Hack27.Install a Sun Visor Screen

Hack 27. Install a Sun Visor Screen

With headrest and fold-down screens, the front-seat passenger often gets left out of the picture.

Sun visor screens are a stealthy way to give a customized video experience to the front-seat passenger. The back seats of many compact and sports cars are used only for pet and grocery transport or general storage, and people only sit in the front seats. If the laws in your state do not allow screens visible to the driver, a sun visor tilted away from the driver may be the perfect solution for your front-seat passenger.

As with headrests, there are two basic models available: replacement visors, and screens that you dig into the visor to install. Replacement visors have the screens built right in and come in a few styles that hopefully match your interior. They also come with vanity mirrors and lights, just like normal visors.

Figure 3-8 shows one of the many kits that install into your existing visor. These come in sizes ranging from just a few inches to 7" wide-screens. They have especially shallow (about 0.5") frames that can be mounted in today's puffier SUV visors.

Figure 3-8. A visor screen kit

To install one of these visor screens, you need to dig into your visor. Naturally, the first thing to do is to remove the visor from the car. There are usually several screws that hold the adjustable pole of the visor to the ceiling near the front pillars of the windshield. Also, visors with lighted screens or other electronics are connected by a wire, which can hopefully be unpluggedthere should be a mating connector somewhere that can be un-mated to release the visor. If you need to remove the pillar cover to get to the wiring, go ahead, because you will need to take it off later anyway.

Once you have taken out the visor, the installation is similar to installing a screen in a headrest [Hack #25], but with a smaller hole. Position the frame of the visor monitor on the correct side of the visor, and trace it lightly. Then draw an X connecting the corners of the rectangle, and cut along the lines of the X.

Once the hole is cut, you must remove the fluff or other padding from the center outward, to make a firm-holding fit around the frame when it is installed. Because you don't have the clearance for screws, the frame must be affixed with different materials, such as strong double-stick tape or adhesive glue.

With the screen mounted, you now need to run the video and power cables through the corner of the visor and down through the pillar of the vehicle.

If your pillar has side-impact airbags, do not dismantle it. Instead, find another route from the ceiling to the floor, or at least go to a professional install shop and ask what they would do first.

If the screen's wires are black and the original wires were beige, gray, or another color, you may want to spray paint the short bit of wire that will be exposed to better match the car's interior. Also, the thicker wire for the screen may not fit in the existing visor, roof, or pillar holes, especially if the existing power wire travels through the metal visor pole itself. If this is the case, you need to make a small hole in the corner of the visor, and then put the wire down the top of the pillar. Don't cut into the headliner.

If you haven't yet removed the pillar cover, do so now. Find the screws and clamps and carefully loosen it. You may not need to completely remove it in order to thread the visor video cables down into the dashboard area.

Once you have the cables in place and have taken out most of the slack in the wiring, temporarily mount the visor without closing up the pillar. Check the full range of motion of the visorsome visors extend on their mounting rails and thus require some slack in the wire.

Before you fasten everything back into place, do a final screen functionality check by giving it 12V and a video signal. If it works correctly, you can close up the pillar, finish fastening the visor, and run the power and video cables to their final destinations.