<E39> Radar Detector Power

["Curtis A. Ingraham" <ingraham@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't recall seeing this info recently, so I thought I'd pass on
a couple of radar detector installation tips for the E39.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend my son and I installed a Valentine One 
in my wife's 2001 540i.  We were surprised and pleased with how easy
it was and how well it turned out.

We mounted the detector high on the windshield just to the right
of the mirror.  It is down just far enough to allow the right side
sun visor to drop down to vertical.  When down, the visor does block
the rear antenna, but that's a minor compromise.  (You could mount 
the detector lower or to the left under the mirror to avoid that.)
When the visor is up, the detector has a good view front and rear.

We routed the detector power wire straight up to the top of the
windshield.  It fit easily between the windshield and the headliner,
then across to the ceiling console area.  To get into the console,
pull down on the ends of the dome/map light.  Then pull down on the
front edge of the panel holding the sunroof switch.  For hardwired 
power we tapped into the Universal Transmitter cable.  This is a
three-wire cable with a small three-pin connector.  If you have the
UT, the cable will be obvious.  If not, you will find the cable
somewhere in the ceiling console space.  The three wires are:

  Brown: Ground
  Green/White: +12 volts when ignition is on
  Grey/Red: Illumination power

We tapped the Brown and Green/White wires for detector power.  The
UT and the detector each draw a fraction of an amp, so the detector 
is unlikely to cause any problem on this circuit.

Handle the ceiling console pieces carefully; they could be damaged
by too much force.  

Curt Ingraham
72 2002tii (me)
01 540i 6-speed (spousal unit)

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End of bmw-digest V9 #1981
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