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Got my mirror today and just got back from a test drive. When the car is moving, it goes through power up every few seconds (blank, "GPS mirror ready"). Sometimes it may stay on for 30 or more seconds at a time (stays on when stopped) or, more rarely, stay off for several seconds. The red light on the cigar adapter always remains solid. The culprit appears to be the power connection to the mirror itself. When I jiggle or push it down, I can usually get it to go blank/power cycle. One odd thing is that the connector doesn't go all the way in (part of the metal cylinder is visible). I've used light to moderate force to make it go all the way in, but I don't want to excessively force it.
Any comments or suggestions are most welcome. I purchased the mirror at buyradardetectors.com
Got my mirror today and just got back from a test drive. When the car is moving, it goes through power up every few seconds (blank, "GPS mirror ready"). Sometimes it may stay on for 30 or more seconds at a time (stays on when stopped) or, more rarely, stay off for several seconds. The red light on the cigar adapter always remains solid. The culprit appears to be the power connection to the mirror itself. When I jiggle or even touch it, I can usually get it to go blank/power cycle. One odd thing is that the connector doesn't go all the way in (part of the metal cylinder is visible). I've used light to moderate force to make it go all the way in, but I don't want to excessively force it.
Any comments or suggestions are most welcome. I purchased the mirror at buyradardetectors.com
Mine power recycles sometimes too, when I go over bumps. But in my case, it's because I did a half-assed job connecting the ground wire to a screw under the dash during the hardwiring process.
Get Speed Cheetah to send you a new cable, so you can test if it's the cable or a bad adapter connection, cold solder, whatever, in the unit itself. They're usually pretty good about being responsive to customer issues, and they moderate this forum.
__________________
Valentine 1, Ver. 3.864 -- Mounted high on visor, hardwired, w/concealed display.
Cheetah GPS Mirror -- With Valentine RD1 Interface, hardwired.
Dual-Head Laser Interceptor.
Next up -- Two LI slims for the back.
Thanks for the suggestion. If Ally doesn't see this, I'll shoot Cheetah an email before Monday.
In my case, it seems that the slightest imperfection on the road causes this.
I'm curious, does your power plug go all the way into the mirror's socket?
No, and it's always weirded me out that it was designed that way. That, and if I don't slide the mirror all the way to the left, where it's attached to my stock rearview, I can see a stupid looking beam of light shine through from the back, that distracts and disrupts my view.
I still like it, though. Can't stand driving a car with a normal rearview mirror; I feel like I'm looking down a tunnel and a cop is going to sneak up in my blindspot. Stupid cops.
Oh, and it saved my ass today in SE Portland from a very well hidden redlight camera on Grand Ave.
__________________
Valentine 1, Ver. 3.864 -- Mounted high on visor, hardwired, w/concealed display.
Cheetah GPS Mirror -- With Valentine RD1 Interface, hardwired.
Dual-Head Laser Interceptor.
Next up -- Two LI slims for the back.
Last edited by Venusian_Artist; 08-23-2008 at 01:33 AM..
No, and it's always weirded me out that it was designed that way.
Mine also doesn't go all the way in.
It never really bothered me, though....but maybe that's just because I've had too many other devices that are the same way.
Having it go all the way in would be nice.
But to answer epsilon's concern:
My car's not the smoothest riding. She's got summer tires, with rather low-profile sidewalls to-boot, and also some minor suspension modifications.
One of my local roads, despite the fact that NE-Ohio's metro roadways are well known for their state of disrepair, actually displays the "Rough Road" warning sign.
And yes, I still tackle this road at full-speed.
That said:
I've never had a problem with my GPS-Mirror, doing this little trick.
I'd definitely contact the Cheetah team, and get this sorted out.
Quote:
That, and if I don't slide the mirror all the way to the left, where it's attached to my stock rearview, I can see a stupid looking beam of light shine through from the back, that distracts and disrupts my view.
For some of us with "bigger" mirrors, this problem is a little bigger ( sorry for the wording! )....
I've added a self-trimmed strip of plastic to cosmetically conceal what would otherwise be an approx. 1/8 (edges) to 1/4 (center) inch "band" across the top of the GPS Mirror, where the underlying mirror surface of my factory interior rearview "peeks-through." Pretty much, my mirror is just too big.
This isn't just a problem on both of our cars (both Subarus, both with the factory autodimming and compass feature), but on many others as well. It was also a part of the reason why Agent R8 did not select the Cheetah GPS-Mirror for his vehicle, too.
I mentioned this in my review of the GPS-Mirror a while back, and although I would like to see some kind of evolutionary improvement made in this respect, I also well know that it's likely not going to be possible, as this mirror is made to be "one-size-fits-all," and that, in and of itself, will require some compromise when your mirror is one of the outliers.
__________________ - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges
I've used light to moderate force to make it go all the way in, but I don't want to excessively force it.
Never a good idea with electronics - they never respond well to it. I prefer harsh language but that never seems to work for me either!
Quote:
Originally Posted by epsilon
One odd thing is that the connector doesn't go all the way in (part of the metal cylinder is visible).
That's my own pet hate too.
It definitely sounds like there is an issue there, please PM RacerX or myself with your address and we'll ship you a new power cord. If that doesn't sort you, we'll replace the detector under warranty. It shouldn't be doing what you're describing.
One of my local roads, despite the fact that NE-Ohio's metro roadways are well known for their state of disrepair, actually displays the "Rough Road" warning sign. And yes, I still tackle this road at full-speed.
You drive a car that wins World Rally Championships - it's capable of eating your roads.
^ Mcrae's flip - and recovery - was *amazing*. I saw that "live" on TV - I wish I'd have been there, though.
Anna loved the replays, as she didn't understand the "live" event, but I could explain it to her during the replays, and she got a total kick out of that.
---
Hey, my car is a nice sedate family car! I'm the Legacy!
The wifey's the racy WRX!
I'm an old man!
__________________ - Allen / Usual Suspect "DumboRAT" / One of the Three Stooges
PM me your details.
I want to swap out both actually.
the power cord doesn't sit flush, and forcing it may have done something to the mirror as well.
I'd rather swap out both and be sure the issue is resolved the first time.
Thank you all very much for the replies and useful information. Cheetah seems to be a solid company with great customer support.
First an update about my second trip using the mirror last night. Bumps on the road does seem to be an incidental cause. I turned on the car and the mirror powered up normally. I had to run back in the house to get something I forgot and, when I came back to the car, the mirror was off. Played with it a bit and it came back on. During the trip, it would stay off for longer periods of time (highway driving, mostly smooth road surface). I am confident this will be resolved, however I noticed another thing that I'm not sure I can live with. Every few miles, the mirror would gradually lower itself and I would have to readjust it. Now, my 03 WRX with all its suspension mods probably rides harsher than an STi. Unless there is a way to stiffen the stock mirror, it seems to me that I should try to return the GPSmirror to buyradardetectors and wait for the C100 to come out.
Which leads me to the next question: I have an RDI for the V1 on the way. Will I be able to use that with the C100, or will I have to return that too?
Again, thank you much for all the timely support.
ETA: I did not try to push the connector down before I experienced this problem.
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GPSmirror keeps powecycling 
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