V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Has anyone experimented with designing an auto mute circuit for the V1?
I'm pretty savvy when it comes to building something both mechanical and electrical, but designing an electronic circuit is beyond my capabilities. I would love to have something that would automatically mute V1's alert. Similar to Escorts Smart Mute.
I don't think it would be too complicated.....all it really needs to accomplish is grounding the mute wire in the power cord at a specified amount of time after the alert begins.....say 5 seconds.
I know there are those amongst us here that have written software and designed pc interface cables for the V1, I'm surprised this hasn't been dabbled with.....all anyone ever seems to talk about is the remote mute button.
So anyone know how to go about accomplishing this?
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Read the Stickies. It has Automuting. You have to enable it, and use Little L mode. When enabled, you can automute K by signal strength and/or time, and pairs of X are also automuted.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Cips
Read the Stickies. It has Automuting. You have to enable it, and use Little L mode. When enabled, you can automute K by signal strength and/or time, and pairs of X are also automuted.
Yes, I have and I understand that it has K band auto muting in Logic and Advanced Logic modes. It mutes the INITIAL alert for a set amount of time then alerts at the normal volume until the mute button is pressed.
This is NOT what I am trying to accomplish. I ALWAYS run in A mode and the auto mute feature of the V1 does nothing for me there.
What I AM trying to accomplish:
I want to hear the INITIAL alert, then after a set amount of time, have the volume decrease (not fully muted) until the end of the alert. If during the alert, I decide I want the alert fully muted, the option to press the mute button to fully silence the alert (provided option 8 in the programing menu is set to arrow down) would be nice.
Searching the internet, I think a simple audio detection circuit plugged into the earphone jack on the audio adapter could trigger a timer (555??) which in turn, after a set amount of time, activates a digital volume controller to reduce the volume.....this would require an external speaker to accomplish as well since neither the V1 or audio adapter would be giving audible alerts at this point.
Or is there a simpler way?:confused:
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
What you want is possible provided you use a Concealed Display.
You need the CD attached so that the V1 will send out the state information to your auto-mute device. The V1 doesn't transmit this information unless it thinks that a CD is attached, and if a CD is attached, the main display is blanked out.
A small "black box" with an embedded microcontroller on it could easily accomplish what you're looking for. The question is, how much are you willing to spend?
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Personally I was the impression that the Auto-Mute on the V1 was horrible idea and I wasn't going to use it at first but now after spending 4 years of using the V1 I perfer it to the BELScort automute on my V995. The BELscort automute is what you describe and it is HORRIBLE when going from my V1 to my v995. When I am driving through a city I expect k-band door openners plus its not really ment for speeding. So as I go past these door openers I get loud alerts and then mutes, then detects a new frequency alerts loud, and then mutes, and so on. Its F---ing annoying to me. And also in real world as some points I forgot the initial alert and the volume would mute the alert and I would forget about. Thats why on highway trips I turn off automute on my Beltronics as I would want to mute the source once i verify
Here is what I do to perfer it. I never run my detector in Advanced Logic (L- mode). I will only run it in logic mode (l-mode) in cities.
This way I see the alert on my detector and note it mentally. I have 30second k-band Automute and have it unmute the alert at 4 leds. I have found in the real world that unmuting at 4 leds still gives me plenty of time even if I ignore the visual build up. If you are in an area where you can speed for the most part you are away from door openers
One of the things I also enjoy about my set-up is the concealed display in my gauge cluster then it alerts the arrow along with the aftermarket LEDs in my display get my attention and catch my eye.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: If you are using the V1 interface on the Cheetah mirror let the alerts go through that and run it in A mode and have the Cheetah Mirror alert above speeds of 30-40mph. That would be the easiest
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swarga
What you want is possible provided you use a Concealed Display.
You need the CD attached so that the V1 will send out the state information to your auto-mute device. The V1 doesn't transmit this information unless it thinks that a CD is attached, and if a CD is attached, the main display is blanked out.
A small "black box" with an embedded microcontroller on it could easily accomplish what you're looking for. The question is, how much are you willing to spend?
A CD is no problem, I already have one and it is in use, nicely hidden in the dash!
As for "how much am I willing to spend?" This is kind of a revolving figure.....I'm not afraid to spend money on something like this if it is going to do what I want it to. The method I was researching, using a remote audio units output from the earphone jack to a detection circuit would cost (estimated):
Remote audio unit shipped $72
Three custom designed PCB boards $85
Components required to assemble ~$70 (since I usually buy enough to screw up a few times)
Basically, the parts are cheap, it's someone's knowledge to put something like this together that gets expensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
crazyVOLVOrob
Personally I was the impression that the Auto-Mute on the V1 was horrible idea and I wasn't going to use it at first but now after spending 4 years of using the V1 I perfer it to the BELScort automute on my V995. The BELscort automute is what you describe and it is HORRIBLE when going from my V1 to my v995. When I am driving through a city I expect k-band door openners plus its not really ment for speeding. So as I go past these door openers I get loud alerts and then mutes, then detects a new frequency alerts loud, and then mutes, and so on. Its F---ing annoying to me. And also in real world as some points I forgot the initial alert and the volume would mute the alert and I would forget about. Thats why on highway trips I turn off automute on my Beltronics as I would want to mute the source once i verify
Here is what I do to perfer it. I never run my detector in Advanced Logic (L- mode). I will only run it in logic mode (l-mode) in cities.
