Sunlight causing 9500i laser to go off.

This evening I decided to take a late afternoon drive along one of the major roadways to see if I would get some hits with my 9500i. The sun was setting at my 1 o’clock position as I was driving west. Almost the entire time the laser warning was going off due to the setting sun. I had to mute it until I turned back east to get it to stop. I guess the conditions were just right to set it off. I have the RD mounted almost level with my mirror in my Tahoe. Is this normal with the 9500i? I had my old Whistler Pro-73 on the dash but it was quite the entire time, no laser hits. This was probably due to it being mounted lower.

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Originally Posted by Wise87

This evening I decided to take a late afternoon drive along one of the major roadways to see if I would get some hits with my 9500i. The sun was setting at my 1 o’clock position as I was driving west. Almost the entire time the laser warning was going off due to the setting sun. I had to mute it until I turned back east to get it to stop. I guess the conditions were just right to set it off. I have the RD mounted almost level with my mirror in my Tahoe. Is this normal with the 9500i? I had my old Whistler Pro-73 on the dash but it was quite the entire time, no laser hits. This was probably due to it being mounted lower.

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How sure are you it was the sun? Most RD manufactures especialy belscort do all kinds of filtering to the IR sensor to keep non-IR light such as the sun out.
It's known that some cars noisy electrical system can trigger false laser alerts too but if that doesn't usualy happen to you then you should send it in to escort for a check up.

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Originally Posted by dodgesrt4driver

How sure are you it was the sun? Most RD manufactures especialy belscort do all kinds of filtering to the IR sensor to keep non-IR light such as the sun out.
It's known that some cars noisy electrical system can trigger false laser alerts too but if that doesn't usualy happen to you then you should send it in to escort for a check up.

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true - my father sometimes has this happen in his new GMC truck

Hi RadarKid,

Stuff to check...

-- Is your 9500i vibrating up and down while you are driving? If so, then the vibration combined with the IR from sunlight can cause false laser alerts. What is happening is the vibration causes the sun's IR intensity to fluctuate as the sun's IR passes into the laser sensor. I permanently attached my RD brackets to my windshield using 3M superlock fasteners. My RDs don't vibrate at all now, and the only time I get laser falses is if sunlight from the setting sun is scintillating through tree branches in the winter.

-- Slowly rev your engine from idle to about 3500rpms. If at any point you get false laser alerts, then you should try a hardwire installation to provide cleaner power to your RD. If that doesn't work, add a snap-on choke around the power wire. If that doesn't work, then install a cheap noise filter (consisting of a choke and a capacitor inside a small box) which you can get from a car stereo shop or salvage from an old car stereo.

:)

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Originally Posted by MEM-TEK

Hi RadarKid,

Stuff to check...

-- Is your 9500i vibrating up and down while you are driving? If so, then the vibration combined with the IR from sunlight can cause false laser alerts. What is happening is the vibration causes the sun's IR intensity to fluctuate as the sun's IR passes into the laser sensor. I permanently attached my RD brackets to my windshield using 3M superlock fasteners. My RDs don't vibrate at all now, and the only time I get laser falses is if sunlight from the setting sun is scintillating through tree branches in the winter.

-- Slowly rev your engine from idle to about 3500rpms. If at any point you get false laser alerts, then you should try a hardwire installation to provide cleaner power to your RD. If that doesn't work, add a snap-on choke around the power wire. If that doesn't work, then install a cheap noise filter (consisting of a choke and a capacitor inside a small box) which you can get from a car stereo shop or salvage from an old car stereo.

:)

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It only happens with my dads 8500 (pre X50) in HIS vehicle.
I never had issues with my X50. I think he said it happens when he revs the engine or takes off from a stop if I'm not mistaken. Any advice for him on that?

I have been seeing more frequent laser falses from the 9500I than the older Escorts. I have also had 2 good Laser saves with my 9500I's so im going to assume with the better laser sensitivity of the 9500I there are going to be a few more falses.

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Originally Posted by CJR238

I have been seeing more frequent laser falses from the 9500I than the older Escorts. I have also had 2 good Laser saves with my 9500I's so im going to assume with the better laser sensitivity of the 9500I there are going to be a few more falses.

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what caused your false readings on LASER? I never got ONE with my x50.

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Originally Posted by RadarKid

what caused your false readings on LASER? I never got ONE with my x50.

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Every case for me has been a real threat, but i have read other 9500I owners getting alerts from sunlight or bright neon’s. Similar reports have been mad for the V1 for years.

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Originally Posted by MEM-TEK

Hi RadarKid,

Stuff to check...

-- Is your 9500i vibrating up and down while you are driving? If so, then the vibration combined with the IR from sunlight can cause false laser alerts. What is happening is the vibration causes the sun's IR intensity to fluctuate as the sun's IR passes into the laser sensor. I permanently attached my RD brackets to my windshield using 3M superlock fasteners. My RDs don't vibrate at all now, and the only time I get laser falses is if sunlight from the setting sun is scintillating through tree branches in the winter.

