I think this mostly directed at anyone who has hardwired anything in their car.
I bought a new car and I ran my radar detector cable around the windshield. (near the rearview mirror around to under the drivers side).

I want to hardwire it, but I don't want to use a wire tap. Its a new car, and the warranty could be compromised. I just bought a pack of these Mini blade fuse tap, so I can put it around the fuse and draw power from it.

4 quick questions though.
1. How can I check which blade of the fuse is power? voltage meter? I live in a townhouse, and I don't have one. I can buy one, but I don't have alot of tool space.
2. Can I tape/screw the groundwire to any metal, or is there something specific I need to look for?
3. Should I solder the hotwire to the fuse tap, or tape it?
4. Is there a better option I'm missing?

1. Get a multimeter, they're cheap and small. That would be the best bet. Either way though, if you connect something to a fuse, it'll get power once the car is turned on, depending on which fuse. Also you may want to be a bit careful about this. The fuses in place from factory are fused enough for the circuit they are protecting. Once you add more things, like 12v accessories like radar detectors, lights, etc, you could blow the fuse and damage other things. Putting in a bigger fuse is really not the answer... you see where I'm going with this...

2. Any frame ground will work. If you have any existing bolts/screws going into your floor under the carpet or dash (most dash's are plastic now...) then use that. No drilling required. The trunk is a haven for bolts and existing grounds. What about running the ground through the firewall of the car and grounding it under the hood? You could run the 12v wire from the battery as well. Although that would make the detector constantly turned on. Put in a switch? Ideally you would want to wire the 12v power wire to a switched 12v source. So when you turn on the car, the detector comes on with it. Does your cigarette lighter work with the car off? If it does not work with the car off, use the 12v and ground from that, it would work excellent.

3. It probably won't fit in the fuser holder if it's soldered. I wouldn't worry about it to tell you the truth. Maybe a bit of electrical tape would suffice, but I hate fuse taps and setting it up that way.

4. See above? Haha. You can get a power inverter that hooks to your battery under the hood, and then run the wires to that, put a switch in place. That would be an option.

Hope this helps.

is there a better way to hardwire other than a wire tap? how would i run a lead directly from the battery?

What kind of connection does the radar detector have? Is a cigarette lighter connection or does it have wires?

You would get a length of wire and connect it to the positive wire on the detector, then run that wire to the positive terminal on your battery. Usually you can get a ring connector and a couple washers and put it on the bolt where it tightens on the positive battery terminal. You ground would go to the frame of the car or any ground on the car. You could probably even use a ground from your stereo, I don't imagine that the radar detector pulls a lot of power anyways.

it came with a cigarette lighter and hardwire adapter.

I'm using the Escort Passport directwire smartwire located here: http://www.escortradar.com/shop.htm

I'm gonna go try the fuse. If the ground is not hooked up, will it still power on?

Ground has to be hooked up. That's the only way you will have a complete circuit.

I wouldn't go the fuse route, fire hazzard 101. If you do use the fuse connector... what fuse do u plan on using? Day time running lights? Brake lights? A/C?

There are a few spares, I'm gonna try one of them. And I have a foglight fuse, but I don't have fog lights, so I may try that

Spares? Hmm... if you mean there are spare fuses in there, they're not hooked to anything. They're actual spare fuses in case other ones blow so you can replace them. If you mean for hooking other things up... then that's weird. First car I've seen with that.

Fog light one my not work but i guess it's worth a try. The fuse may be there but there may be no power going to it or it might only get power if you switch on the fog lights in the car (I assume you do not have a switch for it since you do not have fog lights on the car).

Please don't think I'm sounding mean, I'm just trying to help you out haha!

any help is appreciated. The fuse tap didn't work.
I'm thinking I have 1 of 2 options.
1. Tap the cigarette lighter power line. (it shouldnt void the warranty)
2. Go to a professional place. They'll probably just tap the line as well.

I looked at the idea of running a lead from the battery, but I didn't see a passthrough in the firewall. I don't have a garage or lift..so I'm just doing this in my parking spot.

Yeah, you might see a rubber grommet that you will need to puncture to send the line through. Then a coat hanger with the wire tied to it is your friend (to push through the fire retardant stuff) - they don't call it a firewall for nothin! lol.

I dunno about the warranty, but the cigarette lighter is looking to be the best option I think.

In any case you are lucky, because radar detectors are illegal in Canada .

I'm trying to avoid anything 'permanent', just in case. But I guess the cigarette lighter tap is the best option. I'll just do that today and finalize it.

Yeah best bet I agree. May want to just use it for power and ground it somewhere else, then you only damage 1 wire. lol

I can't access the cigarette lighter wire. They've got everything bundled all together.

So looks like I'm stuck getting a pro to do it. I doubt Honda will do it.

Is it a new Civic SI? MMmm Civic SI.. lol

Yeah they probably won't and if they do they will charge you an arm and a leg for it. I dunno man, I would just use the cigarette lighter adaptor for now. If it's a Civic I know what you mean about having the detector behind the mirror because if you put it on the dash, the windshield is swooped back so much that it's not going to work :S.

Kinda sucks. Hmm... I would suggest taking it to a car stereo install place, they'll know exactly what wires they can use and might be able to do it fairly cheaply.

thats my plan for next week. Its the Accord EX though