Hardwire Radar Detector Install (F10) - Mirror Housing

UPDATE:

I am actually in the process of trying to improve this setup, and here is why:

I don't want to make anyone with this setup nervous; however, last week I left my office to go to the airport, the SCP had come off the glass leaving my detector hanging by the cord. I have been using this setup for 4 years now, both in my E60 and now in my F10, and no matter how good the Suction Cup is, and the SCP is still the best I have ever used, they will still eventually separate from the glass over time, especially so here in Houston given the extreme heat. Anyway, this has happened quite a few times before without incident; however, this time when I put the SCP back on the glass and started my car, smoke started appearing around the cord's RJ45 connector / Detector input. At first I was worried about shorting out something in the car's electronics, which luckily I didn't. Then I tried to power up the Detector a 2nd time, and it was dead, and I assumed its main board inside was fried. Needless to say, I spent the next 4 days in California wondering if my Mirror Housing wasn't somehow smoldering when I parked it, and hoping my car didn't catch fire and burn to the ground in the Airport Parking Garage.

Thankfully, when I returned from San Diego, my car was fine, and I went home and checked the Detector using the standard Escort Smart Cord in my cigarette lighter, and surprisingly, my detector was just fine. So, I popped off the Mirror Housing to see what was going on with the Invisicord, and lo and behold, the Ground wired had snapped off the back of the Pin from the force of the Detector / SCP falling off the glass. It turns out the smoke though was just from the Insulation on the Invisicord melting as it got hot without it's ground.

Needless to say, the whole thing had me a little spooked, thus my planned improvements are:

1) Invisicord has come out with a fused version, #S01PLF, since I originally ordered mine:

http://invisicord.com/osc2/catalog/p...products_id=46

Besides going with a fused version for added electrical protection, I also ordered the longest standard length they have of 24", for $23.95. I would rather have extra cord than not enough, and I wanted enough slack in the cord so that after I get the 2 Pins in the Connector, I can hopefully wrap the cord a few times around some support inside the Mirror Housing, so that if it ever falls off the glass again, the Detector weight load will fall on the support rather than the back of the Pins and break off.

2) I'd like to move away from using a Suction Cup at all if possible, and instead use something more stable / permanent. To that end, I just ordered the following 5/8" Adjustable Escort Super Z Mini Mount:

http://countryjoycrafts.com/350Z/escortmount.html

This one is machined out of aluminum, is black anodized, and permanently clamps around the Rear View Mirror Stem with 2 Screws. At $59.95, it's not that much more money than the SCP. The F10 Rear View Mirror Stem though is very short with very little space between the back of the mirror and the mirror housing, so I am not sure how well it will work yet until it arrives. The site shows other late model BMW's (3 Series, 7 Series, X3, and X5) that are successfully using the mini 5/8" mount version, so hopefully the F10 will work too. I'll be pissed if I find out the 5 Series has it's own unique Rear View Mirror setup; however, I wouldn't put it past those Bavarian engineers.

Sorry for the saga. I was going to wait until after my parts arrived and were tested, hopefully this week, before posting an update on my findings; although I didn't want anyone to buy the non-fused Invisicord or SCP if there are better options out there.

oooo aaahhhh will follow updates closely to see what system I go with...thanks for the homework shawn

Originally Posted by shawnsheridan

I'll be pissed if I find out the 5 Series has it's own unique Rear View Mirror setup; however, I wouldn't put it past those Bavarian engineers.

All of the clamp-on mounts I have researched dis-claim the F10 due to
no "neck" on the mirror for the clamp to fit around.

Let us know if you get one that works.

was quoted $95 for the install of the way you did the write up on but the part i'd like to you to address is while the guy that does mobile bmw work was very familliar with what i was wanting to do he said its easy and not a problem but with the 9500 it would make it"impossible to mute the radar" do you know if that is true or why he would say that? as I stated before I don't own the device so I'm not sure if muting or not being able to mute is something of importance?

I think he must mean you can't mute it from the cigarette lighter where the Escort Smart Cord usually plugs in, which has a Mute button on it, as you are no longer using the Smart Cord when it is hardwired.

You can though still mute it with the Mute button on the Detector itself, plus set it to AutoMute in the Detector's configuration if you want.

If that $95 is installed including the parts, thats not bad. If that is labor only, that's a total ripoff.

