Base Model Hardwire question..
 

Sorry to bother you guys with a question like this. I've looked all around the board so I figured I'd ask. My car(PG base sport 6MT) is going to be all ready for me to pick up on thursday and I want to put in a V1 with a stealth chord. But I realized that the base model and touring have different rear view mirrors..

So can anyone tell me.. Does the Base model rear view mirror have accessible power coming from the back of the mirror like the touring model?

Sorry if it's already been discussed..

No power on the base or sport. I used a fuse tap off the fuse box to mount another Cig. plug above the left kickplate or use the hardwire kit. From there you can run the telephone cord up the A-pillar and across the headliner at the windshield to your V1...All out of sight.

http://images109.fotki.com/v787/phot...MG_1674-vi.jpg

You can just see the wire running down the mirror stalk here:
http://images47.fotki.com/v1473/phot...MG_1672-vi.jpg

Hey thanks, looks like I'll have to do that or just deal with hanging chords...

Do you have to drill any holes to run the wire once its in the fuse box? Where does that wire run out of after you've put the fuse cover back on.

That panel is open at the top. Best to take the whole panel off when you do this so you can run the ground wire to a convenient bolt. Take off the nut shown above the dead pedal and the panel just snaps out..

http://images47.fotki.com/v1478/phot...MG_1675-vi.jpg

Thanks, I'll check it out when I get the car!

How do you know which fuse to tap into (which one(s) are the 12v charger? and do you also need inverters/step ups/step downs if the volts differ..lets say for a hardwired USB) I want to do this for a GPS in the center compartment and plan on drilling into the compartment and hardwiring it behind the dashboard.

check the list of fuses in the manual or on the back of the lid and find one that's for the cigarette lighter (power socket). make sure it turns off when you shut off the engine so that it is a 'switched' fuse. ie: turns on/off with the engine.

you can use any of the switched fuses, actually. radar detectors need very little power.

Thanks for the clarification. Does the 370z have a volt regulator for 12v (I would assume so with all the electronics)? And if I wanted to hardware a usb charger (5v) to the cars 12v, what would I need?


Is the only differentiation that needs to be made is the one between a 'switched' and 'nonswitched' fuse? What do the little numbers represent (amperages I'm guessing)?






I'm not sure I'm using the right terminology here.

Without getting technical- if you want to hardwire a USB port into your car for charging purposes, I'd recommend picking up an adapter and hardwiring that instead.

Amazon.com: 2 Port USB Car Cigarette Lighter Adapter Dual Plug for iPod MP3 Players Charger - Color White: Cell Phones & Service

This will take care of the different voltages, and provide you with a nice clean look.

One last question, how do you tell which of the fuses are switched (active when engine is started) or not (pulls power from battery constantly)? Are the ones labeled "spare" 'switched' or not?

And would a mulimeter be able to measure how much amp is being drawn from a particular fuse in case I want to piggy back on an already existing one (with add-a-fuse)?

bump, does anyone knows :)

if you have a voltmeter you can put your (+) probe on the bare metal you see on the top of the fuses (pict above) and your (-) probe on any metal ground and measure power while your car is in the ignition acc/on and off positions.

if you measure 12v+ at off, you got constant voltage... unless you want to charge your phone or something while the car is off dont use this. it can drain your battery if done too often.

if you get 0v at off and 12v at acc and on positions you got a 'switched' fuse. you
want to put your add-a-circuit on that fuse.

add-a-circuit can only handle up to 10A. so if you are going to pull more then that
you should pull directly from your battery.

btw, for radar detectors, i just tap directly into the fuse leg and not even use those add-a-circuit.
i put a 1A fuse in series somewhere. (just soldered on the wire) unless my detector comes with a hardwire harness (like V1).

I ordered some LED's for some mood lighting at the footwells... I'm thinkin the easiest place to wire them in would be the kickplates since they always come on when the door opens and off when the door closes. Would I have to actually take the kickplates off or could I just find the wires in the footwells somewhere? Does anyone know where these wires would be without taking off the kick plates? Thanks