-- Slowly rev your engine from idle to about 3500rpms. If at any point you get false laser alerts, then you should try a hardwire installation to provide cleaner power to your RD. If that doesn't work, add a snap-on choke around the power wire. If that doesn't work, then install a cheap noise filter (consisting of a choke and a capacitor inside a small box) which you can get from a car stereo shop or salvage from an old car stereo.

:)

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My 9500i is mounted pretty steady. I have it up against the RVM and the road was pretty smooth. The sun was extremely bright that evening as it was setting. I was only getting it when driving towards it. As far as the electrical connection, I have it hardwired directly into an unused fuse slot using Add-A-Circuit and a hardwire kit by escort. I will keep an eye on it for a few more days.

"Bright enough" *could* get it to false (this has been documented even on many of today's top-flight laser jammers), but it's usually in-conjunction with other factors as-noted - i.e. a bit of dirt/scratches on your windshield, combined with either noticeable or even imperceptible vibrations of the unit, setting up a "flicker" situation.

As a owner of a handful of different radar detectors considered high-end, I'd say that you've just discovered one of the common catches to laser detection on even the best laser detectors. Basically is boils down to an impossible situation of trying to balance out sensitivity (ability to detect) and specificity (ability to ignore false alerts). This is the laser equivalent to radar's false alerts.

The sun, being a giant ball of radiation, emits almost every frequency of electromagnetic radiation ranging from radio to microwave, through infrared, into visible light, and on through UV and X-ray/Gamma ray. Some of these (particularly in the X-ray/Gamma ray range) don't really travel that far, but the longer the wavelength, the farther it will travel. So basically you have this giant bright light shining every EM spectrum frequency down on earth, including the frequency of LIDAR guns.

To combat this, laser detector manufacturers (like Escort and Valentine) do a few things. First, they put a piece of colored glass or plastic in front of the laser detector in an attempt to filter out any unwanted frequencies. Of course, this method isn't perfect as there's not really a way to make glass or plastic filter out everything but a particular desired frequency (imagine a pair of sunglasses that could filter out everything but the red-green-blue light frequencies of a stop-light and allow those through at full brightness). So they also have light detecting sensors in the boxes that have a somewhat restricted range of sensitivities. This, too, is imperfect but permits a greater degree of selectivity. Finally, and most simply, they set the boxes up so that they work best mounted perfectly parallel with the ground/pavement. The boxes are designed in such a way that it only permits a narrow angle of light to get in from the front because they place the sensor relatively further back in the box from the plastic filter on the front. We do the same thing with our own eyes when we flip down the sun visors when the sun is low in the sky. It restricts our vertical vision and blocks out the sun.

Just like the sun visor analogy, though, eventually the sun will get low enough in the sky that the visor doesn't extend down far enough to block it out, and if it did, it would block out the view of the road ahead as well (think sunset/sunrise). In the same way, a laser sensor can be blinded by the infrared wavelengths of light hitting it from a sun that is very close to the horizon and trigger a false alert. Since the sun is emitting light at the same frequencies as LIDAR guns, it can trigger a false alert.

If you increase laser sensitivity, you increase the risk of the sun itself setting it off (if low in the sky). If you decrease sensitivity, you risk not picking up "stray" LIDAR signals (which is almost impossible).

I've had this happen with every radar detector I've owned that had laser detection capabilities. Some worse than others. I haven't owned enough variety yet to determine a real pattern as to expensive vs. bargain laser detectors on this issue. I do know from personal experience that the Valentine 1 is very sensitive to this, but it also has the highest-rated laser sensitivity. I wonder if cheap detectors are less likely to false-alert.

On a related note, there are also a few brands of vehicles whose taillights will set off laser detectors with some regularity. Particularly GMC Envoy/Chevy Trailblazer taillights. Supposedly this is due to the red plastic housing used in combination with the particular bulb used. It seems that the red plastic on those taillights doesn't filter out the infrared frequency that is in LIDAR laser light. The Valentine 1 website even comments on this. I've had those taillights set of my Escort Passport 9500i and my Bel RX65Pro as well, though with less regularity.

I don't know where my manual is at the moment, :o can laser alert be turned off in all modes except highway?

In addition to getting frequent sunlight laser falses, now I'm getting laser falses when I honk the horn. Is this due to the recent hard wire I had done?

^ Love the avatar! :lol:

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Yes, I think you might have some kind of wiring problem - ground-loop, "noise" in the line, etc.

Try plugging the unit back in to your 12V accessory plug with the standard SmartCord, and see if that doesn't solve the issue.

If it does, you'll know that it has to do with the wiring job on the hardwire.

You could start-off the troubleshooting, thereafter, by first installing an in-line noise-suppressor (search "ferrite choke"), since that'll be an easy one to do.

Yeah, Dr. Cox, the opitome of apathy. I'll try switching cords....

Any idea if you can turn off laser in all modes but highway?

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Originally Posted by upstatedoc

Any idea if you can turn off laser in all modes but highway?

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^ I honestly don't think so......... Dunno...never tried.....