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Install of Radar Detector, Dashcam, and Laser Jammer (LONG)

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Hey Telsa Fans! Thought I'd put a write up on my dashcam, radar detector and parking sensors (laser jammers)
Here is my setup
1.) Beltronics STI-R Plus (got bundled from ALP)
2.) Anti Laser Priority (ALP) quad (2 front / 2 rear) hifi
YOU WILL NEED TO BUY 2 Sensor extensions for the rear
3.) Blackview DR650GW-2CH (group deal on TMC... Thanks Andyw2100)
4.) P85D WITH auto-pilot

I have done an install of the STI-R plus on my G37 and was fairly comfortable doing it on the Tesla. Problem was that there was no service manual to show how parts of the panels come off. So I decided to document this to help others out who may want to do it and save time. This install took me about 40 hours doing research and install. A lot of it was trying to figure things out and where to route wires and how to cut holes into the car (3 holes). I also could only do this from 9pm (I have young kids that go to bed at 8) at night till 3am in the morning. Rough the next morning for sure. I tried to take as many pics as I could but after midnight I kind of got out of picture taking mode. This guide is to help you through if you decide to DIY. I take no responsibility if you screw something up. Proceed at your own risk. I’ll try to answer any question through here or through PM. Read this through to see what parts you may need.

THE MIRROR
To start I found a tesla rear view mirror from a 2013 pre autopilot car. I thought the mirrors may be the same. I wanted to integrate the display in the mirror like I did in my G37. But also the STI-R plus display is red and so is the control module. In my G37, I was able to send the unit to beltronics and have them change the display and the control module to blue (kind of like the 9500ci module and display) That took about a week and I had to find the person that did it last time as no one in beltronics customer service knew what I was talking about. I had to bypass them and talk to the original tech that did it. Thank goodness he was still there. Come to find out the mirror on the pre-autopilot and autopilot are different. I did the prep work on the non-autopilot to practice on how to open the mirror and take the foam tape off the back so to put the display in.

In this pic you can see the difference between the non-autopilot vs autopilot mirrors
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The internals of the mirrors look to be the same
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To get the mirror off you will need to take apart the front of the two piece black covers that is above the mirror. Here you can see the two pieces.
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The front part comes apart by pulling forward and down. Look at the 4 clips in the next pic
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Next unplug the mirror. Then I rotated the mirror clockwise from the base and it came off. This took a good amount of pressure. It’s a wedge type
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Then pop off the cover that was above the mirror. You will be left with this.
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Now a little hair raising part. Popping the mirror off. This part I used 2 thin plastic panel removal tools to pop the mirror off. I went in the center and lifted the plastic off and then got another tool and ran along the top. I provided pictures to show you where the tabs are on the plastic housing and on the mirror.

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Now that you have the mirror separated, go ahead and disconnect the two connections going to the mirror. No worries, these are two different connectors. I had decided to place the display in the area that already had parts of the plastic missing behind the mirror for two reasons. One was that with my seats, the display would be against the headrest area for me and not really interfere with my visual of the rear. Second was that it’s already cut for you and much easier. I took my STI-R plus display out of housing and measured it up against the mirror and marked it. Now you will need to cut this plastic off. How I did it before was to heat up my x-acto knife and cut into the plastic until I felt it hit the mirror. I wish I could say that I wasn’t worried about scratching the mirror but I was. But I was pretty hard on it and no scratches happened. Then you will need to remove the foam area. I used a new x-acto knife and cut into the foam until I felt hard again and made the outline cut. Then I used a flat blade x-acto blade 17 (seen in the pic below) to clean and remove.
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If you look at the bottom photo, you will see a round hole that is to the right of a circuit board and to the left of a red wire. That hole was perfect to install the ALP external led light. The hole has no plastic in there and just the foam. I used a small blade and clean the foam out and put the led light in. I held the display and the led light in place with hot glue. Works great
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Now to run these wires through, you DO NOT need to cut the ends off. Just disconnect the connector as seen below and run the wires through and then reconnect the connector. Reconnect the wires and then snap the mirror back together. MIRROR DONE
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FRONT CABIN WIRING FOR RADAR CPU AND DASHCAM
Since we have the mirror off, it was a good time to get the wiring for it and the front dashcam going. The front blackview cam has two wires that need to go to it. Power and rear. For power I read on a forum that I am on, Tesla Motor Club (TMC) that there could be an untapped constant 12v power supply in the upper mic area. I pulled the front part of the grill down and was welcomed by the site of the empty plug with 3 wires. I got my volt meter and measured the voltage on each wire. Looking at the picture you see the 3 wires. Black of course is ground, the green provided a little more than 10 volts (not enough) and the orange was what I needed for my 12 volt source. This is 3 wires into a 4 hole connector. I really did not want to tap into these wires, SO I found some PWM female connectors and wired it to where I could use the ground and the 12 volt orange wire source. The blackview comes with so much cabling that I would not use that I cut the wire really short so I would not have a bunch of wire hanging in the mic area rattling. I cut the fuse out as well. I’m letting Tesla’s fuse handle it. I tapped that in and placed it in the mic area.
This is the wire I tapped into
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This is running the power wire and the rear cam wire to the mic area
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I ran the rear cam wire on the inside of the headliner and taped it down. It fits in the space between the headliner and the glass. See the line in red. I ran it to this spot and left it hanging for the time I run the two rear laser wires.
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The radar display and laser led was run along the glass and the headliner toward the driver’s side A pillar. The A pillar was removed by using a plastic trim pry tool on the airbag logo and removing the screw. Pull down.
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The side dash trim piece will need to be removed. It’s held in by 4-5 clips. Pry from the bottom using a plastic trim pry tool.
I used a 50 ft. nylon fish tape from amazon to fish most of my wires as seen in the pic below to run the display and led wires down.
Amazon Link to 50ft. nylon fish tape

