I want to contribute a DIY I had been planning for a while but just had the time to finish. I hated the looks of the Escort Passport 9500ix SmartCord display, so a while back I designed a solution for integrating all of the electronics from my SmartCord into a spare BMW SOS switch. Now the entire assembly exists in the overhead console for a stealthy, OEM look.




Looking inside the SOS, it’s full of parts, including a PCB with several SMT components already!



So I simply determined the SmartCord circuit and created it on my own PCB of the same size .(Green board is original, Purple is mine). Ignore the terrible edges – this was one of many spare boards.








To maintain the stock feel and look, I duplicated the pads on the board for the membrane switch, and I harvested the connector and LEDs from a spare SOS switch. Amber LED2 that lights the “SOS” logo is for power, and the green LED1 is for the alert flash and aligns with the lightpipe in the switch body.



With the switch apart, I removed the toggle latch mechanism and cover spring, because I wanted a single button press of the SOS cover to activate the mute function.



With my circuit built, I re-assembled the switch with my board in place of the original. I 3D-printed a 0.060” tall arched filler that I glued between the switch cover and amber SOS lens on the inside so that the switch cover would sit flush and actuate the switch when pressing the outer cover.



Now, I had to build a wiring harness to pair the switch to the detector. I started with a spare SOS connector and marked the wires on a spare connector to match the Escort Scheme.
Black – Alert LED
Red – 12V
Green – Ground
Yellow – Mute Switch
I soldered these wires to the Escort phone-style wire while adding connections for a 12V switched power tap with 2A inline fuse in the overhead console and a lug for installing under a screw head in the console:



I then fed the connector for the Escort through the same opening in the headliner as the wiring for the rain sensor and mirror, and I located the spare “SOS” switch in the space with the blank filler plate.

 

Nice. I had my buddy fab the blank cover into a recessed mount for my 9500ci controller.

 

This is so stealth and a really cool mod!