I have a quick question for you electronics gurus in here. Recently my Escort passport 8500 Radar detetor has gone wacko. It's going off as Ka 33.XXX-34.XXX freq. every 2-3 minutes with nothing in sight. I've thought it could just be motion sensors or gas stations but when compared with another member's 8500 his was silent the entire time while mine was going off every 2-3 mins. I've even went out to country roads to see if this thing would go off, and sure enough it did. There was NOTHING on this country road for miles and my 8500 would still follow this pattern. Can someone enlighten me on what's going on with my 8500? Is there something I can do to correct this problem? I've tried rebooting the 8500 numerous times without results. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks.

-Johnny

 

Did you recently have an alarm or specifically a Proximity sensor intalled? I found when I relocated my prox sensor from the secret compartment, to under the leather "armrest" in the center console that I had a similar effect to what you are describing.

 

Hmm interesting. I've always had my prox sensor under the arm rest from the time my 8500 was "normal" and plus I've switched 8500's from another member on this board which does NOT go wacko like mine does. Could I send this back to Escort for them to check it out(I've owned it for more then a year now, so the warranty is probably up) or will I have to buy another one?

 

check with escort, they are usually pretty good about honoring their products (even out of warranty.)

also, where do you keep your cell phone? I know it sounds silly, but occasionally they have been know to set off radar detectors.

 

Well, let us know what you find out. I did find that unplugging my prox made the problem go away.

I am going to install a relay, run it off of the ignition and put the power to the prox through it on the NC contacts. That way the prox will be disabled when the car is running automatically and wont set off my radar.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by genghiskwong
check with escort,

 

How old is it? Ever radar detector I've ever had never "died" in the traditional sense. Instead, the sensors went nuts and they falsed almost constantly. For cheap brands, this was 1-1.5 years. My current passport 7500 has been with me for 4 years and still going strong.

 

It's only 1-1.5 years old, I can't remember exactly. It's never been "abused", I would put it in the secret compartment during summer months to avoid direct sunlight, and plus my car sits in the garage most of the time. I've tried to see if it was my cell phone that could be setting it off, but no results. I left my cell phone at home and went for a 10 min drive...thing still went nuts. I've been distracted all week so I haven't gotten a chance to speak with Escort yet. I'll post an update when I do.

 

interesting thing to note... regarding the 8500 and prox alarms... i also have my prox installed in the armrest...

when i originally got my 8500, i would occasionally get what i thought was incredible amounts of Ka activity... this wasn't my first detector and the number of alerts were way high from what i expected, so i was initially wondering if it was defective.

mine wasn't consistent (from day to day) like you've mentioned, and i just assumed the falsing was somehow related to a better sensitivity than i was accustomed to and very long range detection... and after doing some moving of the detector to help me hear it when top down, i can now realize that i did notice a big reduction in alerts... (all this is coming together for me now... )

i have also noticed that i very often get Ka alerts when pulling into or out of my garage... i have the 'car park' motion detectors and figured it was them, but now i can't help but wonder if this isn't the prox reflecting in the garage as well....

i haven't had many problems of late at all, but has anyone tried sitting the 8500 on top of a prox and checking for alerts?

Pete, who makes the compustar system? is that yet another DEI company? i ask b/c i'm using the DEI prox myself... if this is the problem, then wiring a relay in to shut down the prox while driving would be an easy fix.

fly_s2k, please let us know what you find out.


also -- does anyone else run the voltage display? what do you guys average for your voltage when at speed? i find i generally get about 13v at speed and 11.5v when parked, but get closer to 14v and 12.5v in my other car.
i'm curious as to whether i have a coming alternator/battery issue...

 

I get about the same reading off of my 8500 for voltage