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My problem now is that the wires stop here at the side of the dash. I will need a coupler and extended wire. Problem is that these connectors are not your usual telephone plug jack. This is what took some time to research and get parts for. Good for you that I did the research and can tell you what to get. You will need RJ22 aka RJ10 aka 4p4c connectors, a 4p4c crimp tool and telephone wire.
The telephone wire I had. I had a good quality thick one that I cut the ends off. I found the connectors at a local supply store but I’ll put an amazon link down below. Also I have a normal network crimping tool, but this will not work as a telephone crimping tool is 6p and you will need a 4p crimper. Amazon link for the crimper below. I also needed a coupler for the rj22 connector. I found some on amazon and had shipped to me.
AMAZON LINK FOR CRIMPER
AMAZON LINK FOR CONNECTORS
AMAZON LINK FOR COUPLER
The above coupler is a rj11 coupler with a plastic piece to make rj22 fit.

Now this is something I am going to bring up now that took me awhile to figure out. I thought all phone couplers were straight through…. Well I found out the hard way it is not. It’s crossover. I have no idea why. But keep this in mind when wiring and putting on the connectors to the extended cable. I crossed the cable. This means if you look at the connectors and the color wires going into the connector, they will be opposite.
Now that this is out of the way, I had to figure out where to place the brains for the STI-R Plus and the ALP units. In order to get underneath the areas you need to pry out a lot of trim pieces. First start with the leather side pieces (held on by clips) on BOTH SIDES of the lower center console tray. I DID NOT remove the cubby below the screen. Then remove the carpet that is underneath the leather (also held on by clips) behind the knee airbags is a plastic cover that is held in by 2 torx screw. Take this off on both sides. Now on the passenger side I left the door sill in place but the driver’s side I removed for usb plug placements and to put excess wire underneath this area. This is the area where I broke one blue clip. In the pic below you will see the two red circles and red arrow showing where the clips are at. I broke the one on the far left. That is vertical. Luckily Highland Park, IL Tesla Service center is close by and I got replacements.
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The plastic foot rest has 3 plastic clips that when you pull up on the foot rest will release. This is done so you can pull back the carpet for wire running later. Now I have access up into the dash from below I see this.
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And decide to put the radar brains here with double sided 3m automotive tape or you can use 3m foam tape from home depot here.
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The brains for the ALP I decided to put under the screen / cubby area as seen circled in yellow
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Next was getting switchable power to the units. Thanks to WK057 from TMC He posted up a “tech note” about a switchable 12V power supply. Below is his picture and credit for this goes to him
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I did not want to actual tap into the wire that is list on the picture but I found that if I get a Molex power connector from a computer PSU that the female end is circular but can be flattened and fit into the plug securely. I chose the red wire from the psu molex to use obviously and then tapped into that wire for both radar and alp. I ran the power cable from here underneath the screen area and behind the drivers carpet to the brains for both.
Speakers. Unfortunately one speaker cannot be used for both radar and laser. So I had to put both in there. I found a tight but perfect spot for it and I can hear both quite well. The laser comes with a speaker if you get the hifi control set. I used 3m double sided foam tape and taped the two speakers together and then used double sided foam tape and mounted the speakers here.
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USB I wanted USB for the radar for updates later and the ALP needs it for config and firmware updates. I used the driver side kick panel to mount the usb ports. The beltronics comes with a nice usb mount but the ALP does not. I got a StarTech panel mount cable (seen in pic below) so it would look cleaner. I will paint the screws black later.
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Top is beltronics and lower is the ALP
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ALP USER HINT: I found near where we tapped the 12v switchable power the cables going to the USB ports near the cigarette lighter port. You can disconnect one of these and buy and adapter on amazon, and plug your ALP into this and use one of your ports for the ALP USB. I decided on the drivers kick panel since I was already putting the beltronics there, BUT if you got the STI-R Plus head only with the ALP then this may be a great option for you.
See this pic that shows the two connectors in black on the right pic
INSERT TNphoto
Disconnect it and it’s a mini USB connector
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AMAZON LINK TO USB ADAPTER

