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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.
Holy. Hey there. Could you confirm this is the one you have?
Yes, thats the one for the Escort detector I have, they have several depending on make/model. Yes, its expensive. They are proud of it. The build quality is top notch, and there is no vibrations at all. Form and fit on the radar detectors is quite good.
When I bought mine, there were few options at the time. There are others now, and less expensive.
And it's really easy to remove the radar detector from the mount right? Excited to finally get this.
Yes, removal is quite simple. Pinch the spring tab from the rear and slide the detector out. Make sure the wire tap you get has enough slack to allow you to comfortably unplug the detector.
Mirror tap rear view mirror radar detector install
Does anyone know how to get to the plugs for the rx mirror?
I want to get a mirror tap wiring so I can use that as power for the radar detector. I did it on an is and it seems way easier. Just had to pop off the plastic coverings and there it was!
I'm scared to touch it lol.
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Last edited by aznkorboi; 06-12-16 at 09:38 AM.
Reason: Info
THANKS FOR THIS! Could you take a picture of the T20 torque screw? I cannot seem to find it?
Also, do I remove the black plastic clip first? And I slide the mirror up towards me?
Originally Posted by darkoozy
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.
I hope this was helpful to you guys! Enjoy!
Last edited by aznkorboi; 06-12-16 at 03:02 PM.
Reason: add
THANKS FOR THIS! Could you take a picture of the T20 torque screw? I cannot seem to find it?
Also, do I remove the black plastic clip first? And I slide the mirror up towards me?
1. The torque screw is on the "windshield" where the mirror attaches to the glass.
2. The clip can be removed before or after you slide the mirror off. The mirror slides "up" towards the headliner.
1. The torque screw is on the "windshield" where the mirror attaches to the glass.
2. The clip can be removed before or after you slide the mirror off. The mirror slides "up" towards the headliner.
Hello.
It turns out we have different rear view mirrors.
Mine is the one with all the safety features. So it looks like one giant plastic piece. I still couldn't find any torque screw.
I didn't realize the safety features would 'complicate' the rear view mirror assembly and the way its mounted to the windshield. Sorry, not sure of any tips...there has to be a wire harness somewhere that connects all this together? and there has to be a way to get the mirror with all the safety stuff "away" from the glass.
Wish I could be of more help, as I don't have any of those options.
Plain vanilla passport. The max 360 was too pricey, too bulky and shiny silver that can easily be seen. They should have stick to black which was one of the reasons I went with the vanilla passport. Its decent enough to get the job done.
Look at the Radenso Pro SE. Its pretty awesome as well. I considered that one.
This YouTube channel is pretty good at reviewing ALL radar detectors, lots of good info there.
02-16-16, 05:49 AM
This works great, just make sure the wires DONT touch.