This way I see the alert on my detector and note it mentally. I have 30second k-band Automute and have it unmute the alert at 4 leds. I have found in the real world that unmuting at 4 leds still gives me plenty of time even if I ignore the visual build up. If you are in an area where you can speed for the most part you are away from door openers
One of the things I also enjoy about my set-up is the concealed display in my gauge cluster then it alerts the arrow along with the aftermarket LEDs in my display get my attention and catch my eye.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT: If you are using the V1 interface on the Cheetah mirror let the alerts go through that and run it in A mode and have the Cheetah Mirror alert above speeds of 30-40mph. That would be the easiest
In the city, I agree, what I propose could be rather annoying. At which point, like you, I prefer the V1's K band auto mute. However, most of my driving is on the highway. C/O alerts that build for a mile or better get annoying at full volume too! Maybe, I'm just lazy, but I get tired of reaching up to press the mute button!:D
Furthermore, with this on a V1, a person really shouldn't have to give up the V1's k band auto mute either, since it is still controlled by the v1's programming and not this circuit.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
You don't need the remote audio adapter, as you can tap the audio directly from the RJ11, and you can ground-out the mute input momentarily to mute the V1.
Plus you could use perfboard if you're building a one-off, saving the expense of having a PCB made up.
Sensing the audio would work, but if you really wanted to do it right, you could use a microcontroller to monitor the CD data stream, and then you can time your automute based on when the alert begins, and even delay the muting if more bogeys happen, or whatever.
If you really wanted to get sophisticated, and are using the remote audio adapter, you could gain complete control over the mute/unmute by intercepting the data stream and then changing the mute bits before passing them on to the remote audio adapter. Then, you could automute one bogey, but then unmute when another bogey kicks in and re-mute after so many seconds. Or automute K band but not Ka, for example. Or make it so when you press the button once, it mutes, and you press it again it unmutes, like Whistler does.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
see, now that would be cool!
Unfortunately, it is all far beyond the scope of my electronics abilities. If I have something to go off of, I am confident that I assemble the circuit, but designing the actual circuit, micro controller programming, ect.......not my forte'. It would take me years to come up with something like this that would take someone who knows how to do it very little time.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yamaha1
Maybe, I'm just lazy, but I get tired of reaching up to press the mute button!:D
You should have position the concealed display with in close reach for hitting the mute button.
All I have to do to hit the mute button on my CD is raise a finger off the wheel.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yamaha1
Has anyone experimented with designing an auto mute circuit for the V1?
I'm pretty savvy when it comes to building something both mechanical and electrical, but designing an electronic circuit is beyond my capabilities. I would love to have something that would automatically mute V1's alert. Similar to Escorts Smart Mute.
I don't think it would be too complicated.....all it really needs to accomplish is grounding the mute wire in the power cord at a specified amount of time after the alert begins.....say 5 seconds.
I know there are those amongst us here that have written software and designed pc interface cables for the V1, I'm surprised this hasn't been dabbled with.....all anyone ever seems to talk about is the remote mute button.
So anyone know how to go about accomplishing this?
Great idea. It actually wouldn't be all that hard to do.
But Escort's "SmartMute" is GPS based (under 20 mph it does a short double brap for an alert and then stays silent until you go above 20 mph) I don't think you are looking for that. I think a Cheetah can add that capability though as well as set the speed. Sorry if I'm mistaken on that.
Escort's AutoMute is called, of all things, "AutoMute".
Not sure if a Cheetah can add automute too, that would be nice if it did.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kpatz
You don't need the remote audio adapter, as you can tap the audio directly from the RJ11, and you can ground-out the mute input momentarily to mute the V1.
Plus you could use perfboard if you're building a one-off, saving the expense of having a PCB made up.
Sensing the audio would work, but if you really wanted to do it right, you could use a microcontroller to monitor the CD data stream, and then you can time your automute based on when the alert begins, and even delay the muting if more bogeys happen, or whatever.
If you really wanted to get sophisticated, and are using the remote audio adapter, you could gain complete control over the mute/unmute by intercepting the data stream and then changing the mute bits before passing them on to the remote audio adapter. Then, you could automute one bogey, but then unmute when another bogey kicks in and re-mute after so many seconds. Or automute K band but not Ka, for example. Or make it so when you press the button once, it mutes, and you press it again it unmutes, like Whistler does.
I would use a CD to start since it can "parse" the data stream for you.
