MrGordonGekko

I recently bought an RS4 (previous car was an E46 M3). In my M3, I hardwired the Valentine 1 by tapping into the power feed for the homelink which was located in the map light cluster in the roof. There was also a ground in the same cluster area. With that in mind, I have a couple of questions:

1. Has anyone hardwired the V1 in an RS4 using wiring and a ground in the map light cluster in the roof? This is my preferred method as it worked flawlessly in my M3 for years and didn't require any "home runs" to the fuse box or tapping into fuses.

2. As an alternative, I tried hardwiring the V1 using the DIY on this website that uses power from the fuse box and a ground near the fuse box (I think ELEVENS posted it). Unfortunately, the fuse tap that I bought from Radio Shack doesn't stay put. For those of you that used a fuse tap, what kind did you use? For those of you that wrapped a wire around the fuse prong, how exactly did you do this (a pic or description would be great)?

Thanks.

Audis or VWs 4Life

Use a Vampire clip with an inline fuse provided by valentine. Tap into the sun visor/homelink power line. Remove the lower knee/bolster panel below the steering column. It should be 3 screws. Slide it back, then open up the fuse box area. Once thats opened up you can tap into the line from the back. Follow the fuse panel fuse guide to know which lead to vampire into. Run the wire up A pilar use a credit card to push the phone wire into the a-pilar. then run it over and down near the rear view mirror and have fun. Button everything up and you should be set.

If you are in the Philly area and want help let me know, we can do the job in my garage in about 15-20 minutes.

BluDemon

<ul><li><a href="http://www.sojdm.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=46&amp;idproduct=66">http://www.sojdm.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=46&amp;idproduct=66</a</li></ul>

lunker

I hardwired my V1 into the fuse box two weeks ago. I've provided the link to the fuse tap that I used. It fits over the fuse and takes a little effort to push in, but it can be done with the right amount of force and will not move once in. The wiring from the V1 fits seemlessly along the window and the frame and there's even a little space that allows the wiring to go into the fuse box. This is probably the quickest, easiset and cleanest way to hardwire it. There are a lot of posts on this with pictures already, but let me know if you have more questions.<ul><li><a href="http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&amp;kw=fuse%20tap&amp;origkw=fu se%20tap&amp;sr=1">Radio Shack</a></li></ul>

VMRWheels

You can tap into any (almost) power/ground source. Just make sure you tap it into the correct power source that you want. IE constant power, or switched power.

I've found that it's more common to use the fuse box on audis, to do various wiring jobs. You should be fine tapping into the light cluster in the roof as well. Just use a voltmeter to verify everything.

-Don

BluDemon

skip screwing around with the light and homelink power supplies.

It took me about 20 min to tuck the wires up in the head liner, wire my remote display and tap a fuse.

MrGordonGekko

kit that lunker suggested in his thread. If the piggy-back kit works as advertised, it should be a very clean install with no exposed wires, wire taps, etc. I've already pushed the phone line all the way from the rear view mirror to the fuse box (like everyone said, this took 10 minutes max). I'll connect evertything tonight and let you know how it goes.

MrGordonGekko

use one fuse. Doesn't make sense to me to use one fuse.

lunker

Not sure what you mean by putting two fuses in the kit? Can you clarify and hopefully I will be able to help.

BluDemon

the fuse that you pull to add the tap goes in as well and the new fuse gets added for the tap wire.