Front bumper sensors and getting through the firewall.

Sensor Placement: Ok, now on to the sensors in the front bumper. I first figured out where I wanted my sensors. I finally decided to put them in the locations as you see in the pic below. I did not want to cut a hole in the nosecone as I have seen someone do (but was really clean) and wanted a little more discreet. I have had the radar behind the bumper of my G for years and its worked fine so I had no problem putting it behind my nosecone. The GPS module was put near here as well for fastest pickup as in the cabin its tough to get signals out and in.
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Front Disassembly and Wiring: First you will need to pop off the nosecone off. Autopilot cars will have sensors they will need to disconnect here. I’m going to say search for this if you don’t know how to get this off. It’s easy. Now remove the rubber seal around the frunk. Remove the carpeted liner of the frunk. Next the side black panels pop off by pulling up and away from the metal clips that are around the frunk edge. The big rubber stopper (mushroom shaped) that is on each one of them will slide through when you pull the panel up. Next is the back panel. It pops up as well. Set these aside.
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When the liner is out of the frunk, you will see 4 nuts that hold the plastic frunk in place. These are 2 different sizes. Remove these and remove the frunk. You are now left with this.
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There are 4 clips that hold the back piece that attaches to the windshield on. I highlighted the areas in Yellow. The lower areas have a rubber boot over them and will have to move the boot out of the way to get to them.
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With the 4 clips out this piece pops up, but will not come off due to the wipers being in the way. I was not about to remove the wiper arms. I was able to work around it. The left side area has the air filter. Remove that and there are 2 screws holding the air filter holder in. Sorry I don’t have a pic of this.
Now rout the cables to the rear firewall area as I did seen in green.
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Be sure to keep the wire below this beam as the frunk sets on it.
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Radar: You will want to find the place for your radar antenna. I mounted mine with double sided foam tape and used multiple tapes stacked to get the detector level. Also make sure the detector is facing forward straight and not at an angle and not up or down. I used a mini bubble to make sure it was level. The below pic you will see how much tape I had to use to level it. One tape in the back and about 5 pieces in the front. I did not use the mounting brackets. I have this done on the G and it works great. The 3M foam take is weatherproof as well. Make sure you wipe the support beam down from dirt, dust and debris.
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Laser: The laser sensors I put below the nose cone and into the grill. I saw someone have the lasers double sided taped the the nosecone but that is not a level part on the bottom of the nosecone. I cut the grill with some wire cutters and x-acto knives to a point the sensors would be level and straight forward facing.
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I ran the 4 wires (2 laser, 1 radar antenna, 1 GPS for radar) toward the passenger firewall area.
HELPFUL HINT: I put a small piece of painters blue tape around all connectors of the laser sensor that belong to the driver side so you can differentiate passenger from driver in case of troubleshooting.

Continued, next post ->
 
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Install of Radar Detector, Dashcam, and Laser Jammer (LONG) Part 2

I hit the max 50 images. I could not include any more. If MODS could combine these two, that would be great! Thanks!

FROM Install of Radar Detector, Dashcam, and Laser Jammer (LONG) Part 1

Firewall This was the part I dreaded to most. Drilling a hole in the firewall. Who wants to do that. Well I had to in order to get the wires into the cabin. I researched for weeks looking at every pcv valve grommet I could see in the auto store and amazon. After tons of research I found one that will work. The Daystar firewall boot.
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I need a 1.25” hole for this thing. I found a preexisting hole where the pano roof had drains coming out of here. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE PANO roof, these holes should still be here but sealed, but you can use these. This hole is next to the orange cabling seen in the below pic.