All you have to do is look at the lowest signal strength LED to be ON for X amount of time and fire mute until lowest LED is OFF for Y amount of time. All within the CD. Done.
If you want to get cool with the bogey count it gets more complicated. But you could unmute any time the bogey value changes and reset the timer and watch the lowest LED and automute again.
Microcontroller would be way overkill.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mswlogo
I would use a CD to start since it can "parse" the data stream for you.
Microcontroller would be way overkill.
Actually, the right micro could well be cheaper than buying a concealed display and a bunch of discrete components. A PIC development board is ~$15, and the PIC micro to go in it is another $4. That and a couple of resistors would be all you'd need. However, none of that does any good if you don't know how to program it. :)
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swarga
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mswlogo
I would use a CD to start since it can "parse" the data stream for you.
Microcontroller would be way overkill.
Actually, the right micro could well be cheaper than buying a concealed display and a bunch of discrete components. A PIC development board is ~$15, and the PIC micro to go in it is another $4. That and a couple of resistors would be all you'd need. However, none of that does any good if you don't know how to program it. :)
exactly, not to mention the time involved programing it if you knew how.
Plus CD gives you something to put it in.
not to mention most folks have a cd
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
In order to use the RJ11 port to intercept the audio data for use with a micro controller, I would need a way to "read" the data stream that the V1 is outputting during an alert so the micro controller knows what to look for and how to react.....correct?
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
If you're intercepting the audio, you only have to listen for a signal (series of high-low pulses). The audio is carried on one of the 4 RJ11 pins, the same one the mute button connects to IIRC.
If you want to intercept the data stream, you'd monitor a different pin, and would have to interpret the data. V1 Serial Protocol. Looking at this data, you can detect the on/off status of each LED on the CD as well as the current mute status of the audio.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kpatz
If you're intercepting the
audio, you only have to listen for a signal (series of high-low pulses). The audio is carried on one of the 4 RJ11 pins, the same one the mute button connects to IIRC.
If you want to intercept the
data stream, you'd monitor a different pin, and would have to interpret the data.
V1 Serial Protocol. Looking at this data, you can detect the on/off status of each LED on the CD as well as the current mute status of the audio.
Now we are getting somewhere!
By the looking at this, it would make programming a microchip much easier....and the possibilities would be endless.
I assume the circuit shown in the PDF there is needed to properly communicate with the microchip....that's simple enough.
Next question:
Does the audio adapter use the audio stream off the mute wire for its audio alert information, or is it getting it from the data stream wire?
I'm wondering because if it is getting it's info from the data wire that would make this relatively simple. Adding the microchip between the V1 and audio adapter to alter one bit in the data stream (Muted or not) would effectively do what I'm looking for.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yamaha1
Next question:
Does the audio adapter use the audio stream off the mute wire for its audio alert information, or is it getting it from the data stream wire?
The audio comes from the mute wire. The only thing the audio adapter uses the data stream for is to determine whether to play at normal or muted volume, by checking the "loud" bit in the data stream.
For your auto-mute you would monitor the stream for alerts (e.g. strength LEDs and/or band indicator LEDs going on), and after a period of time, trigger the mute by momentarily grounding the mute wire through a resistor.
If you want to override the mute on the remote audio, you'd need to mirror the data stream on an output port with with the loud bit modified accordingly, and pass that to the audio adapter.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yamaha1
Next question:
Does the audio adapter use the audio stream off the mute wire for its audio alert information, or is it getting it from the data stream wire?
The audio adapter gets its data from the audio wire; it does not use the CD data wire.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swarga
The audio adapter gets its data from the audio wire; it does not use the CD data wire.
It gets the mute info from the CD data wire doesn't it? It needs to know whether to route the signal through the mute volume ring or not.
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kpatz
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swarga
The audio adapter gets its data from the audio wire; it does not use the CD data wire.
It gets the mute info from the CD data wire doesn't it? It needs to know whether to route the signal through the mute volume ring or not.
It does use the CD data wire.
https://store.valentine1.com/store/products/20200.htm
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kpatz
Quote:
Originally Posted by
swarga
The audio adapter gets its data from the audio wire; it does not use the CD data wire.
It gets the mute info from the CD data wire doesn't it? It needs to know whether to route the signal through the mute volume ring or not.
Too bad there isn't a sheet like the one you posted earlier for the audio line!
So if my understanding is correct, and the remote audio gets the mute information from the data line, simply interrupting that wire (data wire) between the V1 and Remote audio unit, changing the "Loud" bit to 1 (for "Soft") after a set amount of time, and sending that to the audio unit on the data wire should do the trick....
Re: V1 auto mute circuit......anyone??
Quote:
Originally Posted by
yamaha1
Too bad there isn't a sheet like the one you posted earlier for the audio line!
You don't need a sheet since the audio line doesn't carry data, it carries the actual audio signals. Connect it to an amplifier and speaker and you can hear the alerts. The complexity of a remote audio adapter is in handling muting.
