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Hardwiring Uniden R3

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I have been using the R3 for a few months and it has saved me on multiple occasions. It’s connected via the 12V cigarette outlet and has been sitting on one of the included suction cups on my windshield, but I decided today I want to clean it up a little bit since the wires are messy.

I ordered this kit from Radar Mount and was wondering if that’s all I need to do (as in tapping power from the rearview mirror). Because I did some brief research and seems like a lot of people are taking off the foot panel trim on the left driver side to hardwire their accessories, so my method of taking off the plastic trim behind the rearview mirror seems too good to be true that I’m scared it might mess up some electronics within the car.

Does anyone have any experience with hardwiring accessories in Model 3 who can give me some guidance?
 
Do you find the included Tesla Dashcam not good enough in terms of quality? It's always something I thought about, but really never installed one due to laziness...
The built-in angles for dashcam I find sometimes are not wide enough. Couple instances when there are someone across traffic and it wasn't able to capture that on dashcam, rather just straight ahead (i.e. when it's too late that an accident might occur that second)
 
The built-in angles for dashcam I find sometimes are not wide enough. Couple instances when there are someone across traffic and it wasn't able to capture that on dashcam, rather just straight ahead (i.e. when it's too late that an accident might occur that second)

Understandable. I do believe there's an ultrawide camera as part of the 3 front cameras on the Model 3s, would be nice if we can eventually use it for dashcam use.
 
Do you find the included Tesla Dashcam not good enough in terms of quality? It's always something I thought about, but really never installed one due to laziness...
I've found that the Tesla dashcam system has not as been as reliable as the Blackvue in my other car which as been rock solid. There have been times when reviewing footage that the Tesla system will glitch and not record, especially in Sentry mode. It's always nice to have a reliable backup. Perhaps it could have something to do with the SD card I'm using, the setup, etc., but the Blackvue just works all the time.
 
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I believe the reason people are pulling from the footwell is to get fully switched power to their detector. Leave the detector in place all of the time, it turns on and off with the car.

I never worried about that with my prior vehicles because I only use the detector when driving on longer freeway trips. And I always take it down and then stow it in the glove compartment when not in use. So no worries about it being on and drawing power all of the time.

Of course, I have not yet figured out what I am doing with my detector on my Model 3 P because I am waiting on my car order to come in!!! Supposedly mid to end of December. We will see.
 
I believe the reason people are pulling from the footwell is to get fully switched power to their detector. Leave the detector in place all of the time, it turns on and off with the car.

I never worried about that with my prior vehicles because I only use the detector when driving on long freeway trips. And I always take it down and then stow it in the glove compartment when not in use. So no worries about it being on and drawing power all of the time.

Of course, I have not yet figured out what I am doing with my detector on my Model 3 P because I am waiting on my car order to come in!!! Supposedly mid to end of December. We will see.
That kit that I mentioned I ordered earlier is arriving tomorrow and I will see what I can do with it, though having the r.d. syncing with the car's power and turning on and off seems to be even more ideal than both tapping the rearview mirror's power and my now setup of using the 12V cigarette outlet. I see that you are in the Bay Area and so am I; if you end up figuring it out how to do the first method (i.e. getting fully switched power) or if my mirror method ends up not working, I would love to pay you a visit for some compensation if you don't mind
 
I believe the reason people are pulling from the footwell is to get fully switched power to their detector. Leave the detector in place all of the time, it turns on and off with the car.
Is there a tutorial somewhere documenting the location of the power from the footwell? I did a search and came up empty. I'm considering getting the latest Blackvue during a black Friday sale and it'll be good to know before I pull the trigger. Thanks!
 
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Interested in this as well! Anyone have a tutorial?
I used a similar writing kit to power my Valentine 1 on a model S. The wires push into the back side of the mirror plug. I used the suction cup mount that came with the detector. On some model S card there is a metallic film on the windshield with a cutout to the right of the mirror. Search TMC for hardwire radar detector or for mirror tap. You will find lots of help. It took me about 20 minutes as I was very careful. One of the wires at the mirror plug is switched power and another is ground. Good luck.
 
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I used a similar writing kit to power my Valentine 1 on a model S. The wires push into the back side of the mirror plug. I used the suction cup mount that came with the detector. On some model S card there is a metallic film on the windshield with a cutout to the right of the mirror. Search TMC for hardwire radar detector or for mirror tap. You will find lots of help. It took me about 20 minutes as I was very careful. One of the wires at the mirror plug is switched power and another is ground. Good luck.
Does the mirror power tap cut power as soon as you exit the car, and does it come back on whenever you interact with the car (such as opening your phone app)?

Mirror tap is usually my go to place for hardwiring dashcams or radar detector, but when I hardwired my Model 3 for a dedicated front/rear dashcam, I did it the hard way. Took much of the center console apart to tap the 12V cigarette outlet wire. I had initially wanted to tap the driver's side footwell, but when I probed for the switched 12V I could not find it, all were seemingly live and not switched. I found out why when I tapped the cigarette outlet - the car does not actually cut power to the 12V switched circuits until the car goes to sleep. I was cussing to myself thinking the cigarette outlet is not switched after going through all that lol. The bad thing is whenever the car wakes up such as when the car is charging, the 12V is live the whole time and my dashcams are recording hours of blank footage, wiping out earlier recordings. So I'm very interested to know if the 12V on the mirror is switched off immediately when exiting the car and stays off when the car wakes up. My guess is all 12V circuits are like the cigarette outlet.

power tap.JPG
 
I just checked. The mirror tap stays off when you open the app without getting in the car. It also stays off when walking by the car with the fob so the handles extend. The power comes on when you open the door. It shuts down a few minutes after exiting the car. Remember, this is a model S.
 
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here's the main thread I started for my R3 two years ago....it's not a no brainer, I ended up tapping into the wire in the drivers side door jam, easiest spot of the options I saw.....good luck!
12v wire tap for Radar Detector
Yeah I saw, but I was wondering if the same results can be achieved by just tapping power to the rear view mirror; I am not very comfortable tearing the driver side panel is why
 
here's the main thread I started for my R3 two years ago....it's not a no brainer, I ended up tapping into the wire in the drivers side door jam, easiest spot of the options I saw.....good luck!
12v wire tap for Radar Detector

Does this source stay off if the car wakes up? I thought I read it changed over the past year. What about the center console cig lighter? I just want a source that stays off and doesn't turn on if the car wakes up.