radar?

[97V8SHO]

Hi guys I'm wanting to put a radar detector in my SHO and my cigaret plug isn't in the best of all places. So I was wondering how you guys hooked yours up or if there's a way to hook up an extra cigaret plug. I don't use mine and never will. What brand of Radar do you use? I'm looking into the K40 but I dunno if it's the best on the market as they cliam it to be.

Thanx for your help

 

[s9h9o]

i hate to say it -- at V8sho.com there is instructions to hard wire your accessories .

 

[99V8SHO]

Do a search for radar detectors and you will see there are many threads dedicated to radar detectors.

 

[Shoaz]

I have both the SHO and my truck hardwired for their respective radar detecors. The instructions on v8sho.com are as good as any.

I ran the power connection under the headliner along the top of the windshield and down the A-pillar to the fuse box in both cases. Pick a fuse that turns on when the key is turned, like the radio, and wire to that. If your power cord has an in-line fuse, it is best to wire to the hot side of the fuse. If it doesn't, you can wire to the load side of the fuse, but the new accessory will add to the load budget of the fuse, i.e., you'll always be that much closer to blowing the fuse. Since most fuses have a fair amount of margin in them and radar detectors don't draw much current, this usually isn't a big deal.

Hope that helps a tad.

 

[MIKEBSHO]

K40 is the best out. I'd get the for sure.

 

[Tunez]

Radar detecters can gurantee you one thing for sure, a ticket. They will not respond to 90% of todays radars unless a brain dead Officer is running it. Most of the Officers that have them now only turn them on when they have a car fast enough to even cite in the first place. They will turn on and clock instantly and then lock you into that speed. The other thing that is bad that just seeing a radar detector in your car tells the Officer that you are definitly trying to speed and most will give you a ticket just because of that.

IMHO, I would say, don't waste your money. If you get pulled do these things.

1 - Immediatly signal to show that you are going to pull over. (Let's the Officer know you are not running.)

2 - If you have tinted windows, make sure to roll them down unless it is too cold or raining or something. (Let's them see that you have nothing to hide.)

3 - Turn on your interior lights if it is dark. (Once again, put's them at ease because they can see everything.

4 - Do not reach, move, or grab for anything until you are told to do so. (Keeps it from looking like you are hiding something or grabbing a gun or something.)

5 - Keep your hands on your steering wheel. (See 4 above.)

6 - This is probably the MOST important of all.... BE NICE and DON'T LIE!!! We are not stupid and don't pull you for made up reasons. Most Officers are SOOOO used to people being ***** when you pull them that it is nice to have someone actually be nice.

95% of the people who are truly nice usually pull away from me ticket free. The rest is just a bonus that unless they were doing some NUTS, they will go home ticket free.

Does all of that gurantee no ticket for you??? No, but you stand a better chance than you would with a radar detecter in your car.

 

[Dr. Tweak]

Agreed, when we cruise around the only time we have our radar on is when we see a car moving right along. Switch on, switch off.

The only thing a radar detector is going to do is tell you that you just got toasted... unless you're driving near the limit in which case all it will tell you is you almost just got toasted.

Best thing to avoid getting picked up? Besides what was mentioned above when you do get pulled over, use your eyes. Chances are the officer won't lock on to you until he sees you, which means you have an equal opportunety to see him and get on those brakes. I hope you have the '96 upgrade...

Just don't speed. shrug (yeah, right.) slap

 

[MIKEBSHO]

Thats the beauty of the K40. It detects your computers not your radars. They say almost 99% effective.

 

[97V8SHO]

Yup like mike siad they detect your comp and they tell wich direction you're coming from. Granet it's $300 but hey I don't care anything to give me a chance. My record can't hendle another ticket because I'm on 3month probation for a BS wreckless driving ticket. I just explianed to the judge what happend and she siad that it was BS too so I went on a standard 3month prob for it. The cop that pulled me over is a huge dick and everyone I know hates him. But don't take this the wrong way because I like cops and most of you guys are nice like the other cop that pulled me over when I had my 2000 Cougar. I was doing 120 in a 60 and he let me off with just 26 over so i was happy about that one even though it cost me $285

 

[JSIL1]

I moven mine to the lower right swing panel. This allows me to have my lighter lower in the car, (i don't smoke in my car) and it still allows me to open the panel to get to the wiring (when i put a system in. you can check it out at http://www.sounddomain.com/id/ill_sho Go to page 2.
Hope this helps

 

[venom]

MIKEBSHO:
Thats the beauty of the K40. It detects your computers not your radars. They say almost 99% effective.