This next pic is the drain hose pulled out of the firewall.
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Now the hard part was to drill the 1.25” hole from this existing hole. I had to use one of the drill bits pictured below and dremel the rounded parts until it fit into a 9mm socket.
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The picture below will show you how I had to drill this. I got a small rubber mallet hammer with a rubber handle and used the handle to keep pressure on the wrench and at a 90 degree angle to the firewall.
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Once done you will have a nice bigger hole.
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I had to cut the small hole part of the daystar boot to the next hole size to fit all 4 wires AND the drain tube. Fit all 4 wires into the boot, and then push the boot into the new hole. It should look like this.
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It should be flush around the firewall. Feel around it to make sure. From the inside, remove the hose from its OEM rubber grommet. I did this by coating a Philips screwdriver with wd-40 and forcing it between the hose and the grommet, worked it all the way around, and then pulled the hose out. I then wiped the hose down and then put it into the new boot. The directions call to seal up the boot by using zip ties. (Its been sealed well. We have had a lot of rain in Chicago and I’ve been checking it constantly for leaks and nothing.)
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I ran the GPS cable , and radar cable to the cpu along the same routes as the power cable. The GPS cable comes with tons of cabling and I put the excess under the door sill toward the front. There was lots of room there for extra cable. The two laser cables I hooked up to the brain.
Rear Wiring
What, are we not done yet? Well the rear dash cam and the two lasers need to be run back here. I found out the hard way that you will need to order the ALP sensor extensions. You will need two of them. I had to overnight them to finish it for the weekend. The dashcam I touched on where I ran the wiring (red in pic below). The two laser wires I ran up through the passenger A pillar and the outside of the headliner between the rubber seal and the headliner. I went on the inside of the B pillar by just prying down a little and squeezing the wire in.
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At the rear area you will need to remove pillar cover and the parcel shelf holder. First is the parcel shelf holder. There is a torx screw on the underneath and the pull out. Then the upper pillar cover can now come off. This is where the laser cables end and you will need extensions. This is also where the dash cam wire is coming out.
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Now pop out the rubber grommet from the car going to the trunk lid.
Trunk lid
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Body of car
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You do not have to cut the end off of the dash cam to get it to feed. In fact I was able to run two laser cables with big connectors through as well. I used my nylon fish tape and fed it through. Then I sprayed wd-40 on the head and wires of the dashcam and each laser cord.
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I did this next part really late at night and forgot to take pics.
You will need to remove both trunk/hatch handles. This is done by using the plastic pry tool and pry from the top of the handle out. Disconnect the right handle’s switch. I ran my nylon fish tape from the lower area up to the top and was able to retrieve the dashcam and 2 laser cables from the right door handle opening.
Dashcam: For the dashcam I removed this long piece that is at the top of the hatch lid (when closed) It pulls out. I then removed the trip piece that is to the right of it.
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I was able to run the cable back again the right side. I mounted the cables using the supplied clips but be careful as when putting the long piece back on that the cables can really interfere with it going back on properly. I mounted the dash cam on the plastic piece instead of the window like some others did. I had a couple of reasons, this allows me to still use the sunshade for the rear to keep the kids cool. Also if I have to pull the cam of for whatever reason it will not tear up the tint.
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Laser Sensors:
I really really really did not want to drill new holes in the back area for these two sensors. I contemplated popping off the lower screw holes for the license plate and cut the wire and run it through there.
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Problem is that these cables are shielded. I looked at a few other options. Then I asked artsci on TMC about his instructions on the rear chrome applique mod. I looked on there and saw that the black plastic piece is being held in there by the chrome piece so the screws on the bottom are pretty pointless. I finally decided to use the holes that are to the outside of the rear license lights. I taped the area up and used the same drill to keep at a 90 degree angle and cut until I could get the wire through.
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Now we have a big hole here. Once the connector gets through only the wire will be going through the hole. I was bound and determined to find a grommet that would work. For water tightness and to keep the cable from rubbing on the thin aluminum there. I finally came across one at NAPA.I use two grommets per cord. The bigger grommet has the same diameter as the ALP connector. PERFECT!
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The big grommet goes into the hole that was drilled and then the small grommet will go inside the bigger grommet. It seals loosely. I still put some black silicone to help seal.
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I used automotive 3m tape and taped these as close to the hole as possible without seeing wire. The outcome was great. Just be sure the rear sensors are
facing rear and not at an angle.

I’m really happy with how this turned out. I absolutely loved doing this as it gets me more intimate with my car. Makes me understand the car better. Here are some pics of the car with the laser sensors. It’s hard to see.

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The ALP control module and the radar control module right now are just sitting in the center floor. I have a center console on order and when I get it and the control module installed I’ll update this, but no telling how long until I get it.
 
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Very nice work!

