How to Install Monitor Housing in Your Car

If you want to put your car video monitor in a spot where everyone in back can watch it, you should install monitor housing on the vehicle's interior roof. You then can power the monitor by connecting it to the wiring for the dome light. Here's how.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Screwdriver
• Box cutter
• Wrench/socket
• Drill
• Monitor housing
• Marker pen
• Board (optional)
• Silicone and double-stick tape (optional)

1. Disconnect the battery cables from the battery using a wrench or socket. Check the vehicle's repair manual for the proper tool size.
2. Take down the vehicle's headliner (the fabric covering the car's ceiling) around the installation area by removing the snap clips, pushpins or screws that are holding it up.
3. Remove the dome light by loosening the mounting screws with the proper screwdriver. Detach the power wires from the dome light; you will use these for the video monitor.
4. Draw a pattern on the headliner that matches, but is slightly smaller than, the monitor housing. Use a permanent marker and compare with the housing bracket to get the size right.
5. Use a box cutter to cut the hole that you marked for the monitor housing in the headliner. Stay inside the pattern, or your hole will be larger than the housing unit and leave gaps in the fabric.
6. Attach the housing's mounting bracket to the roof's structural support. Use a power drill to drive the mounting bracket screws. Note: consider attaching a board to the roof first, using silicone and double-stick tape, so the mounting bracket screws don't go through the roof.
7. Attach the housing to the mounting bracket, using the screws supplied with the unit and following the installation instructions that came with it.
8. Reattach the headliner using the pushpins or screws you pulled out earlier.
9. Install the monitor you want to use in the monitor housing. Follow the installation instructions that came with it. Reconnect the car battery.

Tips & Warnings

• Read the installation instructions that came with your monitor housing carefully before beginning installation.
• If the monitor housing comes with a video monitor, route the video cables to the video source before reattaching the headliner.
• Do not install any electronic equipment with the car battery connected, or risk serious electric shock.