And that my friend is your "introduction to marketing". The K40 does NOTHING special, just like the Rocky Mountain Radar crap which is mostly eyewash and marketing.

I am not a member of law enforcement personell, but I will say this, that an intelligent post of Highway patrolmen (or locals) that know how to properly use their radios and their instant on radar could pick your or me off in an instant (pun intended).

But the reality is that VERY FEW officers out there know how to optimize their RADAR operations. The number of times a week I pick up a car with the instant on left on driving down the road (where my BEL sniffs them out almost a minute before we meet each other so that is almost 2 miles at highway speeds) is countless.

Also I have a Uniden Beartracker BCT-12 in my car, it detects the repeated radio broadcasts by State Patrol cars and detects these up to 3 miles away (I get about 2 miles or so on my setup).

Even with all of that, if they are smart and know how to use thier equipment and the truckers on the CB don't alert me either then well they got me and there isn't anything I can do about it. I often run into areas where the State patrol posts are intelligent enough to not use the repeated frequencies that my beartracker tells me about, and some are just the opposite.

If you want a good detector (they can help you if you learn how to use them) I suggest you go pickup a BEL, and you can shave off some of the extra features and still get the same radar detection as the same platform is usually offered loaded with features and trimmed down as well in creature features, I don't really care about creature features except one (voltage display) I also don't care about VG-2 either. Any of their Vector Series (starting with the 740) are great detectors for the money. You want to spend money to get the best you can, then I would look at the new BEL RX series, or quit messing around and get a remote installed unit. In recent caravan's with other's on this forum whihc were carryin the VAL1 there was nothing in detection performance that I saw as we were in communication on FRS.

As far as connections. Connect it to the Turn signal fuse as this is a clean noise free circuit which is switched on with the key. My detector resides right above the rear-view with the power wire going up the A pillar and across the headliner. Unless you look specificially up that high from outside you won't even see it there.

MIKEBSHO:
Thats the beauty of the K40. It detects your computers not your radars. They say almost 99% effective.

 

[stephen newberg]

"And that my friend is your "introduction to marketing". The K40 does NOTHING special"

"But the reality is that VERY FEW officers out there know how to optimize their RADAR operations. The number of times a week I pick up a car with the instant on left on driving down the road (where my BEL sniffs them out almost a minute before we meet each other so that is almost 2 miles at highway speeds) is countless."

In both instances, and with no offense intended to our two posters previous that appear to be police officers, I think Venom is correct.

The detectors that claim to be detecting the radar computer are not doing any such thing, but are simply trying to get the lower power sidelob outputs of the klystron that generates the initial radar signal and is powered up whenever the radar set is on and warm, even if it is not transmitting intentionally.

And it is most certainly true that in almost every place that I have been, more radar cars run down the road with the system just left on than not. However, even if they patrol officer is cycling the system on and off, if you are running a high quality detector that is sensitive enough to pick up a bit of OTH backscatter, and many are these days, since you get bounce off of anything metal around the road (signs, other cars, etc.), your detector can often get a warning as the patrol car turns its system on and then off again for someone ahead of you.

However, it is also certainly correct that it is just as good a thing to keep your eyes open and do not drive recklessly in the first place. Most locals will not even consider you if you are only over the limit a reasonable amount and not driving in some obviously dangerous way. But weave in and out of traffic at high speed and you will deserve the ticket that you will hopefully get. Serious high speed driving, which I certainly do as much as most, should be reserved for good weather conditions on good quality roads when there is little or no traffic. Do that, and you do not need a radar detector to keep from getting written up.

pax, smn

PS: 23+ years of going very fast since my last speeding ticket, and knocking on wood right now.

