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I had a last generation Passport 8500 which would give me false laser alerts every few minutes. I thought sure it was a problem with the detector, so I traded it in on a new 8500 X50. This morning I got two seemingly false laser alerts on that one, too. The only thing I can think of is that I have a small crack on my windshield and maybe it's refracting light into the detector? Or could it be a power issue? Would surges in power set off the laser alert?
Welcome.
my guess would be a power issue. some people have reported that honking their horn will even set off a laser alert.
i would check your wiring and maybe run it in voltage display mode for a while and keep an eye on what it says.
there's been some discussions around here lately about voltage and power issues affecting detectors.
maybe move it slightly to the side of that crack, "just in case" too.
Definitely a problem with the car. It went off five times in succession tonight on the way home. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it acted normally afterward. Now I need to figure out why this would suddenly start happening after using a Passport successfully for over a year in this car. :?
i had the same prob with mine when i had it. whenever i would roll down a window, step on the gas a little hard, etc etc, it would scream laser. however, when i hardwired it, it never did it. but whenever i use my V1 on its regular cord (not hardwired) it never falses laser, so its obviously something with the X50 and power supplies. good luck 8) .
I suppose I could hard wire it. It sits in the same place in the center of the dash, so the wire would be short and barely noticeable. But I really like having the mute button on the power cord. It's right under my hand when I want to mute the thing. With hard wiring, you lose that.
not necessarily, you can get the hardwire kit with the mute button and alert LED built in, you could put it right down there where you have it now :D
Not sure how that would work. I'd be running the wiring down the defrost vent and into the fuse box under the dash. Is the remote mute button on a separate wire I could run in from the center console?
This is my fourth Escort dating back decades. You'd think I'd know all this stuff by now.
Never mind. Dumb question. I just went to their site and saw the cord. If it's long enough, that just might work.
it should be plenty long.
sometimes those cig lighters can act up, and even though something looks plugged in, it isn't getting a good solid supply of voltage.
And like A-town said, you could put it where you want.
Quote:
Originally Posted by M_Six
3 foot from fuse panel to mute control and the 8ft from mute control to detector.
However, your problem with laser alerts is most commonly caused by either your distributor cap or plug wires.
Or maybe airports. As we went around the airport at Indianapolis today, the detector went nuts with non-stop laser warnings. As soon as we got away from the airport, it stopped. Then as we passed to the south of Terre Haute's airport, it went off again. This was in my wife's Honda. The other day in my car when it was going crazy, I was near Champaign's airport. Are airports using lasers for something? Traffic control, maybe?
Yes, it is the airports. I had a video of this once not sure where it is now. We have a radar just north of me for the airport and I have a hard time doing videos there because of the radar right off the highway. The RX-65 in my car, truck, or another truck goes off laser alert non-stop. It also does this on the X-50 in all 3 cars in the same area. But it does not affect my V-1 at all. Strange. But ask anyone that has an airport near and they will tell ya. Also I have gotten laser falses as far as 8 to 10 miles away from the radar source. Some flat areas and the radar is on a hill.Quote:
Originally Posted by M_Six
M,
Are your spark plug wires OK? I had a similar experience with many laser falses and I finally found an arcing spark plug wire. Worth looking into. Scott
The falses today were in my wife's Honda, not my BMW. So I'm leaning towards ruling out the car. I can test it further next week. I'll see if I get any laser falses in my BMW when I'm nowhere near the airport, and then drive near the airport to see if I get them there.
My Whistler 1730 gets no laser falses where my RX65 goes nuts (MidAmerica Airport). Sad thing is that the 1730 has far superior laser detection.Quote:
Originally Posted by outrun
Happened again tonight near the Champaign airport. This is going to be a pain. I live near an airport and I work near an airport. If this thing is going to go berserk for the beginning and end of my commute, I may send it back and get a V1.
May be what you have to do. My V-1 does not false at all in the airport areas or the toll booths. But the X-50 and Rx65 do.Quote:
Originally Posted by M_Six
The V1 guys are reporting similar problems. Maybe I'll just stick with what I know. :?