I want to hardwire my radar detector to the rearview mirror of my 04 dodge ram 1500 and would like to tap into the overhead console. Not sure how to take down the console and do not want to break anything. Has anyone done this or hardwired their radar another way? Thanks for your input in advance.

 

I hard wired my Bel Vector using the power source from the overhead unit. To remove the overhead unit, carefully pry the two lenses and remove them. Underneath, you will find two screws. Loosen and remove. From there, I just slid the unit toward the rear of the truck to disengage the front clip. Some units may have a third screw.

I drilled a hole in the front edge of the plastic and mounted an RCA jack (female). Fused the power lead from the jack and tapped into a power line in the overhead harness. In my case, the wire was black with a pink stripe. Ran a round lead from the jack to sheetmetal in the headliner.

Put everything back together, made a special cord for the Bel that had a mating RCA jack (male) and I was good to go.

 

Hey Mazz,

just want to say thank you very much. Your reply was very helpful and I am going to install mine the same exact way. The RCA connectors are a super classy idea. Nice and clean. I was reading another reply you had on the site where you mentioned the ram air for maybe another mile per gallon saved in fuel consumption. Is this fairly easy to install? Anyway , thanks again.