My Valentine One radar detector is acting up on me. When I put it in my supercharged Z, it reads that I am getting hit with laser up front, almost non stop. This happens everywhere wheather I am out in the sticks, or in the city or on the highway. Normally I would think it would be just the radar detector, but I put it im my Formula, and then tried it in my wife's Civic, and in the other cars it works fine. But once I put it back in my Z it goes haywire on me again.

Does anyone else who has a supercharged F-body with this particular radar detector ever have any similar problems?

 

Maybe it's related to the MSD or something. Make sure it's getting clean power thru the cord, and if that's not the cause, then it could be RFI causing it.

 

no....and there is no way its coming from the car...


I have a V1 and a poocharger....and nothing, that and as I said it cant be the car.,...so I would send it back,the will fix it for free

 

Well it obviously works fine in other cars, so it's definitely related to his car. It could be a radiated or conducted disturbance disrupting the detector. The underhood of a car is a harsh electromagnetic environment. Impulses from the ignition, motors, injectors, relays, etc could very well be too much interference for the detector. You can try rerouting power lines and see if it helps out. Try contacting Valentine about the issue. They may be able to help you out. I'm sure this isn't the first time it's happened.

 

Yeah, thats really the next step I think as well. I will try to contact Valentine One, and ask them about this issue.

It still baffles me how something from my SC setup might cause this, but everything worked fine while I was N/A. And now the thing shows me getting hit with Laser from the front almost non stop. It seems to detect radar accuratly still though. Anyways, I'll contact V1 and let everyone know how it turns out.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

I doubt it has anything to do directly with the SC setup. There's no reason why it should. It's more likely something (like wiring) got disrupted during the install, or something just coincidentally started acting up around the same time.

 

Even though I agree with your reasoning completely, I can't hide the fact that when the radar detector is put in other cars it performs flawlessly, and then when its put back in my Camaro it acts up again.

I plan on talking with the customer service people at V1 tomorrow.

 

What's really strange is that the laser is going off... I mean, I can see electro-magnetic interference setting off one of the radar bands (especially Ka), but laser??? Weird.

 

another V1-D1 combo checkin in...everything is FINE here

 

The RF is most likely being misinterpreted as a logic signal by the processor. Magnetic fields can induce voltages on the PCB that can be in excess of logic thresholds. So while there isn't any real laser signal present, the induced voltage on the circuit "fools" the processor into believing a laser signal has been detected.

 

See, you should of put spray on your car like me....amateurs.

 

Just got done talking with the tech at V1. It sounds like I have an older model that may be suspect to more interference than the later V1 models that came out after 2002. I can upgrade mine to the newer one, but it will cost $185!

I need to find out if it is coming through the electrical system from the power source or if it is radiating from the car. If it is just radiating from my Z, then they can add aditional sheilding in the detector for me that should eliminate the false laser reading, otherwise, looks like I will be needing to upgrade.

 

Well you could experiment with putting an electrolytic cap with maybe a smaller ceramic cap in parallel across the power leads or cigarette lighter socket or you could try powering the V1 off an external battery to eliminate the line noise. You could put the caps near the power leads of the MSD if you suspect that is causing conducted emissions. Otherwise you need some copper or aluminum foil on the inside or outside of the plastic case of the V1 and grounded in one place. Modern devices like cell phones & cameras have a conductive copper spray coating on the inside to prevent anything from coming in or leaving the enclosure.

 

I second that idea.

 

what about in another car right next to the camaro