Radar detector and dash cam hardwire install
 

Saturday morning project. I moved my trusty Uniden R3 radar detector and dash cam from my dearly departed LR4, to the Defender. Unlike the LR4 I could not find a suitable place to hardwire either above the overhead console - lots of wires and plenty of room up there, but everything is encased in plastic and I could not find a grounded bolt to connect these devices to. So, I installed a couple of fuse tap piggybacks in the passenger fuse box compartment using the 5 amp receptacles for wireless phone charger (F11) for the camera and the 5 amp receptacle for the air ionizer (F52) for the radar detector. Wired that way, the dash cam will turn on when you unlock the car or open a door, and turn off when you lock the car (or about 5 minutes later if you don't lock it.) The radar detector will turn on when you start the engine and turn off when you shut if off, both of which are fine.

Running wires was fairly easy with a couple of plastic tools, along the roof liner's front edge (camera) or bottom windshield (detector,) then down the RH A-pillar cover and into the fuse box compartment to connect to the two piggyback taps. There are some grounding screw available there. I used this video on YouTube as a reference, removing the side panel as shown in the video makes installation a breeze:
Any questions, feel free to ask.

Umberto

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Wow. Thanks so much Umberto! I was wondering how I would hardwire my Valentine One into the Defender. LR4 was so easy with the dome light wiring at the top of the windshield.

On another note, for anybody that has an old Valentine One radar detector, definitely upgrade to the new one. No more false alarms from Volvo & Infiniti front laser and Honda & GM rear radar. Ka radar detection is excellent. Of course for laser protection, you still need an ALP system.

Great tutorial! Thank you.

I am looking into hardwiring a Thinkware U1000 with the 3 wire configuration. That cam has a low voltage monitor and will shut off as soon as the battery reach the value I tell it to watch for. Which fuse should I use for the always on power supply? It seems like the Defender turns off everything after awhile.

I was looking to do a Mirrortap. Does anyone have a mirror wiring diagram or can tell me what is positive and negative in the rear view mirror on the defender? It worked great in my RRS so I wanted to accomplish the same thing!

I had the same plan since it was so easy to hardwire my V1 using the dome light wiring on my LR4. But I couldn't find the answer to your question either and didn't want to damage any of the camera wiring in there. I ended-up plugging it into the center socket and running the wiring across above the pedals, up the A pillar and under the front edge of the headliner. Just had to remove the panel above the pedals and the panel on the left end of the dashboard.

Yeah there seems to be a lot more wiring in these defenders. and its not so easy to get the mirror apart. I am going to continue my search and if i find something i will share. thanks for the suggestion!

what camera are you using? the oem cam?

I was referring to the front camera and clear view mirror camera wiring in the headliner center console.

@umbertob i found a way into my mirror on my defender (working with a mirror tap 15 inch) I have the following question.

there is a black wire and two green brown wires in the mirror connector. But one of the green brown wires has black spots all over it. Could these both be power? See pictures. Any feedback here would be great. I don’t have a volt meter.

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The green / brown wire on the bottom right corner of the connector in your photo (slot # 1) should be the power for the mirror, from the passenger junction box, fuse 17. See attached.

Black wire in slot # 3 is your ground.