UAwream

i was wondering if any one has hard wired the escort 8500. i know the DIY forum has a thread, but it mostly deals with the V1, and thats not what i have. im having some trouble using the fuse adapter method and was wondering what other methods people have used or if they have successfully done it this way. i dont know whether im havng a voltage problem or if its even going to work. what i have is the fuse adapter from autozone and the smart cord direct wire from escort.

any help would be much appreciated.

Tigster

I have mine hardwired but I had it done and am not sure of how they did it. They also installed the lidar jammers.

jenkins-crew

I did it on mine. I cut the cord so there is about 4 inches coming from the detector. There are four wires in there but you only need two of them. Then I just tapped into my dome light for power and ground.

Ninja

UAwream, what difficulties are you having?

I have the Escort 8500 X50, and while I haven't yet done the hardwired install yet I've read all the threads I can find here and it all seems pretty easy. I've even purchased the parts but have had a few too many busy weekends to do the actual work. Dang honeydo lists!

As near as I can tell the electrical connection should be pretty much the same for the 8500 as for the V1.

UAwream

i actually followed the DIy for the V1, but something isnt working. i couldnt tell you what it is, or else i wouldnt be having the problem. i have all the same parts, connected it all the same places with all the right fuses, just when i start the car, the radar never clicks on. i dont know whether it is a bad wire escort sent me or something that im totally missing. if you get yours wired up and its working let me know what you did or if you had to do anythign different from what they have said.

thanks

UAwream

do you have any obetter directions. like which wires? or did you follow the DIY about takin gout the dome or you do your own way? if you said its working for the escort i might try that way!!

jenkins-crew

I will post some detailed instructions tomorrow when I can get out there to get the color wires for you.

Ninja

UAream, do you have a volt meter or a test light? It should be pretty simple to check out if you have voltage - that would be the first thing I'd look at for troubleshooting.

Basic trouble shooting:
1) Do you have power? Verify AT the circuit you are plugging into. This way you verify you are at the right circuit independently of anything else.

2) Is the power getting to the detector? Connect the 8500 cable to your circuit and check at the end of the cable that plugs into your 8500. If that works then you've connected the cable to power correctly. I think there are 4 wires on that smart cable - you can check with the lighter cable which ones are hot and return. The same pins on your hardwire cable should be hot and ground.

3) The only thing left is the 8500 itself and the connector that goes into the 8500 that you connected to power. Does the 8500 work with the lighter cable? Then it might be the connector on the end of the cable you wired... You might need a new cable if you get to this point and can't figure it out.

I plan on doing the fuse box mod with one of those Add-A-Circuit things. Even though I have more wire to tuck and hide, I like that since I don't like cutting wires. In any case the basic procedure for trouble shooting it should be the same you'll just get the power from a different spot.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask if anything doesn't make sense. BTW, not trying to be offensive, but if you don't know how to operate a voltmeter you might need some help with this or any of the other electrical mods.

jenkins-crew

Ok I got it. After you cut off the end the two wires you need ar the Red wire and the green wire. The red is the power wire and the Green is the ground. I just use a wire tap and works fine.

The Red wire (from the detector) will tap into the Green with black stripe wire.
The Green wire (from the detector) will tap into the black wire.

This is always a constant power, except when a door is open, so you have to turn it on and off when you don't use. I have always left it on though all the time when I drive my car everyday because it doesn't use much power. I will eventually when i get the time to run a wire from the red wire down to like one if the A/C fuses so it only comes on when the car is on. Here is a pic of what it looks like. Hope this helped a little. Let me know if you have any other questions:


Later!

azben

I did the hardwire jenkins suggested. I threaded the wire along the headliner out of view, down the A pillar and down to the fuse box. Cut the tip of the wire and thread the red wire into a fuse powered on ignition. I believe it was the ignition fuse if there is one (its been a while). And put the green on a screw touching unpainted sheet metal near the fuse box (there are several). Alternatively, you could do the add a circuit device which is cleaner and more permanent but I can always pull out the fuse and remove the wire and then plug in the fuse so it is completely factory. Haven't had any problems in six months.

UAwream

so you just stripped the wire back a bit then pushed the exposed part in there with the fuse?

jenkins-crew

Thats what I usually do.

UAwream

still isnt working, just went outside and tried it...you think the wire that escort sent could be bad?

azben

if you push it into the fuse only push in the red wire and make sure it goes in far enough to reach the metal contacts in the back then push in the fuse over the wire. Also make sure the key is turned to accessory or on if you choose one of those fuses. I believe the green must go to a ground other than shoving it in with the fuse. I do recall that it mattered for me which side (left or right on the fuse, the red wire goes into). I suppose the wire could be bad, easy enough to test, but that seems unlikely. Did the radar detector work with the cigarette adapter.

UAwream

worked and still works with the gig adapter. do you have the smartcord direct wire or just the direct wire? and what red and green wires are you talking about...did you cut the "phone" cord, because on the smart cord its different?

azben

I have the direct cord, it has the telephone plug on one end and the two wires on the other. Its outside so my colors may be off, but black or green will be the ground and red the power. Anyway, I believe the direct smart cord has identical connections with the exception of the display halfway down on the cord and an inline fuse. Not sure but you could probably plug the cord into the detector and the other to ends up to a nine volt, if the detector lights up the cord and plug connection are fine.

UAwream

did you strip the "phone" cord? when i strip back the wire at the end its a single copper wire no seperate wires. im certain if i cut the phone cord it would have different color wires but my phone line runs in to the display half way. sorry if im confusingf or just retarded, but thats just it im dumb when it comes to electrical.

azben

Take a look at this picture from the escort website. My direct cord looked like this. The phone plug goes into the detector and the other end with two wires goes into the fuse box and ground screw. I did not need to strip back the phone cord. pic is at the link below

http://tinyurl.com/6urym

jenkins-crew

Yeah I cut the "Phone cord"