routing a road angel power lead....

[VAGMAN1]

about to get one and want to route it so that the wire is flapping around over the dash or centre console!

I was thinking I routing it out through the back of the ash tray, then feeding it behind the radio head unit, then pull out the dash unit and feed it behind that, then finally bring it out via the fuse box at the end.


how does this sound and how have other people routed their wires, so as to be unseen?

 

[FactionOne]

I didn't have any of my usual stash of inline fuse-holders available when I came to hard wire mine, so I went off the ready-fused ignition live on the back of the stereo (and also because I have an adapter-harness between the car and the HU I wasn't even splicing any wires on the car); pushed it out the back of the centre console and behind (/underneath whatever you'd say) the driver's side dash-trim; loosened the fuse-box to give me some wiggle-room and pushed the wire up the A pillar (I'm not too fussed about the RA not being the middle of the dash).

Not a technically exemplary fitting but still it works and it looks reasonably tidy. I've only just surfaced (got to bed at about 10am!) but give me a few minutes and I'll go grab a pic on my phone...

Regards,

Rob.

 

[FactionOne]

 

[VAGMAN1]

thanks!

 

[AndyMac]

Yes I did mine in same location as Rob, but just piggybacked it onto an ignition on live off the back of the fusebox.

 

[VAGMAN1]

AndyMac - how did you access the wire - did you remove the whole of the fuse box panel? if so, how easy is this to do and how?

and re electrics, I'm not that clued-up (!) - is it just a case of cutting the plug end of the power lead off and joining that wire to a live wire (i.e. 'red' wire)?

 

[AndyMac]

Yes the fusebox is only held to the end of the dash with 2 screws. It then unclips and you can easily get to the back. I just used one of those piggyback connectors (the ones that clamp over an existing wire). Just make sure you tap the side after the fuse i.e. not the hot side, so that the circuit is protected. I just used an existing screw in the chassis for an earth. Used the same method for my laser jammer.
Just a word of warning, once it's hardwired in, you do get lazy and tend to leave it in the car. Don't, the UK's finest low lives have moved on from nicking car radio's and will now just break a window in broad daylight and nick whatever is stuck to the inside of your windscreen (RA's satnav etc).
If you leave it on display in your car then you might as well leave it on the pavement and avoid the Autoglass excess and the endless hoovering (still finding bits of glass in my A4).

 

[FactionOne]

On the electrics question; yep, you just cut the plug off the straight power cable and there's a black and a red... You can just crimp a ring onto the black (or if you're not too bothered just strip enough to make a loop) and stick that under a bolt on the bodywork or something that looks good and structural (there are loads of these factory-placed 'grounding posts' dotted around on the inside of the bodywork etc., but pretty much anything will do) - the red wire you need to connect to a live (preferably one which is switched on the ignition (unless of course you'd prefer the RA to be on until you unplug it for whatever reason)). It does need to be on a fuse somehow though; so you've got two choices - you can either a) put an inline fuse on it (only needs to be 3 / 5 amp) or b) find a live which is already fused to something around that value.

Andy's method is great because you don't have to route the cable so far behind the dash trim so it's a bit tidier in there; but if for some reason you end up heading for the stereo it's just a case of taking a feed off the yellow wire (for switched with ignition) or the red (for permanent power), and of course the fuse in place for each of those points should be fine.

Regards,

Rob.

EDIT: I wish I'd have seen Andy's edit before I started! ...And yeah, couldn't agree more - make sure you don't leave it in the car (I'm paranoid enough to carry some window-wipes in my door pocket so I can hide the windscreen-mount and clean the 'sucker-rings' if I really don't like the look of where I've got to leave the car)

 

[jesters3]

Hello, looking at purchasing a Speed Detector (between RA2 and S6R) and want to hard wire it to the cars electrical system (Audi S3 2002). I've done a few searches to locate info on this as well as the best way to do this and found your posts above, cheers!

Questions;
do you have to disconnect the battery before you start this work?
can you pull off more than one device on the same wire?
what do you mean by 'Just make sure you tap the side after the fuse i.e. not the hot side, so that the circuit is protected'?
to feed the wire behind do you have to remove the upper or lower dash to get to it?

TIA