Valentine 1 connections in a Ferrari

Coachi:
I had my dealer hardwire it into keyed hot, down in passenger footwell somewhere...fusebox is down there. Wire run up column next to mirror on R side, so unit not visible to anyone peering in window, alarms not visible to car behind, but Laser/Radar window peeps out beside domelight housing on R side. Driver can still see warnings/arrows. Sorry I don't have more wire-in details, but I don't have time to mess with it anymore. Buy extra hardwire kits or V1's, put'em in everything I have. I rotate my V1's every couple years, so software is always fresh, market for used V1's amongst friends is solid.
FWIW
Lee

 

Lee,

You don't happen to have a picture of this, do you? Sounds like a great solution...

Thanks.

 

360/550 cigarette lighter holes are too shallow for Valentine adaptors. I fried my Valentine this past weekend trying to make it fit. I have to send it for repairs (fuse did not protect it).

 

The 348's lighter hole is also too shallow. I just ordered another hardwire kit from Valentine .

 

You might just want to change the lighter. The cost around $5 at an auto store.

 

It's actually very easy to hardwire many Ferraris for the V1. My friend and I did it for my 348 and 355 in less than 10 minutes apiece, using a wire stripper, a fuse tap, a screwdriver and a driver's license.

Also, I dimly recall that the V1 came with a little adapter that you could fit around the cigarette lighter plug, so that it fits snugly into larger sockets (European in particular?).

vty,

--Dennis

 

Buy the remote display and mount it on the steering column behind the VIN on the little flat spot. Run all the wires behind the dash and up to the appropriate area next to the rear view mirror. If you dont like to do this yourself a good audio shop can, but it is really easy to do.The manual is pretty good. I have three cars set up like this and just move the unit around. I tend to only use it when I take a trip, in Southern California it is just too crowded to speed close to the coast. If I lived in New Mexico I would put a unit in each car and call it a day. It WORKS.

 

In every car I own, I use the hardwire kit that comes with the V1 and wire into the interior lights that are (in most cars) at top center of the windshield. In every car, there's some wire in the light set that is wired to the ignition (so its only hot when the car is on). And of course there's ground wires up there.

I then run the wires out between the headliner and the windshield... no cutting necessary... so removal can be complete.

That leaves the little black box with the two phone jacks dangling there... but its truly not noticable in every car I've owned, because the headliner comes down from the windshield making room for the lighting console.

Then I use the suction cup mount to put the Valentine above the left half of the rear view mirror. In that position it is: A) as high as possible in the car, ideal for detection; B) very easy to see and operate as driver; C) very hard to see from outside in a tall vehicle and looks like a typical LED clock from lower vehicles; D) very hard to notice from the front as the black just blends with the back of the rear view mirror and/or the light console.

I use one of those little 4" or 6" phone cords that you get with most any phone capable of being wall mounted to connect the V1 to the little black box.

Sooo, its fairly stealth, but extremely functional. And when I go to the track, its trivial to remove.


As for Ferrari mounts, I can only speak directly to the 360: Yes, the needed wires are up there. Yes the V1 fits well above the rear view, as long as you have the thinner (more recent) models. If you have a model that's more than 3 years old, you might have one of the fatter ones... it doesn't fit so well. I put the fatter ones in my other cars that leave a bit more space between mirror and roof and use the thinner one in the 360.

 

I can second that it works. I drive over 150 miles a day to work round trip . And it works like a charm

 

I have my V1 hardwired in, using a black telephone cord as the power from a switched wire under the dash.

However, I have also used the cigarette lighter adaptor prior to the hardwiring and I simply used a soldering iron and added a small mound of solder to both metal contacts. It now fits tightly!!!!

Mark

 

On my '88 Mondial I had to wire it directly to the battery. It seems the wiring system in the car goes a little crazy when something is attached that doesn't belong there. For example...when tied into the power line for the brake light circuit, it would alarm every time the brakes were applied. Must be those Italian electrons.

I actually hardwired a 3 socket adapter from Radio Shack to the battery, mounted it under the dash and plug my V-1 and cell phone into that. You do have to remember to turn it off manually.


Tom

 

Yes it works fine plugged into my lighter socket and I have a 87 328 GTS. Sometimes it pops up if I go over a big bump, but has stayed in place even with agressive driving.

Theo

 

Took the power off the center console and run a wire through on my 308. I mount the V-1 only when I mean it.


Had my car broken into once because somebody was after the bloody thing. Repairing the car cost more than buying a new V1.

 

In my 512TR I used the remote display kit and tapped into the power wire for the stereo. I ran wire to the main unit between windshield and headliner and mounted the main unit partially behind the rear view mirror with only the rear sensor sticking out behind the mirror. Mounted remote display on steering column serial number plate. Works great and display lights not visible to cars behind you.

 

I wired mine into the overhead lite on my 360. 1/2 hour job. EASY

 

before i had my V1 hardwired on my 355 and 550, i used it plugged into the lighter (the ashtray is the same on both cars) and never had a problem with it staying in.

but definitely do the hardwire - and the remote display. like malcolmb, mine is on the top of the steering column - it's great.

on my 550 i believe they tapped the overhead light power that's up there already.

doody!

 

I used it in my 328 before. I just used cigarette lighter for power source.
Don't you remember?? I thought you were the one who told me that I'd better remove V1 from my car as it could get stolen at 1st Carson's night I went last year

It's just surprising that y'all knows so much about wiring. Due to my ignorance, I somehow feel what you guys did seems very hard to do for me... How much should I expect if some pro to do this? (like car audio shop or Ferrari dealers?) I don't like a cord extending dangling when I use a cigarette lighter for power source.