9500ci and STi Radar Antenna Horns

[RacerX]

Very cool.
do you know which wires are for what on the STI-r?

as in what color is power, etc, and what the others are for?
i suspect one sends a signal to the control box alerting to the band, but what is the other one for?

maybe since it has 2 horns, one wire is for each one, whereas the SR7 is 1 horn, thus 1 less wire maybe?

Reason i ask is the SR7 has 3 wires going to it's antenna, and i'm wanting to figure out which wires do what for each of them as i have an experiment in progress.

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[RanEnRui]

Is the STi-R still stealth? I'm not sure if the 'cloaking mechanics' may have some effect in the difference in performance/ramp up. I wouldn't think they should make a difference, but many of you swear there is a (large enough) difference, so I'm just brainstorming possible causes.

I'm getting more and more tempted by the days to install a RD unit in my car, such as the 9500ci or STi-R. I've heard glorious tales of the 9500ci, so it's very tempting!

[RacerX]

yes, it is still stealth.

yes, the ramp up difference is night and day.

i had dual STI-rs, and recently removed the front one and replaced it with a ci, for the ramp up reason alone.

both have excellent radar performance as well.

[crazyVOLVOrob]

Your not going to use your V1 anymore? I never thought you off all people would stop using their V1. Or are you doing a combo thing like erickonphoenix?
That would ruin your stealthness though.

In the next week or so I'll be finding out if i have been accepted to a grad school in Virginia so I need a stealth detector as I don't want to pay the $100 detector fine

[KnightHawk]

yes, it is still stealth.

yes, the ramp up difference is night and day.

i had dual STI-rs, and recently removed the front one and replaced it with a ci, for the ramp up reason alone.

both have excellent radar performance as well.

Glad to hear that RacerX. Looks like escort is listening to our complaints. Just wondered why Bel hasn't done the same thing. Hopefully, Bel will catch up too.

RacerX, where's the other STi-R now that you replaced?

[MEM-TEK]

Very cool.
do you know which wires are for what on the STI-r?

as in what color is power, etc, and what the others are for?
i suspect one sends a signal to the control box alerting to the band, but what is the other one for?

maybe since it has 2 horns, one wire is for each one, whereas the SR7 is 1 horn, thus 1 less wire maybe?

Reason i ask is the SR7 has 3 wires going to it's antenna, and i'm wanting to figure out which wires do what for each of them as i have an experiment in progress.

Unfortunately, aside from knowing that all four RJ-11 wires are connected to the boards inside the STi-R and 9500ci antennas, I don't have a clue as to what wire does what. Obviously two wires must be power and ground. One of Escort's engineers told me that serial communications are used between the 9500ci shifter heads and the 9500ci interface module. My guess is that this too is the case regarding information between the STi-R or 9500ci remote antennas and their respective interface modules. Thus, maybe, the other two wires are simple CTS, RTS wires? (Assuming I remember serial port pin labeling correctly.)

Is the STi-R still stealth? I'm not sure if the 'cloaking mechanics' may have some effect in the difference in performance/ramp up. I wouldn't think they should make a difference, but many of you swear there is a (large enough) difference, so I'm just brainstorming possible causes.

I'm getting more and more tempted by the days to install a RD unit in my car, such as the 9500ci or STi-R. I've heard glorious tales of the 9500ci, so it's very tempting!

The one thing which I have been assured of is that the STi-R and 9500ci antennas are just as stealth as the standard STi antenna. Yet obviously something is different in the remote systems compared to the dash mount STi since the remote systems have much better K band performance and supposedly have similar increased Ka band performance. One possibility which pops into my head is that, perhaps, the K-Ka band LNA is better? The K-Ka band LNA is extremely tiny, measuring roughly 2mm by 4mm tops. Maybe this is it -- I just don't know.

Anyway, I haven't fully completed my 9500ci install yet. The rear shifter is fully installed on my rear license plate, and its cable is neatly wire tied to my trunk lid, thence to the top underside of my trunk, and then ran to the front of the passenger cabin area. Likewise I have installed the GPS antenna underneath the center tail light and ran its wire similarly. The front shifters are fully installed, but I have temporarily routed its wires out the side of my front hood and then through the front passenger door. I have yet permanently mount the remote radar antenna and then run its cable plus the front shifter cables through the firewall to underneath my car's dash. Yet I have been taking photos of the installation progress. I am also going to list every installation tool which you will need, including a step drill bit, contact cement (used to seal all drilled holes to prevent corrosion), split wire loom wrap, et cetera.

The cool thing is that the 9500ci works just fine without the shifters attached even though you will get error messages upon power up. So you can temporarily mount its radar antenna atop your dash, temporarily attach a Radio Shack cigarette lighter plug to its power wires, use Velcro to temporarily attach its display and control modules. Thus you could temporarily use the 9500ci as a radar only detector while you carefully proceed with the jammer head installations when time permits.

This is what I did. If you are not very experienced at installing electronics in an automobile, then this is what I recommend since you can then focus on doing small individual installation steps one at a time and getting each step just right and to suit your tastes with regards to where everything is located. Even if you don't feel confident in tackling the entire installation yourself, at least you might feel confident in completing various parts of the installation and then letting a professional installer finish up with the parts of the installation which are beyond your expertise.

Of note, I do highly recommend the following with regards to the STi-R or the 9500ci:

-- Get a Radio Shack cigarette lighter adapter which you can quickly install on the power wires. Once this is hooked up to the STi-R or 9500ci power wires, you can then plug in everything else to perform a quick full system test in order to be sure that everything is working properly. There is no point in either installing everything else yourself or paying for a professional installation if by some chance a component isn't working properly. Its better to find a problem before all of the components are fully installed.

