A Quick Word About Emissions

"Jonathan Harper" (jbh)
12/30/2014 at 14:43 • Filed to: radar detectors, jbh, emissions, escalade

Not the stinky hot tailpipe emissions, no not those. The ones you can't see. The ones that surround so many new vehicles, and make my radar detector go insane.

At first is was the odd Infiniti or Audi with all the tech bits including lane departure warning systems. But now almost every new car I see on the road is surrounded by a forcefield of electronic emissions. I captured the perfect example with a new Escalade just the other day.

For those who have never had the pleasure of interpreting the archaic looking readout and BLEEP BLEEP BLAAAAP s of a Valentine1 radar detector, the above photo is showing five different sources of K band emissions, and the arrows to the sides mean that it is all around me/that new 'Slade.

I spotted another example again later in the day, this time with six different sources. My V1 was picking them up a solid quarter mile away too, pretty impressive. That's a lot of electronic emissions for one vehicle.

I wonder if all 5-6 sources are for lane departure style warning systems, or adaptive cruise control as well. What other systems would use the radars? What other cars are notoriously shrouded with invisible electronic emissions?

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DISCUSSION (31)

ilostmypants > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 14:47

Here in Canada radar and laser detectors are illegal so I find this observation quite interesting, not a lot of useful information but still interesting!

Tohru > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 14:49

My parents had a radar detector in the 90's and it would be set off by the automatic doors in front of stores.

Takuro Spirit > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 14:49

How about you just don't speed and then you won't need a detector.

/REALTALK

GhostZ > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 14:55

GPS/Satnav maybe?

norskracer98-ExploringTheOutback > ilostmypants
12/30/2014 at 14:57

Laws vary by state

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:00

I have always found radar detectors to be quite obnoxious. I guess I have not seen a really good one, but it seems like most just beep way too often. At some point, I would rather have a speeding ticket than deal with the constant beeping.

Chuck 2(O=[][]=O)2 > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:04

So are radar detectors now useless?

Jonathan Harper > Takuro Spirit
12/30/2014 at 15:05

Where do you see anything about speeding in this post? I think that's an unfair assumption.

Jonathan Harper > Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
12/30/2014 at 15:06

Some of them filter out the false alarms now.

With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:07

Moreover, what happens when every single car on the road has these features? Forget radar detectors; will the cars' systems interfere with each other, giving false positives or false negatives for lane/blind spot occupation, etc.?

Jonathan Harper > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
12/30/2014 at 15:08

Probably.

Takuro Spirit > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:20

Why have a detector if you're not going to speed, even if by accident?

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:25

Shouldn't your radar detector be able to store those as false positives after detecting them?

Jonathan Harper > Takuro Spirit
12/30/2014 at 15:26

Why not? It's not illegal in 90% of the US.

Plus, we can agree that most traffic on most roads moves faster than the posted speed limit. It's not unreasonable to have one of these simply for keeping up with traffic.

Jonathan Harper > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
12/30/2014 at 15:27

V1 doesn't do this, and even those wouldn't be able to mark these cars. They work by marking the GPS coordinates and since there are moving it wouldn't be able to keep track of them.

Takuro Spirit > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:28

Agreed. I personally think they're a waste of money. But that might be because when I had one I got pulled over, twice. Damn thing never went off. Of course it wasn't a V-1, this was back when V-1's were very very pricey.

I had the $50 Radio Shack Special, but it did have a laser detector, which was a new thing back then.

Since then I use my eyes, and have only been caught speeding once but it was due to a speedometer error on an empty highway.

Jonathan Harper > Takuro Spirit
12/30/2014 at 15:30

V1s still aren't cheap, but it has more than paid for itself in tickets not-gotten.

Delta Five Nine > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:40

Yeah, new GM Suburban and Silverado alikes are nuts for K band. Started getting laser warning on newer Volvo if they're head on and fairly shallow angle, too. At this point I know K band is only used in one area I travel (which luckily doesn't have many brand new GM since it's a poor area) I ignore all K band outside of it. Figure once the local yokels get KA like the big boys I'll switch off K band just like I did X band.

I've wanted to use my bluetooth connection to see exactly what bandwidth the GM are running and how similar they are to actual police radar bandwidth, but haven't gotten a phone holder for the new phone yet.

Party-vi > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:44

Kinja'd!!!

#richpeople

JGrabowMSt > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:45

They probably also had a Valentine system.

Radar detectors work off of radio wave principals. You cannot broadcast without receiving as well, it's a permanent two way street if you will. It's part of how Virginia State Troopers can tell if you have one. Their units start going crazier than normal, the sign of another radar unit in the area.

So in short, it could be the lane departure warnings, parking sensors and even TPMS units (all use fairly constant radio waves), but in truth, it's also probably another radar detector picking you up, and not so much the cars.

I worked in radio for a fairly long time, so I'd like to think I'm qualified enough to at least shed some light on the situation.

TJDMAX > With-a-G is back to not having anything written after his username
12/30/2014 at 15:49

Not likely. The sensors dont have that far of a range. They're only focused for a few feet i.e blind spot or lane departure. The front cruise control ones may be a bit stronger but the side mounted sensors wouldn't pick each other up unless there was an actual car in the lane next to you...in which case the sensor would be picking up the physical car and not the radar waves.

Jonathan Harper > JGrabowMSt
12/30/2014 at 15:51

Radar detector would be 1 maybe 2 sources. I was getting 5-6 indicated, with multiple different GM products. Audis and benzes do it as well, notably.

Meatcoma > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 15:54

The GPS enabled ones weed out false reports in the same area each time. No escaping the lane departure warnings. I imagine sooner or later they will figure that one out.

Spirited e30 > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 16:02

Escort Redline is MUCH better with these kinds of falses. My friend and I did a detector swap, he has a V1 and lives in NYC. I was pissed at false K band and false laser CONSTANTLY going off and begging him to be done "testing" my Escort earlier. He was still under Valentine's satisfaction warranty and sent it back.

I just did a cross country and back trip; plenty of jurisdictions still run K band.

Jonathan Harper > Spirited e30
12/30/2014 at 16:23

But it wouldn't ID a moving target as a false...which is what these Escalades were.

gamefreak32 > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 18:33

Valentine has an update for all of the K band false alerts. Go to their website and type your serial number in. I think it was $55 and you had to send your V1 in.

Jonathan Harper > gamefreak32
12/30/2014 at 18:39

I've known I could update my V1 for a while but just haven't been willing to pony up for it yet. Plus I have to send it away for like 3 weeks!

s38junkie > Jonathan Harper
12/30/2014 at 19:12

Yep I'm getting the same plethora of false alerts on my V1. New audis are dead ringers... Which has me hating new audits of course. Time to pony up and send mine in for the update.

horspowr1001 > Jonathan Harper
12/31/2014 at 09:06

I've heard about this a lot recently and for some reason I haven't noticed it once on my 9500ix, though I wonder if that has something to do with keeping it in highway mode 100% of the time.

Maybe give highway mode a shot? How often do you need to keep it in an "Auto" or "City" mode?

Deputy Kovacs > Takuro Spirit
02/08/2015 at 10:21

Why are you knocking speeding so heavily on an automotive enthusiasts website?

Takuro Spirit > Deputy Kovacs
02/08/2015 at 22:38

Because as enthusiasts, we should know to keep it on a race track.

Just like a gun enthusiast knows to keep it at the range.

Or a sex enthusiast knows to keep it indoors.