Hey Ford Techs

[2003_MM_FYRE49]

I have a 2006 Mercury Mountaineer Premier. I want to connect my Escort Radar Detector and my Terk XM Commander to my ignition system.

I would like to know if it is okay to connect both the radar and XM to the green - white wire on the back of the radio and bumping the fuse from a 5 amp to a 7.5 amp on the #12 position of the fuse panel. I am connecting the battery wire for the XM to the blue - red wire on the back of the radio.

If you don't think I should connect to the green - white wire let me know which wire you would suggest. I will be placing the XM tuner box in the area behind the glove compartment on the passenger side. I also have enough power wire for the radar detector to connect to an ignition powered wire, if the is one, under the console.

If you have a wire schematic that you could post that would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance for your help.

[mtnh]

Make sure that you connect the XM to switched accessory power. Bumping up a fuse may exceed the rated ampacity of the wire on that circuit, so you may want to consider just changing the fuse to an upgraded size IF you have it melt down at the present size. I don't think it will open the fuse with the type of loads you are talking about. Sorry that I can't help with the wire selection to tap off of at this time, but testing the power with a meter and varying the key position should help you find out which wire enables your power when you want it on.

I just made a quick install of an XM skyfi2 and picked a circuit that is only on with the key on run position, so I was kicking myself, but I only needed it for a week or so, while I went on vacation, so it was only a pain for a little while. Instead of using the cig. lighter power socket, I removed the power adapter from its case and soldered in wire to the PC board, then tapped ground for one side and spliced into hot for the + side. The entire assembly is packed into the dash frame between the radio and the lower console assembly, but re-powering it from switched accessory will be easy if I need to do it. You want to make sure that you tap accessory power for your XM because parking and listening to the XM is kind of uncomfortable when you have the key ON and the engine not running. It uses way more power than the accessory side does.

Mike

[rvaldez1]

For the ACC. (switched power). I would personally spilce the Cig. Lighter hot wire behind the dash, The XM should not pull many amps, and the Cig. Lighter is rarely used. As for the Batt. I think youd be better off running a fresh wire straight off the battery. Just my way.