Great thread. Shawnsheridan's pictures, comments and other respondee's really made this install go quite easily. I have a V1 detector and purchased an Invisicord from Invisicord Products after reading about it on this thread. I like to keep my detector up and out of direct sight so my windshield is clear and the detector itself is not as noticeable for theft deterrent purposes.

I have included some pictures of the process (some are a little clearer than other posts but wiring is the same). I also took a picture of the plastic mirror housing to show the tabs. They are on the right hand housing side. I used a standard plastic molding removal tool to open it up. Seeing where the tabs are located will reduce the chance of damaging one. My detector as can be seen in the pictures is mounted above the mirror on the driver side of the housing. I actually have the detector resting on the mirror and still have room to fine tune the mirror position if needed. Can also rearrange the mount location if taller person requires more than fine tune movement. Takes a lot of the stress of the mount. I also think I will mount a piece of black velcro with sticky backing to the mirror housing side edge and sandwich the flat wire through it as an extra precaution in case the detector mount fails so wire does not get pulled out of connector as noted in another post. Again, very unlikely based upon the way I have it mounted but will feel safer.

John

Originally Posted by shawnsheridan

UPDATE:

I am actually in the process of trying to improve this setup, and here is why:

I don't want to make anyone with this setup nervous; however, last week I left my office to go to the airport, the SCP had come off the glass leaving my detector hanging by the cord. I have been using this setup for 4 years now, both in my E60 and now in my F10, and no matter how good the Suction Cup is, and the SCP is still the best I have ever used, they will still eventually separate from the glass over time, especially so here in Houston given the extreme heat. Anyway, this has happened quite a few times before without incident; however, this time when I put the SCP back on the glass and started my car, smoke started appearing around the cord's RJ45 connector / Detector input. At first I was worried about shorting out something in the car's electronics, which luckily I didn't. Then I tried to power up the Detector a 2nd time, and it was dead, and I assumed its main board inside was fried. Needless to say, I spent the next 4 days in California wondering if my Mirror Housing wasn't somehow smoldering when I parked it, and hoping my car didn't catch fire and burn to the ground in the Airport Parking Garage.

Thankfully, when I returned from San Diego, my car was fine, and I went home and checked the Detector using the standard Escort Smart Cord in my cigarette lighter, and surprisingly, my detector was just fine. So, I popped off the Mirror Housing to see what was going on with the Invisicord, and lo and behold, the Ground wired had snapped off the back of the Pin from the force of the Detector / SCP falling off the glass. It turns out the smoke though was just from the Insulation on the Invisicord melting as it got hot without it's ground.

Needless to say, the whole thing had me a little spooked, thus my planned improvements are:

1) Invisicord has come out with a fused version, #S01PLF, since I originally ordered mine:

http://invisicord.com/osc2/catalog/p...products_id=46

Besides going with a fused version for added electrical protection, I also ordered the longest standard length they have of 24", for $23.95. I would rather have extra cord than not enough, and I wanted enough slack in the cord so that after I get the 2 Pins in the Connector, I can hopefully wrap the cord a few times around some support inside the Mirror Housing, so that if it ever falls off the glass again, the Detector weight load will fall on the support rather than the back of the Pins and break off.

2) I'd like to move away from using a Suction Cup at all if possible, and instead use something more stable / permanent. To that end, I just ordered the following 5/8" Adjustable Escort Super Z Mini Mount:

http://countryjoycrafts.com/350Z/escortmount.html

This one is machined out of aluminum, is black anodized, and permanently clamps around the Rear View Mirror Stem with 2 Screws. At $59.95, it's not that much more money than the SCP. The F10 Rear View Mirror Stem though is very short with very little space between the back of the mirror and the mirror housing, so I am not sure how well it will work yet until it arrives. The site shows other late model BMW's (3 Series, 7 Series, X3, and X5) that are successfully using the mini 5/8" mount version, so hopefully the F10 will work too. I'll be pissed if I find out the 5 Series has it's own unique Rear View Mirror setup; however, I wouldn't put it past those Bavarian engineers.

Sorry for the saga. I was going to wait until after my parts arrived and were tested, hopefully this week, before posting an update on my findings; although I didn't want anyone to buy the non-fused Invisicord or SCP if there are better options out there.

Hi, Thank you for your help with this.

Any updates as far as having the NEW 5/8th Z Mini mount fitting on the F10's rear view mirror?

Originally Posted by luigimaster24

Hi, Thank you for your help with this.

Any updates as far as having the NEW 5/8th Z Mini mount fitting on the F10's rear view mirror?

