V1 electrical glitches on BMW

[danham]

My Valentine has been working perfectly both in my car and on my bike, except for one problem on the bike: lots of alternator & ignition noise in the earphones I have plugged into the Remote Audio Adapter.

So I re-arranged things and got rid of 99 percent of the interference. I moved the direct-wire power adapter and the remote unit to a new spot under the fairing/false tank on my BMW F800 ST and thereby shortened the audio cables by a lot and ran them farther away from the ignition coils and fuel injection computer.

But now I get some very strange behavior from the V1. With the engine off, the V1 starts up with a proper test sequence and appears normal. Same at idle. But at anything above about 4000 rpm if I put my finger over the light sensor, as you might while adjusting the volume, I get a rear laser false every time. Drop down to idle or shut the engine off and no such problem.

I tried disconnecting the remote audio box and powering the V1 directly and it behaves the same way. I tried moving the remote and direct power boxes away from possible interference sources, though there isn't a whole lot of room in there, and saw no difference. The V1 still works properly in my car.

So two questions: 1) any ideas or suggestions, and 2) what are the odds that the V1 will function properly at 4000 rpm on the road. Am I asking to get ambushed by K or Ka, for example?

Thanks,

-dan

[PMoth]

That's pretty wild. Your Beemer doesn't have an LCD display does it? Also, if you could post a pic of the install, just the radar detector's location, that would be very helpful. How much cable do you have left where it plugs into the V1? Is it possible to remove the V1 from it's mount, while it is still connected to the cable and powered on, and repeat the test?

[danham]

Thanks for the reply. To answer your questions:

Yes, there's an LCD screen fairly nearby -- a zumo 660 GPS. I'll try turning it off and test again, but with the V1 and zumo mounted in their old, admittedly farther apart locations, there was no issue.

The V1's springy cord allows me to lift it way off the magnetic RAM mount where it lives on the handlebars near the clutch lever, so I have already tried that test. No change in behavior.

Here's the setup before I moved the remote audio box:

v1bmw.jpg

-dan

[danham]

UPDATE: Took a long ride today to test and the V1 seems to be working properly on K, Ka and X (rare here), so I'm slowly beginning to trust it despite the weird finger-push laser false syndrome.

However, having already slowed for a notorious laser trap that is often set up on Rt. 6, sure enough a Statie came sprinting across the grass of the rest area, laser gun in hand, and pointed with his finger at a car behind me and motioned it into the rest area. So that means he was shooting at us before we saw him (conditions are perfect for this, hence the trap being there so often). My V1 never let out a peep. Now I know laser is a different situation than radar, and in the past I have sometimes gotten alerts in this location, sometimes not, but this has me a little worried.

-dan

[PMoth]

I know the V1s will false laser like crazy if certain LCD screens are directed towards them. Also, if you have on a particular color shirt or a reflective vest/reflective material, it may also cause falsing. Where is the ground located for the accessories? Is the wire 20 awg or larger? I always ground to the battery on motorcycles. You may also want to ensure the battery terminals are clean and tightly secure for both power and ground. All of this will help to minimize any extra electrical noise in the system. If the power and ground are clean/sufficient, and the LCD screen is not causing the issue, I would then suspect interference induced into the V1 power line from some other source. Finding this can be tedious. I'll throw out anything else that come to mind when I think of it.

Regarding the laser detection, if the statie were aiming anywhere near you, you would have detected him. My guess is that he just aimed at the vehicle behind you. Depending on his distance away from you, and the gun he used (LTI Ultralyte or TruSpeed), you would not be able to detect it unless he aimed at you.

Seeing how you live in MA, once you solve your V1 woes, I'd highly suggest investing in a Laser Interceptor for your Beemer. MA is ridiculous with their laser usage.

[danham]

Thank you very much for all the suggestions.

I wear a Hi-Viz jacket which may be playing a role here, and the LCD screen of the zumo may be a contributor, but the really odd thing remains that this does not happen except when the engine is at 3500 rpm or more, plus the finger near or covering the light sensor for dimming the display (not the rear laser sensor).

That leads me to conclude it's electro-magnetic junk getting in through the cord or wires. I have a Centech fuse panel with a common ground bus, connected via a short, fat wire to the battery negative terminal. But the V1 ground wire could definitely be beefier, so that will be my next shot. I know that on my previous Audi the V1 would false on laser when I blew the horn. Turned out to be dirt in the horn plus a bad ground on the horn, adding up to large current draw, so that suggests supply issues can cause this problem too.

My experience in MA has been that K and Ka are 90 percent of the threats on back roads. Laser seems to live mainly on larger highways, the MA Pike being the heaviest use. I tend not to ride on big roads, as they are so much less fun than the twisties. Of course the only time I break that rule is when I need to make good time, so the V1 has to be ready and working properly [g].

-dan

[spankyaf]

I can get my Sti to false laser if I honk the horn or pin the throttle .... I scare myself all the time. I think it has something to do with the high level of amplification of the signal for the laser detection.

[danham]

Found this on a BMW sport touring forum. Most interesting. I won't be moving my V1 or disabling laser as the problem is infrequent, but good to know what the cause is likely to be:

OK, So I got the V1, but it gives a false Laser Alert when I honk my RT's horn?

I had the same problem with my V1 - when I honked the horn, I would get a laser alert. I also got a laser alert at certain rpm's combined with certain engine loads - it was not a consistent thing, but I did determine that the engine was causing the false alerts.

I called V1 tech support and spent a lot of time with those guys. What we determined is that the the V1 is too close to sources of electrical disturbance, so the guy told me to move it - yeah right, its on a bike.

Apparently, the laser "antenna" on the V1 does not actually sense a laser light beam, it senses electronic pulses that are within a certain range of frequencies. It just so happens that your RT's horn and your motronic ignition can put out pulses that are within the range. Therefore the laser detector goes ape-**** all the time.

[PMoth]

Nice to know the cause or potential cause of this issue.

[danham]

The saga continues . . .

I've always thought the Remote Audio Adapter I bought new from Valentine two years ago was a little flaky. Specifically from day one its muting behavior has been inconsistent, sometimes acting like auto-mute and sometimes refusing to mute, other times muting properly. Today it started a new trick that is totally unacceptable, so I have ordered a new one.

I lost all but muted sound during a medium-length ride today. Long story short, I can reproduce the problem every time by turning off the V1 and adapter numerous times. In other words, turn the V1 off then back on more than two or three times (as I did when fueling on my trip today) and the V1 goes into permanent mute. Plus the mute volume is at minimum, not adjustable by the V1 or the RAA's controls. Turn off the RAA or disconnect it from 12v power and it works again, temporarily. Disconnect the RAA altogether and the V1 works fine. Tried several phone cords just in case and cleaned all the contacts in the phone cord sockets on all devices: V1, in-line power adapter, RA adapter.

I don't see any provision for repairing a RA adapter, nor can I find any warranty info about them on Valentine's site, but I assume after two years it's on my nickel now. Assuming a minimum charge for diagnosis etc., I figured I'd just buy a new one for $49.

Thoughts, suggestions?

-dan