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Valentine Stealth Install
Introduction and Rationale
While I know what I've done won't please everybody, here's what I did and why, which boils down to the placement of the V1 and its remote. It seemed to me I should put :- the unit where it was unobtrusive (i.e. unnoticed by cops and car thieves) and its "sight picture" (of radar and lidar) was unobstructed, if not optimal and
- the remote where it would be:
- invisible to cops
- look like part of the night-time dash instrument lighting when seen by a cop coming up from behind/beside
- close to the out-of the-windshield sight picture. For me, the readout of a car instrument should be as close to your view out the windshield as possible. If you're driving at speed, you're damn well paying attention to the the road and you don't want to have to look away much.
My work was done on my early '98 VW....different years will probably require different work.
V1 Remote placement
I had originally placed the remote where the heated seat control would be, but was dissatisfied because it was somewhat hidden by the steering wheel, too far from the out-of-windshield sight picture and unhidden. After some consideration, I ended up moving it to behind the left center air conditioning vent. It is quite invisible when not lit up by an alarm. Here's what it looks like during the power-on self test light-up.
What's behind the louver looks like the image on the right. The remote has a thin plastic tape "face plate" with labeling that makes it conspicuous; I removed it.
V1 Remote Installation
I began by opening up the center console. You do this by 'popping' of the center switch blanks, then popping the trim around the ventilation controls and removing the ash tray. When you're done, it looks like the picture on the left:
Next, you need to remove the four screw at the corners of the ventilation controls and the two screws below the ashtray recess. When you're done, it looks like the picture on the right.
There is a nice recess, down and to the right of the bottom right corner of the opening, where you see the looped red wire. You can put the power module for the V1 down there and store all the wire. Wiring the power module is "left as an exercise for the student"; I took power off of the rear window defroster switch in that switch bar just removed.
Next, I removed the left hand louver vent. When everything's done
, it looks like this:
The
remote is secured with a piece of thin double-sided tape. I drilled a hole
in the left side of the louver cavity to bring the remote wire into the
cavity. You can see the wire below in the empty hole where the seat
heater control would be. This hole will look different in you car....this
one's been cut-out from when I put the remote there. I covered the
hole with a piece of electrical tape (can be seen edge on in the picture)...perhaps
electrician's Duxseal (a sort of gray putty) would have been better (the
tape has peeled up).
Now, space (front to back) is tight in there. I had to make two
mods: I had to take the back off the remote and I had to trim the
back of the vertical louver vanes (that direct the air left/right).
Here are images of these two mods:
The two louvers closest to the center need to be trimmed. Be careful.
You can remove the louvers, to do this work, but be warned: the little
piece that ties all the louvers together is extremely fragile.
When I was done, everything in the cavity worked as before. The
butterfly valve that lets air in (controlled by the edge on knurled wheel
to the left of the louver) rests on top of the power socket of the remote
when fully open...that's why I cut away the back. If you're satisfied
with a partially open vent you can leave the back on the remote.
Similarly, the louver was cut away to allow the louver to 'rock' or pitch.
V1 Installation
I didn't put it at the top of the windshield, since I felt that that's where the cops expect to see it and look for it. I 'hid' mine in plain sight in the extreme corner of windshield/dash, behind the inspection and registration stickers.....it's unobvious and attached with Velcro....if I get stopped, I just rip it off the Velcro and toss it under the seat. I covered the label and readout with black electrical tape, so it doesn't light up at night, also so it just looks like a nondescript little black box, not a highly valuable and stealable V1. Inside and out, it looks like this:
ulster
- Legalese follows: