Fuse Panel

[06 MKV GTI]

So i just had a couple of problems with my car and a check engine light and thought i would attempt to explain the experience so you guys learn from my mistake. lol

So i have a radar detector and i don't like that there is only 1 cigarette lighter plug in the car because i have a lot of things that i use with that thing. So i decided well why not tap into a fuse in the engine compartment and run the cord in there so i can still utilize the plug for other stuff (for ex. my cell phone charger, or ipod charger, or ipod FM adapter, or lap top charger, etc.). So my girlfriends dad and i start with the little project. We run the wire/plug to the engine compartment and hook it up to a female plug in the engine compartment. From there we tap a 10 amp fuse with this little splitter thingy that we got from auto-zone, run our ground tape everything up and close it and were done. So we get the radar to work and everything is good but then it all of a sudden throws a check engine light. So i figure well its I'm sure something with what we just did so i didn't think anything of it and was going to by a code scanner in the next couple days to get it all squared away. Well i had i little oil leak coming from the oil filter and so i decided to take the car into the dealer because its still under warranty to get it fixed and then remembered that check engine light was still on. So i told my buddy that works there at the dealer and he's like don't trip ill take care of it. So he calls me today and says you got lucky that were friends cause he had to take a little heat because when we tapped that fuse with the radar the computer sensed power being drawn from an outside source and shut the engine coolant fans off to sustain power to the radar therefore causing the car to over heat during idle. Now remember its cold out right now and yes i pay attention to my engine temp gauge while I'm driving so the car wasn't overheating while driving because the engine was getting plenty of cold air due to the whether.

But yeah thats my story that almost cost me a few bucks for labor cause of these damned new cars you cant do anything with these things anymore without voiding some damn warranty or "HAVING" to take the car into the dealer to get fixed.

 

[GodSquadMandrake]

Ok thanks for the tip! I was tempted to tap in there for power to some stuff under the hood (sender for electronic gauges) but now I won't.

 

[The Fed]

Of course, if you took the time to research it first you would have found out you can't do that. What on earth made you think you could tap into a power source other under the hood without consequences? That's what the fusebox INSIDE the car is for.

 

[06 MKV GTI]

Sorry i didnt ask you first man damn. lol I didnt think anything of it because in most other cars you dont have to worry about that shit. American cars anyways, i guess Germans are just dicks like that and have to make shit difficult (no offense to germans but damn). And so you might have answered the question i was gonna ask on here was if there was anything you could do in order to not have to use the cigarette lighter? Is it true you can tap into the fuse panel inside the car without throwing a CEL cause i asked my tech guy and he said there isnt anything i can do about it but use the cigarette lighter so not sure who to believe some random guy who's being a smart ass or my tech??? ANy other insight from others who have done this would be appreciated.

 

[Big A]

i have no idea how to answer your question, but there's more than one outlet in the car...it's in the hatch. at least that's how it is for my 08...prolly same

 

[06 MKV GTI]

i have no idea how to answer your question, but there's more than one outlet in the car...it's in the hatch. at least that's how it is for my 08...prolly same

Yeah i saw that one in the hatch but i mean if im like chargin my phone or whatever its kinda inconvenient back there you know. lol I just wanna have the radar plugged into a direct power source other than the outlet so its not taking that one up so i can use it for my phone or whatever you know.

 

[RSMark5]

Lol There is one in the rear, but its not a real good spot for the Radar detector.

To answer your question, yes it should be fine. Thats how most radar detector hard wire installs are done. Just run it to a spare slot in there, shouldn't be a problem, there are several open spots for accessories.

 

[ecoterragaia]

You could splice into the cigarette lighter wires (in parallel), that way you'd still have a fuse protecting the detector (and the wires), unless it has it's own inline fuse. You'd just have to be aware of the amperage being drawn by all the devices, but that's a nominal worry since most cell phone/ipod chargers only draw a few hundred milliamps.

 

[06 MKV GTI]

You could splice into the cigarette lighter wires (in parallel), that way you'd still have a fuse protecting the detector (and the wires), unless it has it's own inline fuse. You'd just have to be aware of the amperage being drawn by all the devices, but that's a nominal worry since most cell phone/ipod chargers only draw a few hundred milliamps.

Yeah i asked my tech if i could do that and he said dont do it cause they'll try and void the warranty if they saw that. Hell i dont know anymore. lol:iono:

 

[GodSquadMandrake]

The fuse panel on the inside of the dash on the side when you open the driver's door has the fuse for the cigarette lighter I think. You tap into that easily and the wires would be hidden under the dash. You just install a switch to turn it off when you need or attach a cigarette lighter plug so you can unplug it.

 

[whitepony5.0]

its even easier than what your all saying. the side fuse panel in the passenger compart ment, there are some empty "key hot" slots.... I just hardwired my radar detector into one of those. No everytime I start the car it automatically comes on. Took me more time to cut the wires on the harness for the detector than anything.

 

[06 MKV GTI]

its even easier than what your all saying. the side fuse panel in the passenger compart ment, there are some empty "key hot" slots.... I just hardwired my radar detector into one of those. No everytime I start the car it automatically comes on. Took me more time to cut the wires on the harness for the detector than anything.

Ok cool man thanks. And you should have just bought a remake cigarette lighter adapter and done it that way instead of cutting the harness but hey whatever floats your boat it works so good job