The interior of the A7 is not friendly to using regular radar detectors like the Passport 8500 that I own. There is just no good place to make a radar detector look reasonable. It also looks out of place with a beautiful dash of the A7 so I have been looking at remote radar detectors and custom installations. After some research, I decided that the Passport Qi45 (now about $455 on Amazon) was going to be the best cost effective solution. The Youtube videos say this is the easiest to install remote and the unit's name stands for Quick Install 45 minutes.

Since I am a hands on guy and wanted to save money while having fun, I decided to do my own install. It took me about two hours as the A7 is a new vehicle and I had to figure out what to do from scratch.

I will document the details on what I learned. The Qi45 works well and has many advanced features that I have not seen on past detectors I have owned. Here are a few photos on what the end result looks like:

 

Wow Jerry, that's seems to be a lot of work! But aren't you supposed to mount the radar receiver as high as possible? Anyway, your setup looks really good. I just had my old 8500 mounted regularly, hard-wired to the fuse box.

 

Escort recommends mounting the antenna "below the bumper or in the grille". I am planning to add the Laser Jammers (Escort calls them laser shifters and they are legal) next week and they will be mounted higher near the headlights as those are typical laser gun targets. The shifters simply plug into the two connectors on the antenna, shown on photo #2.

First Photo: Step 1-Remove the radiator molding cover by pulling out the quick fasteners and gently easing up the plastic section that is tucked under rubber moldings on each side.

Photo 2: I screwed the radar antenna to the top side of the plastic under-liner that goes from the front bumper valence area to the under engine cover. I used self-tapping galvanized screws naturally and they make their own holes. This photo is the view when looking down between the radiator and the front bumper/grill area. I used numerous zip ties to secure the cable at points in the engine bay on the drivers side.

Photo 3: Escort recommends routing the single cable through the firewall but that looked to be a very, very daunting task. I could not find an opening from either the engine bay or from under the dash. I then took the easy way out and routed the cable along the engine bay drivers side area to the driver's door. Here is how I got into the dash: With the drivers door open, I pulled on point #1 to gently pick up the molding. Then I fed the cable through slot #2 and under the rubber molding. The cable was fed down to the bottom of the molding and came into the dashboard at point #3. The dashes in white show how the cable ended up out of sight.

Next post will be the dash and fuse box stages.

 

Next step is to get to the fusebox and the first photo shows that the cover just pops up after gentle prying. It is located on the driver's side dashboard.

Photo two shows the fusebox underneath the cover. First unscrew "B" and the two other 5/16" screws under the driver's dash. "B" is not a good ground. The panel with the light switch comes down with some gentle wiggling at point "X" first. You can disconnect the light switch connector "L" as the 4th photo shows so the panel will lie down.

Next push in tab "A" and pull the white fuse block rearward and then down. (EDIT) ** Screw "C" is NOT a good point to ground the unit (black ground wire terminal shown) but use the shiny metal bolt and nut in the top left area of the photo instead to make the connection. It is about 5" directly above point A. I had some intermittent issues over time with point "C" that I traced back to a loose ground connection due to the coatings so make it very tight.

The next photo shows how I got the +12Volt connection. Remove the rearmost (closest to driver) fuse block's back cover. The large black wire in the center is a good switched 12V power line and the Escort supplied quick connector just clamps on as shown. (It took me a while to locate a beefy 12V switched wire).

The next photo shows the under-dash cover removed and the light switch connector "L" disconnected. It comes out if you press down on the connector with a small metal tool.

After everything is plugged in, you are done so just reassemble everything in reverse while leaving the radar unit hang down. Be sure to tuck the plastic dash under-cover above the dead pedal "X" last.

The last photo is the main radar unit installed under the dash with several Velcros (V)and with the speaker facing out. I had the unit mounted inside the dash initially but found that the volume was too muted. So it is mounted now as shown and works quite well.

Good luck to all who want to walk in my steps.

 

Here is the completed front view of the A7 with the two laser shifters (jammers) mounted close to the headlights and the radar antenna at the bottom of the grille. The Passport Qi45 seems to work well and is programmable in many ways. I would recommend this unit and it is the lowest cost, quality remote radar detector solution out there. Other solutions are well over $1.5K plus complex installs. Total cost for the Qi45, including the laser shifters, was $750. My labor and fun learning was free.

PS: I did have to cut out some of the black plastic from the rear of the back grill (there are two grills) and epoxy a plastic support bracket so the laser shifters could be mounted on something solid using double sided sticky tape. (so I can remove one day) That fabrication was the most tricky part of this project. Sorry no pictures of that but it is not pretty.

It has been several months now and the Qi45 and jammers are all working quite well. Total cost of the DIY project is well under $700 dollars.

 

This may be a dumb question, but haven't used a radar detector since the late 80s... Are you concerned about weather (rain, ice, snow, etc..)?

Thanks!

 

You are a funny person!

 

This detector was designed to sit outside on the grille and looks tough and waterproof. I do not think the cold or water will be issues. The main parts of the electronics and display are inside the car anyway.

 

Since the detector is down low in the grill, does this offer any rear detection at all?

 

Not direct sensing but for reflected radar bouncing off signs, overpasses or trucks. I generally do not care about what is behind. The $1,700 Passport 9500ci system has rear and front detectors and jammers but according to Escort, 80% or more of the traffic checks by police are from the front.