You have completely convinced me to have this done by an experienced shop, if/when it's time. Too deep a dive into the car's skin for me, but it's good of you to post the gory details.
 
Wow that almost exactly how I did my setup, same color car too. Only I went with the wifi module on the ALP and did not install anything in the mirror. I tapped power for my Dashcam from the mirror mount extra plug. For the STir I tapped through drivers side wire bundle. I also routed my wires aft through the door jam route. The setup came in handy on my trip from FL to AZ and back.
 
How did you wire up the female PWM connector? Does the female connector plug right into the loose connector in the mirror area?

The female end of the PWM has metal prongs that are not covered.
I got this image off of google.
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If you look at the left 2 connector that's the female ends. The right is the male end which is similar to the connector that was free in the mic area to work.
 
The female end of the PWM has metal prongs that are not covered.
I got this image off of google.
connectorslarge.jpg

If you look at the left 2 connector that's the female ends. The right is the male end which is similar to the connector that was free in the mic area to work.

Oh that's where I got confused. The ones in red are male and the one in the headliner is female. Where did you purchase the ones with the prongs and how did the wires fit into the connector?
 
Wow, that's a very impressive install.

But people installing jammers in Canada should be warned that you can be charged with a criminal offence if you use it to jam police radar (and why else use it?). I note that the advertisement for this system reads:


  • Highly recommended for Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Maritimes

  • AL Priority - Effective against all police laser guns & 100% legal parking sensor; available in Single, Dual, Triple, Quad, and Five sensor model
Radar Detector and AL Priority Laser Jammer Package - Best Radar Laser System - KMPH.ca

While possession of jammers is not illegal (so the ad is technically correct) using them to defeat a cop's radar is illegal, and can result in a criminal conviction. If you are going 150 km/hr along the Coquihalla Hwy and your radar and jammer go off (from a single burst shot) don't think the cops won't waive you over even though you have jammed their radar. In fact, you will likely have your vehicle seized and be met with criminal charges. You can read more about it here:

Radar and Laser Jammers | DriveSmartBC

Then, if you get convicted, no more travelling to the States along the Supercharger network, unless you can get a criminal waiver. I'll take the speeding ticket!
 
Hi Fezzik, Nice work! I have been looking to do the same thing and your guide is probably the most detailed and the strategy seems to be the best. Definitely shown you had put in good amount of time to research this. I have a couple questions hoping you can answer. 1. You are tapping power from the MIC grill area and that is switched, meaning the camera shuts down when the car is off? 2. Do I understand correctly that the 1.25" hole you enlarged, you fed the drain hose from Pano back into that hole with the 9500ci wires? Just curious, how did the water exit the car?? Many thanks!
 
Hi Fezzik, Nice work! I have been looking to do the same thing and your guide is probably the most detailed and the strategy seems to be the best. Definitely shown you had put in good amount of time to research this. I have a couple questions hoping you can answer. 1. You are tapping power from the MIC grill area and that is switched, meaning the camera shuts down when the car is off? 2. Do I understand correctly that the 1.25" hole you enlarged, you fed the drain hose from Pano back into that hole with the 9500ci wires? Just curious, how did the water exit the car?? Many thanks!

1.) The mic area is a constant on and is not switchable on/off. The blackview records only when there is movement (parking mode) IT stays on and will not record until there is movement and when you start driving it will exit parking mode
2.) You are correct. I fed the drain hose along with the 4 wires (2 STI-R plus wires and 2 front laser wires) through this and zip tied it closed. The water used to just drain right outside the firewall and drain down the firewall to an area that will drain to the ground. Same thing was done with the bigger boot.
 
1.) The mic area is a constant on and is not switchable on/off. The blackview records only when there is movement (parking mode) IT stays on and will not record until there is movement and when you start driving it will exit parking mode

One more clarification though... I actually want the Blackvue to continue to record while the car is parked. So if you disable parking mode, it will continue to record?? I think you are sourcing the same power for the 9500ci... so does this mean that it stays on after the car is parked?? I don't think this is ideal. Thanks again for your feedback!
 
The source for the blackview dash cam is in the mic grill in the headliner and is constant and does not turn off

The radar and laser power connector is in the lower passenger floorboard on left side next to the console. That is the switchable (turns off when you leave the car)]

The blackview in parkmode only records when there is movement. ITs always on but wont record until it sees movement. The is exactly the way I wanted it and I know a lot others
 
Ok. So I finally got the center console installed today. It's actually nice. Mine does not move around and is stable. So after I got the kids to bed I mounted the laser and radar control module. I also wrapped the piano black in carbon fiber. I put it here so I can close the lid and have the modules hidden but still easily accessible.
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