What did you do to your Clarity Today

Just received and installed the SuperBright LEDs I posted about. They were the exact size of the OEM filament “fuse” size lights. Went in perfect and took all of 5 min. They are much brighter than the OEMs and I do not find them bluish at all. I’d call them cool white. They are just slightly whiter than our convenience lights which I thought were white but look slightly warmer than these.

One thing to note: these LEDs are polarity specific. Touch them to the contacts before pressing them in place and if they don’t light up just reverse them. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Also my original instructions on removal and reinstalling were incorrect. Removal is as stated from prying on cut out on outside top edge but you reinstall by putting the tabs on the top of the cover in first and then you snap in the bottom.

Here are some before and after pix. My apologies for the over exposure and blooming of the light intensity. In real life the OEMs are dim and the LEDs bright. But the colors are representative of how they actually appear. Also included a pix of the opaque cover so you wil know what you’re prying against. I went slow with a dental pik and didn’t break any tabs off.

Bottom line-I don’t think they are blue, just cool white, and so I don’t think the Missus will make you sleep on the sofa if you install these. I’m very happy w them.
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Kind of strange these are the only lights in the vehicle not LED's - must have run short in the parts bin...
 
Things I have Added

I finally got time to finish taking pictures of things I added. The first picture shows the pair of 5" LCD monitors for the side view cameras. These monitors are far enough from the vents that they have little impact. Their combined width closely matches the width of the large monitor. When off, they are unobtrusive.
They are held in by double sided tape. (I still have some cosmetic work to do.)

SAM_1027.webp


Also shown is the control head for my VHF/UHF Ham radio. (It's the orange screen in the foreground.) I use double sided tape for that also.
The transmitter is under the passenger seat. The microphone is stored in the cup holder.

The next picture shows the rear of the car with the two side view cameras and the Ham radio antenna. It uses double sided tape also, since there is not much magnetic around.
Rear Deck.webp


The next thing I'm planning to add is a ($6) engine hour meter under the hood. There is a good discussion of this under another Clarity topic on this Forum.

In also thinking about some kind of backup sound device, such as a gong or ding-ding rather than the loud beep on a truck. My wife says its eerie when the car silently emerges from the garage.

Cheers,
 
Installed Honda puzzle locks on all 4 wheels. Peace of mind for high crime area for only $29. I looked up our tires and they are going for $208 x 4 and I don’t even want to know how expensive 4 wheels would be!
BTW, the torque spec for our Clarity wheel lug nut is the same for all Honda’s - 80 ft/lbs. I used my torque wrench and I never use impact wrenches for lug nuts.
 
KentuckyKen said:
Installed Honda puzzle locks on all 4 wheels. Peace of mind for high crime area for only $29. I looked up our tires and they are going for $208 x 4 and I don’t even want to know how expensive 4 wheels would be!
BTW, the torque spec for our Clarity wheel lug nut is the same for all Honda’s - 80 ft/lbs. I used my torque wrench and I never use impact wrenches for lug nuts.
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Interesting. My Clarity came with wheel locks installed and I didn't pay for them and they aren't listed on the window sticker as an option. I thought they were standard equipment.
 
jdonalds said:
Following a thread often found on other forums (boats, motorcycles, etc.) What Did You Do to Your Clarity Today...

Today I installed the dashcam which had been in the Prius. I was delaying the job because there were no "how to" videos on youtube with the car being so new. But the weather is nice (78 degrees at 1pm) so I pulled the car out of the garage and started on it. It turned out to be very easy. Sorry I didn't video the process.

1) There is a short plastic cover over the cable that runs from the ceiling to the rear view mirror. It can be collapsed a bit by sliding one half over the other half. Then it can be popped off. It was a tight squeeze but I was able to fit the dashcam power cable inside the plastic cover along with the mirror cable, and put the cover back on. This mostly hides the power cable.

2) I ran the dashcam power cable across the top of the windshield under the headliner, just pushing it in with a plastic tipped tool. The cable stays in place due to the design of the headliner.

3) I ran the cable down the doorpost on the driver's side, pulling the door gasket out of the way. The cable runs easily down the door post then around to the footwell area. I just tapped the door gasket back in place with my hand.

4) There is a fuse box right where the power cable ran. I found a screw for the ground wire and attached it. I then used a fuse Tap Adapter (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SUTYYS2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to install a fuse and supply 12v to the converter which puts out 5V for the dashcam. I used the 7.5A accessory fuse position. There is a nice fuse information label on the left side of the driver's foot well.

5) I stuck the GPS module for the VIOFO dashcam (https://www.amazon.com/VIOFO-2-Inch...D=51O1iumNEJL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail) to the windshield, plugged the power cable in, and slid the dashcam on. Everything worked fine. The dashcam is hardly noticeable due to the large Honda camera module which is used for the LKAS.

It took me less than 1/2 hour, most of the time trying to loosen the ground screw since I didn't have the right tool!!! Other than the little mirror cable run cover and the door gasket no panels had to be removed.