-- Take your time and figure out where you want each component to be installed. Then look at how you need to route all wires, where you will need to drill any holes, and what is behind the area where you plan to drill each hole.

-- Consider stopping by your car dealership and talking to one of their mechanics. He may be able to tell you where some "safe" areas are on your car where you can drill holes using a step drill bit without hitting anything critical. He may also be able to tell you any tricks about removing any dash panels or about how to remove your instrument cluster if you want to install the discreet remote power/alert LED.

-- All wiring under the hood should be placed inside flame retardant split loom tubing. This tubing protects the wires from engine heat, looks factory, and also protects the wires from excessive pinching when you use wire ties to secure the wire runs under the hood.

-- Make sure that the remote antenna wires and front shifter wires are not routed near ignition wires, the distributor, the horn, or the ignition coil or you might have problems due to RF interference. This applies for all jammer installations as well -- regardless of manufacturer.

-- All wiring under the hood should be out of the way so as not to interfere with regular maintenance of your car's engine.

[TSi+WRX]

-- Consider stopping by your car dealership and talking to one of their mechanics. He may be able to tell you where some "safe" areas are on your car where you can drill holes using a step drill bit without hitting anything critical. He may also be able to tell you any tricks about removing any dash panels or about how to remove your instrument cluster if you want to install the discreet remote power/alert LED.

Depending on what dealership - and their attitude towards modifications, this may be a very good thing to do, or VERY, VERY, VERY bad.

Although laws exist to protect vehicle owners from unfair dealership/manufacturer warranty practices, many will still put up a huge fight if they know/see that your vehicle has been modified. A detector install could cause trouble in several worrisome areas, such as wiring, and may cause you to lose warranty coverage/claims - or at least generate a lot of trouble -for certain components that are in physical proximity to your wiretaps and/or are in-line to such circuits.

Be careful on "checking with the dealership" on this one.

Instead, I would recommend an independent mechanic's shop or specialized installation shop, or, alternatively (and even better yet), your specific vehicle's on-line support/hobbyist community, and/or pop in to your local library, and ask a reference librarian (yes, such individuals still exist!) to help you locate a service manual for your vehicle.

-- Make sure that the remote antenna wires and front shifter wires are not routed near ignition wires, the distributor, the horn, or the ignition coil or you might have problems due to RF interference. This applies for all jammer installations as well -- regardless of manufacturer.

Very good point -

Not only is this important for proper jammer function, but in the larger scheme of things, this is also extremely important for proper function of your VEHICLE !

Modern vehicles are a nest of complicated electrical wiring and computing. Unaccounted for interference from ancillary devices can literally cripple your car.

Great post, MEM !

[RacerX]

Glad to hear that RacerX. Looks like escort is listening to our complaints. Just wondered why Bel hasn't done the same thing. Hopefully, Bel will catch up too.

RacerX, where's the other STi-R now that you replaced?

Yeah, the ci could use one more "stage" past 3/4 ramp up. from there to full ramp up it is pretty much the same, but it works. At least on the low to mid end i can judge by ramp up.

the SR7 ramp up spoiled me big time.

On the STi-r i would run it in tec mode and watch the strength in numbers to guage distances.

The still "new, but a couple month used" Sti-r will probably be sold, along with 1 more NIB still shrink wrapped i have.



MEM-TEK,
thanks for the info. even if i figured out which does what, i suspect my idea may not work due to that communication.

[RacerX]

got to use them on a road trip this weekend.
not sure what to think of the ka ramp up on the ci.
it seems like it almost starts off full blast, then ramps down a bit.
both k and ka still fall flat over 3/4.
On the STi-r the only way to judge distance is to look at the display.

range was great on both.
there was a moving ka unit a couple miles behind me, and the sti-r (rear unit) would pick it up around 2-5 on the strength meter, and when it got to 4-5 the front ci would start picking it up consistently.

i don't know which band it was, since i can't run either unit in spec mode since i need to use the displays to judge strength still.
it was either 35.5 or 34.7, that i know.

had a pretty good off axis detection with the ci as well. approaching a corner and started picking up ka (probably 35.5) shortly after that as i was then approaching an intersection when the patrol car was approaching to my left. perpendicular.
the thing was, he was coming from an underpass that dips down pretty good, and is blocked by quite a bit of concrete.

either way k and ka performance so far seems very good on both, it's dealing with the ramp ups.
I wish both would go to the SR7 style alerts, those were great.
i'm seriously thinking of giving up some of the rear performance and switching the STi-r back for my SR7, just to get smooth alerts on the back again.........
i'll lose some k and ka range, but it is the back antenna, no big deal.

maybe i'll add a ramp up video to my to do list if enough people want to see it.

[o2bad455]

Just a quick post of some interesting stuff I found while comparing my 9500ci's horn assembly to my STi's horn assembly . . . Note that the horn castings used in the 9500ci, STi-R and STi are identical . . . You can see that the STi features a predominantly downward flared horn. The 9500ci and STi-R horn assemblies are oriented identically to a STi horn assembly when the serial number sticker on the 9500ci or STi-R case is on top.

Good stuff. Who knows whether the informal 9500ci sensitivity tests were done with stickers up or down? Has anyone tested STi sensitivity when inverted? Based on your investigation, I don't see any reason why BelScort wouldn't be able to directly apply whatever was tweaked for the STi-R and 9500ci to the STi, since same platform (M3?). Think it might just be firmware? To answer your question: yes, I'd spring for an STi-R and mount it high and inside if it had modular wiring (and improved audio ramp-up). I'd also be ecstatic with an STi non-remote if I could get that kind of sensitivity out of it. I just upped my warranty in hopes that they'll offer such an upgrade.