Yes. Sorry for the delay in updating, but I took her on a 2200 mile road trip to Destin, Orlando, then New Orleans, and I am just getting back in the swing of things.

Unfortunately, the the 5/8” mini mount does not work. 1) The Diameter of the Mirror Stem is smaller, and the Bracket when screwed together completely is loose and rotates on the stem. 2) Beyond that, as small as the bracket is, there still is not enough space on the stem between the mirror and the housing for it to fit. As you can see from the pictures, the larger mount is 23mm for my 2010 SRX, and the considerably smaller one is the 5/8” mini mount, and it's still too big.

I spoke to the owner that makes them, and he said if I sent him some pictures, he would look into seeing if he could make something that works; however, I figured he would not be able to do anything realistically without actually having a car to play with and measure it, so I didn't waste mine or his time. That said, if anyone is in the Northwest Hollywood area like Thousand Oaks or Santa Clara, and is willing to perhaps meet him in Simi Valley, CA, PM me, and I will run it by him and see if he is willing to meet and look into a permanent mirror mount option. Even then, I imagine he wouldn't do anything without a Group Buy commitment for 10 or 20 mounts. Just my guess.

Thus, I am back to the SCP on the glass. The new 24" #S01PLF Fused Invisicord pictured, works fine, and I appreciate having the increased length. It has a tiny 1.5 Amp fuse at the back of the Ground (Green) Wire connector, under the heat shrink tubing, that you can't even tell is there. When I rewired it this time, I ran the cord through the back of the windshield mirror mount and across the top of the connector, and brought the pins over and down into the sockets. Afterwards, I used a cable tie and tie-wrapped around the whole connector neck to secure the Invisicord to the connector body. Now, if the SCP falls off the windshield, the weight of the SCP & Detector left dangling should be on the whole connector and not the Pins themselves. One last thing. This time, I had a hell of a time trying to work the wires through one of the bottom slots in the plastic mirror housing without damaging the cord. I ended up just running the wire behind the housing as there is enough space between it and the glass, without having to mess with threading it though one of the slots.

I am about to do this with a V1. How did you guys snake the wire into the housing. It doesn't fit thru the vent holes in the bottom. I was thinking of drilling a small hole in the side. Clearly don't want to do that so what else was done. Thanks.

Originally Posted by tlr550

I am about to do this with a V1. How did you guys snake the wire into the housing. It doesn't fit thru the vent holes in the bottom. I was thinking of drilling a small hole in the side. Clearly don't want to do that so what else was done. Thanks.

From my post above:

Originally Posted by shawnsheridan

One last thing. This time, I had a hell of a time trying to work the wires through one of the bottom slots in the plastic mirror housing without damaging the cord. I ended up just running the wire behind the housing as there is enough space between it and the glass, without having to mess with threading it though one of the slots.

With the housing snapped together around the mirror stem, there is a small gap between the housing and the windshield glass. Just run the wire between the two.

excellent. Thats is just what I did and it all snapped back togther and working. Great mod. Thanks for the idea and help.

Originally Posted by tlr550

excellent. Thats is just what I did and it all snapped back togther and working. Great mod. Thanks for the idea and help.

Good deal! Post pics.

Originally Posted by JohnRI

Great thread. Shawnsheridan's pictures, comments and other respondee's really made this install go quite easily. I have a V1 detector and purchased an Invisicord from Invisicord Products after reading about it on this thread. I like to keep my detector up and out of direct sight so my windshield is clear and the detector itself is not as noticeable for theft deterrent purposes.

I have included some pictures of the process (some are a little clearer than other posts but wiring is the same). I also took a picture of the plastic mirror housing to show the tabs. They are on the right hand housing side. I used a standard plastic molding removal tool to open it up. Seeing where the tabs are located will reduce the chance of damaging one. My detector as can be seen in the pictures is mounted above the mirror on the driver side of the housing. I actually have the detector resting on the mirror and still have room to fine tune the mirror position if needed. Can also rearrange the mount location if taller person requires more than fine tune movement. Takes a lot of the stress of the mount. I also think I will mount a piece of black velcro with sticky backing to the mirror housing side edge and sandwich the flat wire through it as an extra precaution in case the detector mount fails so wire does not get pulled out of connector as noted in another post. Again, very unlikely based upon the way I have it mounted but will feel safer.

John

I liked the idea on where you had put yours and it worked great for me. You cant really tell its there except you can see the two suction cups on the outside and it supported by the mirror. Thanks for the idea.

Thank you so much for this thread and the detailed pictures.

