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Anyone have recommendations on radar detector mounts/location on the 4thGen?
I used to have a 3rdGen RX350 and was using the blendmount and mirrortap combination to mount the radar detector to the rear view mirror. This worked out quite well.
The 4thGen re-designed the rear view mirror to place the home link buttons on the bottom of the mirror as apposed to the front bottom face. If I mount the blendmount to the rear view mirror it will get in the way of operating the buttons.
Anyone have pics or ideas on what they did? I am not sure a dash mount will work either as the dash is sloped and access to the detector will be very poor.
The only option I see is to tap the wires from the rear view mirror, but use the suction cup mount that comes with the radar detector, and place the detector behind the rear view mirror.
You guys wouldnt happen to remember which wires you tapped for the 12V side and ground? I barely remember what I did on the 3rdGen. I would rather save the time with the multi-meter. if you tapped the mirror's power.
You guys wouldnt happen to remember which wires you tapped for the 12V side and ground? I barely remember what I did on the 3rdGen. I would rather save the time with the multi-meter. if you tapped the mirror's power.
Same here. I have the mirror tap wire but I don't know which contact points on which side of the mirror wiring harness to connect to.
The procedure is not too bad, just takes time with a multi-meter, and turning the car on and off to make sure the wires you pick are always grounded and not hot when the ignition is switched off.
I would have to assume the wiring harness may have changed in the 4thGen, which will force the need to start probing the wires again.
I will have to probably work on it this weekend, and report back hopefully with pictures that dont suck...
Maybe a little tutorial on how to insert the power?
Will do for sure. I tapped the mirror power harness on the 3rdGen RX350, and it was quite simple, as someone else here on the forum had the correct wires listed.
Ok, so I figured this weekend was going to be a little busy, so I took a break from the office, and decided to work this out.
First and foremost, I re-used my Blendmount and did not go the suction cup route. The detector was either too far, out of reach or simply in the line of site for me. Your preferences may vary on this one. The important thing is where to tap the mirror harness for power. It seems to be somewhat similar to previous generations on which wires are "hot" and where they are.
I will do my best to provide instructions below with pictures. I still advise everyone to have a multi-meter handy capable of measuring DC voltage just to make sure you see 12V when the ignition switch is ON and reads 0V when the ignition is switched off. Having said that, my multi-meter probes were a little too thick to probe the opening, and I had to improvise with long thin metal wires from garbage ties This works great, just make sure the wires DONT touch.
General steps to follow.
1. Remove the rear-view mirror. T20 Torx screw will remove the mirror retaining screw. The mirror slides up towards the headliner. Slide it up gently and my need a little wiggle. There is plastic cover towards the headliner careful not to break it off, it clips on/off.
2. Unplug the wire harness from the mirror and you should be left with the following picture below:
The first row of wires shows a black wire and a brown wire next to each other. The black wire is the 12V line and the brown wire is the ground. These are the 2 wires to tap from there, seen below. The RED lead goes to the black wire, and the BLACK lead goes to the brown wire. There is a LONE black wire on the other side (2nd row). DO NOT TAP this wire, it always HOT at 12V even with the ignition switched off. It took some needle nose pliers and some wiggle/push to get the red lead wire in. It was definitely a tight fit but doable.
3. You are done tapping the power for your radar detector. You re-attach the mirror power harness to the mirror and re-attach the mirror to the windshield in the reverse order. Dont forget to re-attach the plastic cover.
4. In my case, I used the Blendmount, and re-assmbled it back on the mirror post. One "new" annoyance with this refresh is a plastic cover Lexus used to cover the wire running to the mirror. Dont rememeber that on the last RX I had. Anyway, I had to mount the Blendmount high and care not to squeeze the wires too hard.
5. Finished product, and all works as it did before. The button obstruction I can live with, and its not as bad as I thought it would be. I would propably never need access to the mirror dimming button at night anyway, and I can use the home link buttons fine.
thanks!! seems more complicated!
A question with your mount, when looking from outside into your front windshield, is it noticeable?
I would love to just leave my radar detector on 24/7 but I am scared of theft. Happened before.
Its not too complicated, take mirror off, unplug wire harness, tap wire harness, put back together. Starting from scratch, took me under an hour. Most of the time was spent probing the harness for the right power, and testing with ignition on/off. If I were to do it again, would probably take me a half hour.
The Blendmount on its own (without the detector) is barely noticeable at a distance, unless you are standing right next to the vehicle looking in. It tends to blend in ok (no pun).
The radar detector mounted, is clearly noticeable that something is hanging from the rear view mirror. I tend to remove the detector and stash it in the glove box depending on my surroundings. Its always safer to remove it. Doesn't take much to unplug and slide it off.
Cool, would you mind tell us how you wired the detector and the dash cam ?
Thanks
Hi,
I have 2ch dashcam.
Basically, I put all the lines under the ceiling and a pillar covers with a credit card and trim remover. You don't have to remove the trim. Just pull it up a little bit and the push lines between them with a credit card. However, I had to remover trunk panel for the rear dashcam.
For hooking up wires to fuse box, I had to put lines under left side of ceiling and a pillar.
If you want to install 1ch dashcam, you can just put all the lines under left side of ceiling and left a pillar cover but in my case, I had to hookup front and back dash cam so I also had to put wires under the right ceiling and a pillar covers.
Basically, I put all the lines under the ceiling and a pillar covers with a credit card and trim remover. You don't have to remove the trim. Just pull it up a little bit and the push lines between them with a credit card. However, I had to remover trunk panel for the rear dashcam.
For hooking up wires to fuse box, I had to put lines under left side of ceiling and a pillar.
If you want to install 1ch dashcam, you can just put all the lines under left side of ceiling and left a pillar cover but in my case, I had to hookup front and back dash cam so I also had to put wires under the right ceiling and a pillar covers.
02-09-16, 01:07 PM
Radar Detector Mounts
