repair time and process

[dpatel01]

For those of you that have sent in your RDs to Belscort, what is the process and how long have you had to wait to get your RDs back?
It looks like my V955 will have to be sent in as it is falsing erratically on POP when POP is enabled, causing alert after alert every 2-5 seconds. (usually I keep POP off, enable it when I go to areas where I believe POP is in use.) Had the same problem few months ago which was solved by getting a new cord but I don't want to have to go through new power cords every 3 months. Tried cord and RD in a different vehicle too, problem persists so I've ruled out the cars electrical system.

[BlinderGuy]

I have sent 2 rds in to Belronics in the last month for tune-ups and it took 7 for one and 10 for the other. The difference in amount of time was because one only needed firmware flash and the other needed antenna replaced.

[djrams80]

I sent my 9500i in twice and it took 8 and 10 days.

[StandingCow]

Mine is in now, Standard UPS ground so it should arrive on wed.

Driving without it is torture.

[passlabs]

Mine is in to needed tuneup. Called today lady said its with the tech. Hope to get it back soon miss the beeping. Question do they send it back U.P.S. or fedex anybody know?

[MEM-TEK]

Mine is in to needed tuneup. Called today lady said its with the tech. Hope to get it back soon miss the beeping. Question do they send it back U.P.S. or fedex anybody know?

It always comes back via UPS as far as I know.

[dpatel01]

update: got repair authorization from Dave at Bel CS this afternoon, ordered 2 year extended service plan too while I was on the phone.

During my drive home this evening, I left pop enabled, but no falsing like it had been doing past few days. Only thing different this evening was that the outside temperature had warmed up to around 65 after a few days of near freezing temperatures. Thinking back to when it had the same pop falsing problem in January, the weather was cold at that time too.

If ambient temperature isn't the culprit can anyone think of a reason why it would only go insane on pop when the RD goes from being in room temperature to a cold windshield? Even on cooler days the falsing shuts up after warming up for a few minutes.

Might hang on to RD for few days, hopefully the outside air temperature will vary enough for me to keep testing temperature effects.

[MEM-TEK]

Probably the horn ridge to LO board microstrip solder bead contact. Belscort, like the rest of the electronics industry, has switched to a RoHS compliant (lead free) manufacturing process. I had a similar problem on my 9500i after I fully disassembled it in order to photograph its internals. The tiny lead free solder bead was just too soft. I removed it, used the smallest jewelers screwdriver which I had to apply a tiny 1/2 millimeter wide dab of solder paste, and then used my lowest watt soldering iron to create a new lead solder bead. Lead solder is harder than lead free solder. This solved my 9500i's problem of continuous and random falsing.

The above is also why I have been an advocate for months that Belscort should use ThreeBond 1401B adhesive to secure the screws which secure the horn to the main circuit board. That way vibration and temperature changes can not cause the screws to eventually become a bit loose. Whistler, by the way, uses ThreeBond on their horn-to-board screws to prevent similar issues. Maybe Belscort will read this post and eventually decide that ThreeBond is a good idea. Of note, I applied ThreeBond on my V995, STi, 9500i very soon after getting each RD, and have allowed all three radar detectors to more or less continuously cycle through temperature extremes of 5 to 100 degrees F. Not one darned problem so far for me. Note that if the detector(s) was very hot, then I let it cool off before powering it up in order to avoid any possibility of electronics damage due to overheating.

Well, thats my theory as to why your RD was falsing at colder temperatures as well as my thoughts as to what Belscort should be doing during the assembly process.

[BlinderGuy]

Somebody knows an awful lot about radar detectors!!!

Probably the horn ridge to LO board microstrip solder bead contact. Belscort, like the rest of the electronics industry, has switched to a RoHS compliant (lead free) manufacturing process. I had a similar problem on my 9500i after I fully disassembled it in order to photograph its internals. The tiny lead free solder bead was just too soft. I removed it, used the smallest jewelers screwdriver which I had to apply a tiny 1/2 millimeter wide dab of solder paste, and then used my lowest watt soldering iron to create a new lead solder bead. Lead solder is harder than lead free solder. This solved my 9500i's problem of continuous and random falsing.

The above is also why I have been an advocate for months that Belscort should use ThreeBond 1401B adhesive to secure the screws which secure the horn to the main circuit board. That way vibration and temperature changes can not cause the screws to eventually become a bit loose. Whistler, by the way, uses ThreeBond on their horn-to-board screws to prevent similar issues. Maybe Belscort will read this post and eventually decide that ThreeBond is a good idea. Of note, I applied ThreeBond on my V995, STi, 9500i very soon after getting each RD, and have allowed all three radar detectors to more or less continuously cycle through temperature extremes of 5 to 100 degrees F. Not one darned problem so far for me. Note that if the detector(s) was very hot, then I let it cool off before powering it up in order to avoid any possibility of electronics damage due to overheating.

Well, thats my theory as to why your RD was falsing at colder temperatures as well as my thoughts as to what Belscort should be doing during the assembly process.

[MEM-TEK]

Somebody knows an awful lot about radar detectors!!!

Simple. Encounter the problem. Look, look and then look again to figure out what possibly could be causing the problem. I obviously realized that my 9500i's problem had to be something really dirt simple since I was meticulous when I took it apart and when I reassembled it. Then try to fix it and if the fix works, then obviously you found the problem. Sometimes a problem isn't something which a Belscort repair tech will see even after leaving a RD powered up for 20 minutes on the bench. Here is an example of this:

My usual luck -- I get probably the one and only STi which, due to too much heat from a soldering iron for the ribbon to LED display pins, managed to burn a tiny hole through the insulating tape applied to the back of the circuit board which supports the LED display and the photocell. No problems for the first 7 months of use. Then one day while my STi is alerting the display goes blank. I figured that it simply was the LED display ribbon connector where it plugs into the main circuit board since tapping on the STi case made the display come back on. I released the plug's retainer for the ribbon, reseated the end of the ribbon in the connector, and then re-engaged the retainer for the ribbon. Great -- worked for one day, then the same problem again and yet again tapping fixed it. I then suspected a cold solder joint either where the ribbon is soldered to the back of the LED display or where the connector is soldered to the circuit board. I reflowed these solder connections. Great -- worked for two days and then the same problem again. Finally I determined that the back of the ribbon, which is metalized, was shorting through a tiny hole in the insulating tape which covers the back of the circuit board behind the LED display. I cut and inserted a piece of acetate film between the back of the ribbon and the back side of the circuit board, secured the film in place with a couple of tiny dabs of contact cement, and now the problem is finally fixed.

It took me a week to track down this problem. I sent an email with photos to Belscort which were passed on to their manufacturing department. I simply suggested that instead of one layer of insulating tape that three layers of insulating tape be applied to the back of the circuit board behind the LED display. Thus no potential for short circuits whatsoever. Problem solved. My specific problem must have been less than one in a thousand since Dave at Escort CS (one of the most knowledgeable CS reps which I have talked to, and he knows just about everything) had never heard of this specific problem.

The point of the above is that many people have accused me of secretly being a Belscort employee. I am not. I also am not affiliated with Belscort in any fashion. Good God, if I had Jimbonzzz's knowledge about radar detectors combined with my own tinkering, then I guarantee that everyone would be accusing me of either working for or being affiliated with Belscort. Actually that would be kind of fun since I would be like a god here on this forum -- yet The Professor reigns supreme! He really does blow me away with his knowledge. It is beyond spooky how he can simply look a RD electronic circuit board design and immediately figure out how the darned thing was designed and how it works.

My conclusion? Jim is one of the final five Cylons.