This week in the shop
Our crew tackled a 2021 Porsche Taycan radar detector installation plus a front and rear dash camera.
The Porsche Taycan 4s is a fast car. A very fast car. Like scary fast as in 0-60 in 3.8 seconds with an impressive 472 lb-ft torque. It’s no surprise the owner of this vehicle wanted to invest in a radar detector.
Unlike some other electric vehicles on the market, the Porsche Taycan does not come equipped with sentry mode or any type of camera surveillance set up. Thankfully, it’s easy enough to add a dash camera system aftermarket.
Gear Used
For this installation we used the K40 Platinum 100 dash mounted radar detector along with a BlendMount. As much as I would have loved to install laser shifters in this vehicle, that was not on the agenda. This Porsche Taycan 4s is not the client’s daily driver so they didn’t see the immediate need for it.
Although the K40 Platinum 100 is windshield mounted style detector, it’s completely expandable. Out of the box it will detect radar and laser – although with laser it may be too late. But if the client’s driving situation ever changes, they can always have us add the laser shifters later on.
Rather than use the standard included windshield mount, we opted to use a BlendMount. This bracket helps us provide a clean installation plus it frees up some of the real estate on the windshield for the BlackVue dash cam.
The dash camera used for this Porsche Taycan is the BlackVue DR750X-2CH Plus with 64 gig SD card. It features a front and rear HD camera with optional park mode functionality.
Dash Camera Settings and Park Mode Functionality
Whenever I have a client interested in a dash cam with park mode functionality, I encourage them to use a separate battery pack for consistent park mode recording. This is especially true for newer vehicles with proximity keys. For park mode to work consistently – where the camera wakes up and starts recording if it detects motion or impact – the camera needs to see 12.5 volts or higher.
In many newer vehicles we see that there can be wild voltage fluctuations simply when locking your car and walking away. The courtesy headlights may come on momentarily dropping voltage below 12 volts only to come right back up as soon as the headlights turn off. This isn’t the case for every vehicle.
Our Taycan 4s client was initially more focused on recording while driving vs while the car was parked. Most of the time it would be parked at a safe location so he opted out of the battery pack option. As luck would have it, right before the installation appointment there was an incident that piqued his interest in park mode.
After attending a Porsche meet, a group of club members went into a restaurant to dine. When they came back out they were horrified to see someone had backed into a member’s brand new Porsche and taken off. After this experience, park mode became a feature he was interested in after all. Since it will be used only periodically, I showed the client how to turn park mode on and off in the app.
12 Volt Accessories for Electric Vehicles
Although this is an electric vehicle, it still has a 12 volt battery and electronic system. This is how we can add aftermarket accessories such as a radar detector or dash camera to an electric vehicle like the Taycan. Skilled technicians like those at our shop use a multimeter and probe to investigate, test and find switched ignition power source.
With the installation complete, the client can drive with a little more piece of mind. If you’re interested in a radar detector or dash camera for your Porsche Taycan, contact our shop today for more information.