First DIY post, go easy on me please

Just finished installing my Escort 8500 X50 in my S4 and snapped some pictures. The idea with the dome light hookup came from ELEVENS's thread in the Q5 forum. Instead of buying and modifying a cable from Escort, I decided to make a custom harness from scratch.

1. Tools I used
* Torx T25 screwdriverto open dome light
* Knife to cut shield on wiring in car
* Some pliers to cut/crimp cables
* Solder iron and solder to make harness
* Hair dryer for heat shrink tube
* Multimeter to verify my wire harness


2. Materials I used
* 16-14 Gauge T-Taps (Kragen)
* Assorted Heat Shrink Tubing (Kragen)
* 2 pieces of wire
* Clipped off end from a phone cord, with RJ11 connector


3. Soldering prep
* Crimpted two connectors to the two pieces of wire
* Slide heat shrink tubing over the wires (I did each individual wire(pink) , and a bigger (blue) over the whole thing




4. Solder
* Solder the wires together
* black = +12V, red = ground


5. Heat shrink
* Using the blow dryer, shrink first the pink individual tube, then the blue one


6. Open Dome Area
* Open the sun glass compartment
* Unscrew the single Torx T25 screw
* Carefully pop the entire assembly out


7. Install T-Taps
* using the knife, I cut some of the fuzzy shield around the wires leading up to the HomeLink controller
* I tapped into the brown (ground) and white/black (+12V switched) cables
* I had to use the knife to carefully make cuts into the cables, as the T-Taps did not cut through


8. Plug in and route harness
* Plugged in the harness and routed it through the dome light assembly
* Try plugging in the radar detector, when you turn on the ignition, it should fire up
* If it doesn't work, try switching the two wires, maybe you got the polarity wrong


9. Close it all up
* reinstall the dome light
* I still need to find my visor clip, the suction cups are unreliable
* done (and yes, I need to clean my windshield)

 

hey, I just finished this exact same setup/install, and used your guide as a reference, so thanks!

some tips:

-yes, sometimes the polarity is backwards.
-autozone folks (and O'reilly auto parts) don't know what a t-tap is.
-i wish i hadnt been throwing out the free telephone cables i've been getting with everything i buy for the last 15 years, because then you'll need it, and...

anyways, thanks again, everything is in and i'm happy. i was kind of worried to be doing this not 3 weeks after i picked up my baby, but it went smoothly. now if only i could find someone with a vagcom cable...

 

Many thanks for a great and informative post. I did this install as soon as I got home last night. Those phone line wires are sure small! I have a direct wire that came with my Escort and it has 4 wires in it? what are they all for?

 

i know the lighter-plug cable that came default w/my radar detector has a remote of sorts - a flashing light, a button to mute/store gps/etc. the other two wires in the phone line are for these functions.

 

Thanks for posting this, I just completed the install and it works great. For those who are nervous...THIS IS VERY EASY TO DO. The trickiest parts of the whole thing are (1) soldering the tiny phone jack wires to the other wires to make the harness and (2) buy good quality t-taps that don't break (read: Radio Shack).

There is no hint of problem removing the light assembly, it is clean and easy to do and easy to put back.

If I can do this, you all can, I'll tell you that much for nothing.

I found a small Swiss army knife scissor the best tool for removing some of the shielding from the Home Link wires, just need to remove about an inch or so.

If all you have is Radio Shack for the t-taps, but a handful of packets as half of them are crap and will break.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the post!

I wired the Valentine One to the homelink plug, nice and clean. Took me a about 5 minutes to get everything apart, but an hour to wrap it up, mostly because I was being careful not to damage the new car.