Mirror tap or Fuse box?

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MRV99

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So I was on the fence about hot to direct wire my Valentine w/ blendmount. I have read countless posts about the a mirror tap or directly wire to the fuse box. My past BMW's have all had power readily available in the head liner so I just tapped into a power source and was good to go. The F150 with its passenger foot well makes it very attractive not to mention the number of "unused" fuses for power sources. So I finally decided forget the mirror tap and wire it up. Well I am very happy that I did. From start to finish, maybe it took 30 min. The direct wire kit (Directwire Kit) from amazon had fuse taps for every size of fuse types they make included so you can choose exatly what fuse you want to choose since ford had two different sizes in the box. The only "difficult" part was finding the switched fuse (#37) instead of always hot.

As for running the cable, it was very simple. My 2019 802A has a plastic box behind the mirror which provided easy access to the headliner as well as a clean way for the cord to exit and connect to the detector. I simply slid the cord behind the ceiling liner and around to the A-Pillar. Next is i just pulled off the rubber door seal from the top of the A-Pillar down to the bottom of the door. This gave me easy access to run the cord from the headliner all the way down into the fuse box. Once the cord is tucked away simply replace the door seal and your almost done. Just put the tap in fuse #37 and connected the ground to a bolt right next to the box.

If your looking to direct wire your radar detector or camera, don't be afraid to direct wire to the fuse box because you may think it is complicated...
 

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roosterut

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Very nice and thank you. I’m doing this tomorrow with a mute button. Will run from headliner down to driver side down the remote mute and tap to fuse box. Did the box cover fit over the fuse tap? ‘20 raptor.
 
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MRV99

MRV99

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The fuse-box does not have cover. It is open and has a panel which is in front of the fuse box. Once you pull the panel forward, you will see there is space behind that panel.

I assume you have an ****** if your installing a mute button. Do you know where your going to mount it?
 

roosterut

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This worked out perfect. Snaked the wire after removing door jam to the mirror under headliner. Mute button up the steering column left. Tapped the fuse and wala. Didn’t need to remove the A frame o shot handle. Just got daylight and sent the cane thru.
 

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raiderofthelostark

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So I was on the fence about hot to direct wire my Valentine w/ blendmount. I have read countless posts about the a mirror tap or directly wire to the fuse box. My past BMW's have all had power readily available in the head liner so I just tapped into a power source and was good to go. The F150 with its passenger foot well makes it very attractive not to mention the number of "unused" fuses for power sources. So I finally decided forget the mirror tap and wire it up. Well I am very happy that I did. From start to finish, maybe it took 30 min. The direct wire kit (Directwire Kit) from amazon had fuse taps for every size of fuse types they make included so you can choose exatly what fuse you want to choose since ford had two different sizes in the box. The only "difficult" part was finding the switched fuse (#37) instead of always hot.

As for running the cable, it was very simple. My 2019 802A has a plastic box behind the mirror which provided easy access to the headliner as well as a clean way for the cord to exit and connect to the detector. I simply slid the cord behind the ceiling liner and around to the A-Pillar. Next is i just pulled off the rubber door seal from the top of the A-Pillar down to the bottom of the door. This gave me easy access to run the cord from the headliner all the way down into the fuse box. Once the cord is tucked away simply replace the door seal and your almost done. Just put the tap in fuse #37 and connected the ground to a bolt right next to the box.

If your looking to direct wire your radar detector or camera, don't be afraid to direct wire to the fuse box because you may think it is complicated...
Thanks for sharing this, I'm about to get started on my dashcam/radar project and will refer back. Appreciated!
 

Chiefapple

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Thanks for sharing this, I'm about to get started on my dashcam/radar project and will refer back. Appreciated!

It works at the mirror. Just make sure you have the right size taps. For the power I had to use the smallest one I could find.

I did use some fuses in the kick panel for my dash cam. I had to have the auto parts store order the correct size add ons. The ones that they had in stock were too large. Tried 3 different brand stores before I have up and ordered the correct part. Even then O’Reilly couldn’t believe they didn’t have it in stock. They had it the next day though.
 
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