way you'd know how bad they were reaming you by charging you even more than $20 to do this.
The only hard part is getting the wire from under the dash to the top of the dash and make it look clean so it's not like coming up around the outside of the dash front by the door. As far as the actual electrical connection anyone could do as much as most of these shops call a "professional install". Just find the power wire coming off the back of your cigarette lighter and use one of thos squeeze on wire connectors to splice into that wire. If you do that you might also want to wrap that squeeze on connector with a couple wraps of black electrical tape as the things are known to fall apart after a while if not right away. The professional install shop likely won't even do that much though. Their goal is to get it in an out as quickly as possible so that's why they do it this way, which is in my opinion anything but an expert or professional installation.
you can use a fuse tap from radioshack, or the add-in circuit from radarbusters. All you have to do is to take out a fuse then hook it in.
If you want a clean and stealth install, I'd recommend this product:
http://www.safe-n-sound1.com/Escort%...nd%20Mute.html
I ordered it from ebay, but its the same price from their website. Its super easy to install and people never even notice that my 9500 is hardwired. All I did was remove some trim and plug the hardwire into the aux power supply in my car. You can easily check your manual to find where your's is in your car.
Here is the hardwired mute button.
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d.../DSCF26031.jpg
A closer shot so you can actually see it :D
http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...d/DSCF2604.jpg
Just bought the kit today at Best Buy. Thanks for the advice and suggestions. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.
does your button light up?Quote:
Originally Posted by Jchen1986
No it doesn't, I never understood why the smartmute cord had that light....why wouldn't I just look at the RD?Quote:
Originally Posted by speed-demon
^ There's two reasons. :)
(1) The "constant-on" light is an indicator of power-up (which can be important, if you're running the detector in full-dark mode) as well as a good pilot light for night-time reference - which itself is particularly important if your SmartCord is placed some distance away from a readily-referenced area, and away from "proprioceptive" activation.
(2) And as mentioned briefly above, in total-dark mode, the warning light can also serve as a visual alert reference, particularly as most accessory power sockets are placed well away from the vehicle's sightlines, and thus not visible from outside the vehicle.
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To help manage my jammer controls (although the LI's control is lit when "on," when "off," it's not - and the LPPs controls are not self-lit at all), since they're located in my vehicle's "ashtray cubby," forward of the stickshift's base and out of my direct proprioceptive space, I originally placed a single LED there. Since it recently became a "bank" of controls, I've placed an LED strip there, to serve the purpose of pilot lighting.
With that flat button, how do you press it? is the button the edge or on the middle, I can't tell from the pics.Quote:
Originally Posted by speed-demon
The button is in the middle, you press it normal to the surface its glued onto....its not on the edge.Quote:
Originally Posted by focalcivic