 

[97V8SHO]

So is BEL better then? I'm lookin to spend no more than $300 on a detector so if the RX is around that I might buy it. I know they wont garentee no tickets like everyone has been saying but they at least give a chance, and that's all I need/want.

Is this one of the better ones that BEL makes? http://www.beltronics.com/vector960.html

<small>[ December 12, 2003, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: 97V8SHO ]</small>

 

[SHOZ123]

VAL 1 is the best. Won't get one for $300 though.

 

[97V8SHO]

Where can I find the VAL 1 detector and how much does it cost? I found the BEL V985 for $300 at circuit city. Is this a pretty good detector for the $$?

 

[SHOZ123]

Unless you can find a used one someone is selling (highly unlikely) The only place is www.valentine1.com

 

[97V8SHO]

Thanx for your help shoz123. Do you by any chance know how far it detects to?

 

[venom]

97V8SHO:
So is BEL better then? I'm lookin to spend no more than $300 on a detector so if the RX is around that I might buy it. I know they wont garentee no tickets like everyone has been saying but they at least give a chance, and that's all I need/want.

Is this one of the better ones that BEL makes? http://www.beltronics.com/vector960.html

there are many that like their Val 1's and everyone has a product that they like. As far as radar sensitivity now a days The high end Bel and ****** (passport 8500) have every bit of sensitivity and generally better false alert rejection (based on my casual observations).

But Val 1 has the arrows so you know what direction the alert is coming from which would be useful from time to time IMHO. For the amount of money Val 1 wants you can get a remote installed unit, where you put a receiver antenna by the front plate and one in the rear and then you can park the display where ever you want (like below the ashtray comes to mind). By doing this the system can be installed to not be visible at all that you have a detector unless someone really knows what they are looking for.

Bel's new RX series has a remote unit as well, as does the Vector series AFAIK.

Again all info provide IMHO

 

[99V8SHO]

97V8SHO:
Thanx for your help shoz123. Do you by any chance know how far it detects to?

www.radartest.com

 

[stephen newberg]

"Do you by any chance know how far it detects to?"

From a technical standpoint, radar detection comes in two forms, direct path and scatter path. Direct path is very simple, it is line of sight. So the range for a direct detection is more or less dependent on how high up you are to increase your radar horizen by increasing the line of sight. Every detector out there, if given a direct line of sight, will pick things up from far further away than the radar itself will be able to reliably detect you. This is the basis of how all electronic counter measure situations come about. Since the energy that is going to be detected is subject to the inverse square law, a lot more of it gets to the target than gets reflected off the target and all the way back to the originating radar. With this simple bit of physics in mind, detection ranges always will be longer for units of greater sensitivity, other things being equal.

So, your question comes down to sensitivity numbers, and miles and such sort of drop out, particularly when considering direct path. Look in the specs and buy the radar detector with the best sensitivity numbers you can afford, and it will in general produce the longest range possible for detection with line of site considerations for direct path.

Indirect path, or back scatter detection is considerably more complex, since it depends on reflections of much smaller amounts of energy that bounce around to where there is no line of sight. This is dependent on the frequency of the transmission, the range of frequency shift the receiver can pick up and make useful, and the luck of local terrain and atmospheric conditions. In general, you should never depend on a back scatter detection happening, just be happy when you get one. There are both radar and radar detection systems intentionally designed to take advantage of back scatter effects. The Russians lead the way in research for such systems decades ago and base theirs on troposphere scatter. But these are in general large, military systems, with high power requirements and the need for a lot of on board computation to match simulations to actual detection input. Regardless, even with chance back scatter, such as you will get off of a commercial radar detector, the sensitivity of the receiver and its bandpass width are the critical items, in the same way as for direct path detection. So if you buy on the basis of sensitivity numbers, you will likely get the best results you can afford for back scatter detection also.

Looking back over that, it was a touch technical. If you want further explaination, feel free to email me.

pax, smn