So I had the roof console down yesterday finishing up my parking sensor install and was looking at the ceiling. First I thought about taking everything down and insulating the whole ceiling. Then I decided that could come later. So I then thought about my radar detector. While the bottom of the dash is the best place for it, I didn't like it there. I wanted it up high on the windshield so that it's out of the way and less noticeable in a parking lot.
So I needed some switched power to that location. Well, turned out there was already power up there. I used the power that goes to the powered mirror.
There are 3 plugs above the front of the console. The main plug is the one that plugs into the console. The middle one is for the powered mirror and the left one is for the back up camera and monitor. The one we want is the middle one with the black plug with the blue, white/black, and white wires in it.
Closer view of where the plug is mounted:
You can cut the existing plug for the radar detector to use. I had a spare plug laying around so I use it and soldered my own wires on. Just leave it long enough to reach from the radar detector to a little past the plug we will be tapping into. You can run the wire through a little existing hole between the mirror and the roof lining.
Here is a picture with the wires already run:
I then used the blue wire splices to tap into the existing wires. The wire taps can be bought almost anywhere including WalMart.
The blue wire is the switched power. It is powered only when the key turned to the run position. The white/black stripe is the ground wire.
Here's a couple of finished pictures. The radar detector is just held in place with the stock suction cups. It's also placed so that the visor can still be put down and even pushed forward a bit.
The Radar Detector is my old radar/laser detector with a digital read out that still works like a champ. Somehow it picks up laser bouncing off cars when the cop is on the other side of a hill and it has a laser range of several miles. Regular radar detection works great as well. I'll keep it till it quits working.