I just purchased a new 535i and a V1. I did not want a hanging power cable, have to remove multiple pieces of trim to hide the cable or crimp into the factory wiring (If I didn't have to).

The Invisicord (12", Std size) worked great.

Loving the car and really glad to have the V1 installed now.

Thanks again,
Joe

Originally Posted by Fly2Eat

Thank you so much for this thread and the detailed pictures.

I just purchased a new 535i and a V1. I did not want a hanging power cable, have to remove multiple pieces of trim to hide the cable or crimp into the factory wiring (If I didn't have to).

The Invisicord (12", Std size) worked great.

Loving the car and really glad to have the V1 installed now.

Thanks again,
Joe

Looks good Fly2Eat. I see you are a native Houstonian...you should have come out to our Car Coding party at Meyerland Plaza a couple weeks ago and got your car coded.

Originally Posted by shawnsheridan

Looks good Fly2Eat. I see you are a native Houstonian...you should have come out to our Car Coding party at Meyerland Plaza a couple weeks ago and got your car coded.

We need to set up a follow up coding session. There are quite a few folks that have expressed interest.

Maybe the weekend after the fourth. I'll start something in the coding thread.

FWIW
DLM

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by shawnsheridan

Looks good Fly2Eat. I see you are a native Houstonian...you should have come out to our Car Coding party at Meyerland Plaza a couple weeks ago and got your car coded.

I'm in Spring up towards the Woodlands. I literally just got the car.. a bit of a love hate relationship in the first two weeks. After purchasing the car and while waiting for them to clean it up for delivery they found that that the back-up camera was not working at all (no image). After waiting several hours, I ended up driving home a "loaner" 535i. Big let down. They had to order parts as well. I picked the car up 5-days later. All was good. I put about 125 miles on the car over the next two days and was really enjoying it.

Then the Check Engine Light came on....The dealer determined it is was a problem in the Valvtronic System. This car had 25 miles on it when I bought it! Another 3-days and now it's mine again. All seems well and I have my fingers crossed.

I'm loving the car more and more but I was pretty disappointed.

Look forward to learning more.

Joe

Originally Posted by dmunz

We need to set up a follow up coding session. There are quite a few folks that have expressed interest.

Maybe the weekend after the fourth. I'll start something in the coding thread.

FWIW
DLM

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Bimmer App

Sounds good David. You need to try and get a full ISTA/P update before the next one though. See if it makes a difference with your TPMS.

Installed my v1 in under 20mins.... AWESOME thread

Just did my new Escort 9500 with Live module and the Invisicord. Took maybe 20 minutes. Pretty simple. Make sure to test before putting the housing back over the mirror because I found that the invisicord leads didn't connect well the first time i plugged it in.

this worked for awhile but i kept losing the connection with those 2 little clips. I fianlly had to remove. any tips for getting this to stay connected

Originally Posted by tlr550

this worked for awhile but i kept losing the connection with those 2 little clips. I fianlly had to remove. any tips for getting this to stay connected

Take a pair of pliers, and put a slight 30 degree bend in the tip of each pin. It should than go into the connector with minimal force and stay there.

Bumping this for some help.

I ordered the invisicord and attempted the install yesterday for my V1.

I inserted the black and yellow leads into the back of hot and ground wires, but my V1 wouldn't power up.

You just stick the bare wire leads into the little square holes as shown in the picture of post #1 of this thread, right?

Originally Posted by Axxlrod

Bumping this for some help.

I ordered the invisicord and attempted the install yesterday for my V1.

I inserted the black and yellow leads into the back of hot and ground wires, but my V1 wouldn't power up.

You just stick the bare wire leads into the little square holes as shown in the picture of post #1 of this thread, right?

That's right. Make sure they are in and not loose. Sometimes you would need to use force.

UPDATE 2:

Finally, it's goodbye to the suction cup, as there is now a Radar Detector Mirror Mount on the market that actually works, and works great.

I just installed the BlendMount BBE-2014 mirror mount and MirrorTap MT-1012 mirror tap power cord, and both products are simply fantastic.



http://www.blendmount.com/escort.html

http://store.blendmount.com/blendmou...014-p1655.aspx

http://www.mirrortap.com/index.html

The mount was $130 and the mirror tap was $30, but these are worth every penny.

For those with newer F10's and Escort / Beltronics, the mirror stem design is different, and the BBE-2017 is the proper mount:

http://store.blendmount.com/blendmou...017-p1662.aspx