I feel a dashcam is essential today. There are idiots on the road who will "break check" to cause accidents and try to sue (check it out on youtube). The dashcam eliminates the law suit (but not the damage).
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nice guide. the only thing I'm not really clear on is what fuses did you put in which slots on the fuse tap adapter and which direction did you insert it back into the fuse box? If you or anyone else could take a picture of the box after install that would be terrific. thanks
 
PHEVDriver said:
nice guide. the only thing I'm not really clear on is what fuses did you put in which slots on the fuse tap adapter and which direction did you insert it back into the fuse box? If you or anyone else could take a picture of the box after install that would be terrific. thanks
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I'll post some photos after my wife comes home with the car.

The fuse adapter has two slots. The lower slot is for the fuse that you remove from the fuse box. It will still perform as a fuse for whatever circuitry is attached to that slot in the fusebox. The second slot is where you plug in a new fuse that is appropriate for your dashcam.
 
After reading other guides I was worried about putting it in the right way because others have said if you put it in “upside down” the device would still work but the circuit breaker wouldn’t work anymore.
 
PHEVDriver said:
After reading other guides I was worried about putting it in the right way because others have said if you put it in “upside down” the device would still work but the circuit breaker wouldn’t work anymore.
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I didn't even think about it buy you are correct.

The original fuse can be turned around and plugged in with out any ill effects. But the wire going to the dashcam enters the side of the fuse adapter and, if plugged in the wrong way, can bypass the fuse.

I'm going to check my installs to see if I have the adapter plugged in correctly.
 
jdonalds said:
I didn't even think about it buy you are correct.

The original fuse can be turned around and plugged in with out any ill effects. But the wire going to the dashcam enters the side of the fuse adapter and, if plugged in the wrong way, can bypass the fuse.

I'm going to check my installs to see if I have the adapter plugged in correctly.
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great, glad i could help avoid a disaster. I have the A119 camera as well which I'm pretty sure draws only 1 Amp since it works in a USB plug. What size fuse do you use for it?
 
Not sure what size fuse I used. I'll check when I pull the adapter out to check the direction. I'll have to use my volt meter to determine which connection carries the 12V. There is no indication on the fuse block because regular fuses can be plugged in either way without creating a problem. It's only the adapter that has to be plugged in the correct way. I'm glad this issue came up.

Here's my fusebox.
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jdonalds said:
Not sure what size fuse I used. I'll check when I pull the adapter out to check the direction. I'll have to use my volt meter to determine which connection carries the 12V. There is no indication on the fuse block because regular fuses can be plugged in either way without creating a problem. It's only the adapter that has to be plugged in the correct way. I'm glad this issue came up.

Here's my fusebox.
View attachment 1183
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I just checked. The middle row, where I plugged my adapter in, has the 12V rail at the top. So it turns out my adapter is in the right direction. When I get a chance I'll have to check my 4Runner too.

It turns out I used a 7.5A fuse.

I threw this diagram together (drawing isn't one of my skills). The fuse on the left is the original fuse. You can turn it around and plug it in reversed and it will still work properly. But the fuse on the right has the wire as part of the adapter, if it is reversed there will be 12V on the dashcam but it will not be fused.

Hope this makes sense.

Fuse%20Adapter-L.jpg
 
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jdonalds said:
I just checked. The middle row, where I plugged my adapter in, has the 12V rail at the top. So it turns out my adapter is in the right direction. When I get a chance I'll have to check my 4Runner too.

It turns out I used a 7.5A fuse.

I threw this diagram together (drawing isn't one of my skills). The fuse on the left is the original fuse. You can turn it around and plug it in reversed and it will still work properly. But the fuse on the right has the wire as part of the adapter, if it is reversed there will be 12V on the dashcam but it will not be fused.

Hope this makes sense.

Fuse%20Adapter-L.jpg
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Thanks a lot, I’ll give it a shot. Any reason in particular that you used that fuse? If I’m looking at your picture correctly that’s #21, labeled ACG, whatever that means.
 
PHEVDriver said:
Thanks a lot, I’ll give it a shot. Any reason in particular that you used that fuse? If I’m looking at your picture correctly that’s #21, labeled ACG, whatever that means.
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I'm pretty sure it was the smallest value fuse I had on hand.

Someone said the second fuse shouldn't be larger than the first. That doesn't make sense to me.
 
Hi.Ho.Silver said:
Interesting. My Clarity came with wheel locks installed and I didn't pay for them and they aren't listed on the window sticker as an option. I thought they were standard equipment.
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I had those too. My guess--they did the wheel locks (and winter mats for me) to jack up the price of the car. They then negotiated with me without realizing which car they were selling, so they were not on the list for me either.
 
I added these hooks (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074R8N4B8/) to the trunk last week
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and used this tap (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BFRWC3X/) to tap the mirror power as a switched source for my A118C dashcam (with some adapters for Micro to Mini USB and longer wire-I've already spoken to the manufacturer about some of this)
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(in my prior car, I just sourced an extra mirror harness and built my own power coupling for the dashcam, but I could only find one side of the mirror connector online).

I should have placed the camera outside of my EZ-Pass, so I can see its working in a glance. Now I need to duck under the mirror to verify the flashing light--I'll move it eventually
 
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