Last week I drove 600 miles across Kansas from KC to Denver. V1 was hard at work defeating the "green" Kansas State Patrol on at least a dozen ocassions. KSP uses only white unmarked vehicles, rolling radar only, and the flat terrain allows you to easily defeat the instant-on radar (they can't stay dormant long enough).

Anyway, on the way back, my unit started malfunctioning with false laser alerts; constantly. So between Aspen and KC, at least 500 false alerts. If you've heard laser, you know it's annoying and it overrides all other alerts. So my V1 was useless. Still didn't get a ticket though.

What an awful [slow] drive. I mailed in my [waranteed] unit for repair and now I'm going thru radar detector withdrawals. Anyone have a spare (I sold my extra Passport 4700)? Maybe they'll give me a new unit, you know the new slim one with the new software....

[ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: kensteele ]

 

[ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: kensteele ]

 

may be you had a trailblazer traveling near you the entire way.

 

Ken,

glad to hear you made it back safe. i'm in omaha right now upgrading our switches. i hate staying up at night

 

At first I thought it might have been the Jeep Cherokee that I rented, perhaps there was something weird going on in the cockpit. But then I remembered that the unit performed flawlessly all the way down to Colorado and when I got back home and re-installed in my CL, it still continued to laser false; constantly.

 

Bummer, keep us fellow V1 users up to date on the fix.

 

False laser warnings... What about infrared ports on laptops? Maybe someone had a wirelas LAN in oprtation in the area? Could that set off the laser warning?

 

does everyone leave their V1 in the car during hot summer months while parking? Manual states its good for 180+ degrees.

 

Like most electronics, the V1 is prone to break due to extreme usage. how often do you not drive without a radar detector on?

 

My V1 is hard wired and i attach it to the passenger visor. I NEVER leave it there no matter what, unless it's in my garage. No way i'm leaving a $400 detector in there. As for heat, i live in very hot Sacramento so i always take it in to the office with me, and for quick stops i put it in the trunk or under the seat.

 

I can make the laser go off by turning on the windshield wipers with washer with a low horizon sun in the sky. Although I doubt you were washing your windows for 500 falses.

 

Ken,

The IR/Pin diode would probably be using a very low noise op-amp. Any flicker or shot noise from a failing amp (or surrounding parts) would be interpreted as "pulses."

If you had been driving with some sun at your back, which would be one thing. However, given the reality that the laser detector needs to be so sensitive with a great deal of "ambient" light (forget about the IR filter) it would only require a little bit of noise to cause the thing to go nuts...

 

My old v-1 in my old integra gave false lasers when the rpms when over 3000. So I sent it back and they upgraded the software, etc...etc. I got it back and still the same thing. It turned out to be in my distributor, causing some kind of electrical drop and made the v-1 reset x-number of times.

You shouldn't have this type of problem on a new car, so I'ld check the v-1 direct connect.

 

My current radar detector (Escort) gives false laser alarms but only when the car's voltage is lower than it should be. If it was giving false alarms in two different cars chances are the unit was defective.

 

That's it: same false alarm in two different vehicles, mine with the hardwire and the rental with the coil cord. Sucks driving around here with no detector (currently in the shop) day after day; even though the cops are lazy.

I'm pretty sure it was defective because this happened even after I put the V1 on the floor board trying to determine if it was "seeing" something. Still the rear and side arrows would continue to light up and that shrill for a noise.... I went to my trusty neighborhood laser source (a neon sign at a local shop) and the V1 switched to front arrow and went off as normal, when I drove away back home, false lasers side/rear all the way home.

Anyway, this happened all night in near darkness so no on the sunlight.

Maybe they'll send me a new unit....I hate a radar detectors that you can't fully trust.

P.S. I mailed the unit back to V1 before I left on my 1 week trip and when I got home, there was my box, returned by the Post Office because I put it in the drop box at 18 ounces (security limit of 16 ounces). Lost 7 days.

[ 08-27-2001: Message edited by: kensteele ]

 

sorry to hear that!! hopefully they will itemize the repair so you know exactly what broke...

mine does that once in a while on hard accel... and has done it once in a while normal driving... side and rear light up... I dont pay too much attention to it... I just figured it was having a 'hiccup' .. but if it falses 500 times... man.. that would annoy the HELL out of me...

Ill be in Overland Park week of 9/10 Doubletree hotel there...