hardwire devices near rear view mirror?

[FirstAscent]

Has anyone ran any wires to the rear view mirror area? Dash Cam, GPS, radar detector, etc. 

 

Looks like a lot of people will tap into the rear view mirror power but I'm wondering how hard it would be to run my own power to that area. I haven't took anything apart yet to find a path, asking first to see if anyone has tried this?

 

I want to power a dash cam and an RV specific GPS that I'll be using only some of the time. I'd rather not have all of this tapped into the rear view mirror power though. 

 

Obviously it's possible, but I also don't want to tear the whole roof apart to find a wire path  

[mkeddie]

Pull the upper console and fish a wire over to the a pillar no need to drop the whole headliner
Would be easier with visor removed but can do it with it


Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[FirstAscent]

Pull the upper console and fish a wire over to the a pillar no need to drop the whole headliner
Would be easier with visor removed but can do it with it


Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Thanks! Doesn’t sound too bad, I’ll give it a look!

[rmsmis]

I ran power to that area for both a dash cam and emergency lights.  You can tap the power in the fuse box on the side of the passenger dash, run it up the A pillar, and then bring it across to the center above the headliner pretty easily.  You'll want to remove the fuse area and A pillar area covers, but I'd also suggest removing the center lights panel as it makes things much easier to fish the wires over from the A pillar.  There is a lot of open space up there to keep some extra wire coiled up and such as well.  For the light, just gently pry off the two L-shaped covers to find the screw holes.  I slipped the plastic wire cover for the mirror down a little and brought the wires out to my windshield there between the cover and the headliner.  It ended up being a pretty clean install once everything was put back together.

 

[FirstAscent]

I ran power to that area for both a dash cam and emergency lights.  You can tap the power in the fuse box on the side of the passenger dash, run it up the A pillar, and then bring it across to the center above the headliner pretty easily.  You'll want to remove the fuse area and A pillar area covers, but I'd also suggest removing the center lights panel as it makes things much easier to fish the wires over from the A pillar.  There is a lot of open space up there to keep some extra wire coiled up and such as well.  For the light, just gently pry off the two L-shaped covers to find the screw holes.  I slipped the plastic wire cover for the mirror down a little and brought the wires out to my windshield there between the cover and the headliner.  It ended up being a pretty clean install once everything was put back together.
 

Thanks! This sounds pretty easy! For the center lights on the headliner... I see the two small L shaped covers (didn’t remove anything yet.), but does it just fall down after screws are removed or are there clips as well I’ll need to pull out from?

I’m excited, this might be easier than I thought haha!

I already have a fuse box I added under the rear seat from when I did my air compressor install, this works great because I already have a pull wire that runs from the fuse box to the driver side floor area. So I just need to get the wire fished through from the rear view camera to the passenger side fuse box area and then I can easily get to my fuse box from there.
My whole fuse box is tied to ACC power through a solenoid so no worries about any parasitic drains too.

Thank you!
Here’s my fuse box, I’ve got lots of space for more accessories

[FirstAscent]

@rmsmis

 

Any tips on removing the A Pillar covers? They seem to be different than previous years.

 

I removed the two 10mm bolts. It looks like there is a clip up top where I’d need to pull to the side (pull towards passenger side) to release? But something isn’t releasing, not sure where.

 

There’s just the two bolts right?

 

Should I be pulling down, to the side? Or something else?

 

[FirstAscent]

Never mind, got it. Went with the pull harder method. The silver clip stayed attached to the vehicle though.

[rmsmis]

Glad you got it figured out.  Hadn't been to my computer to reply until now.  For anyone else's benefit, I had to link my front and rear emergency in-cab lights so I ended up going from the overhead console to the bottom of the rear drivers C pillar through the headliner.  For the most part there is plenty of room to fish a wire up there.  Once you get to the C pillar, you can remove that cover and fish down to come out at the floor.  Since I hadn't routed any wires outside of my cab at this point, I decided to go that route, but I've seen many people come up through the floor under the back seat and it looks pretty easy to do if you want to drill.

[FirstAscent]

39 minutes ago, rmsmis said:

Glad you got it figured out.  Hadn't been to my computer to reply until now.  For anyone else's benefit, I had to link my front and rear emergency in-cab lights so I ended up going from the overhead console to the bottom of the rear drivers C pillar through the headliner.  For the most part there is plenty of room to fish a wire up there.  Once you get to the C pillar, you can remove that cover and fish down to come out at the floor.  Since I hadn't routed any wires outside of my cab at this point, I decided to go that route, but I've seen many people come up through the floor under the back seat and it looks pretty easy to do if you want to drill.

good thinking. I didn't even think to go above the headliner directly to the back seat. Obvious now that you mention it haha.

 

I have a sunroof so would make fishing a little more difficult I bet to go straight back. However, now that I got that friggin A pillar off the rest of the wiring is easy since I have my-pull cord left in place. I need a small part that won't arrive until Monday to finish my wiring but once it arrives it'll take 5 minutes then I'm done.