[RockCrusher]

With the V1 in the car with the windshield mount stuck (suctioned cupped...) to the windshield when I switch the V1 on it goes right into full alarm mode on laser.

(See pic.)

In the past -- the unit is 20+ years old -- it was false alarming on laser and I had it repaired.

(As directed by customer service I included a check made payable to Valentine One for IIRC $40 in the box with the V1. When I got the unit back from Valentine One there was the check in the box. I called customer service asking if they forgot to get the check out of the box. Was told there was no charge for the repair.)

Got online and downloaded some info on how to get the V1 software version, how to program it, etc.

While on the Valentine One web site I looked at the new V1 G2. Decided to order one and when it arrived then I would send in my old V1 and hopefully get it repaired. Prepared the paperwork for this.

Decided to get the software version number. Took the V1 to the M8. Plugged in the unit with the unit in the windshield mount and when I turned the unit on the LEDs lit up with laser as the detected signal. So still bad.

Queried the software version number. Wrote that down.

Had an idea. I went in to the vehicle settings and shut off all the nanny systems. And the adaptive cruise control was not on. But shutting off those systems didn't make any difference.

Put the nanny systems settings back to what they were.

Had the V1 in my hand at this time and I noticed when I turned it to where the forward facing end was pointing down at the floor the laser alert changed from a forward position to a rear position. The up arrow went dark the down arrow lit up.

Hmmmm. That the direction arrows seemed to be working suggested the unit wasn't bad. Maybe.

I got into programming mode and disabled laser. No more alarming on laser.

Took the car out and drove around some. No LEO radar being used but the unit did pick up on some other radar sources which is normal.

The unit appeared to be working ok.

So I'm thinking there is some laser source in the car. But what it is I have no idea.

At any rate I'll get the new V1 in a few days. I'll see how it works in the car and keep the old unit for a back up just in case.

Disabling laser is not the end of the world. Fortunately over the years my experience is LEO operated laser is used very very seldom. I can only recall two times the V1 alerted on LEO operated laser. One place was way the heck up in Superior WI. The 2nd place was on I96 somewhere between Grand Rapids and Lansing.

[mjr24]

Pretty sure it's the gesture control or there is some camera in the rear view mirror assembly that people have taped off (which is kind of ghetto). Do a search....you should see a few threads.

This is only a V1 issue I believe (hence why I got rid of my V1 years ago...it's just not the best anymore). I've had 0 issues with this with my Uniden R7 in my M8.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by mjr24

Pretty sure it's the gesture control or there is some camera in the rear view mirror assembly that people have taped off (which is kind of ghetto). Do a search....you should see a few threads.

This is only a V1 issue I believe (hence why I got rid of my V1 years ago...it's just not the best anymore). I've had 0 issues with this with my Uniden R7 in my M8.

Was looking through the owners manual and the head lights can be LED/laser. In the garage the head lights are on -- automatic -- but outside they go off. But the driving lights are on.

Still seems a bit of a stretch the headlight LED illumination could get back into the cabin and affect the V1.

I have inadvertently made some hand motion that caused the radio to unmute. Don't know how it works what picks up the hand motions. Camera makes sense I guess.

Still I'm rather puzzled there seems to be any laser signal in the cabin and strong enough to cause the V1 to alert.

However, before this the V1 sometimes alarms on laser and the cause is the brake lights in the vehicle ahead. They are LEDs I guess. I wonder if there are any LEDs in the cabin? Well, duh. I mean probably every cabin light is an LED.

I'll experiment and see if I can block whatever emissions are affecting the V1 to see if I can determine the source.

[RockCrusher]

Update: Got in a new V1 G2 the other day. Used it in the M8. No alarming on laser. Even turned on the driver attention camera to see if the V1G2 would react to that. Nope.

As a sanity check took old V1 out to car and in programming mode enabled laser detection. Unit started alarming like crazy on laser.

So I have filled out a service request, made out a check to Valentine Research for $65 to cover cost of repairs and have put the old V1 into the box/packaging the V1G2 arrived in. Monday I'll arrange to get the unit on its way to Valentine One to get fixed.

And that new V1G2 is very nice.

[ManhattanBMW]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

Update: Got in a new V1 G2 the other day. Used it in the M8. No alarming on laser. Even turned on the driver attention camera to see if the V1G2 would react to that. Nope.

As a sanity check took old V1 out to car and in programming mode enabled laser detection. Unit started alarming like crazy on laser.

So I have filled out a service request, made out a check to Valentine Research for $65 to cover cost of repairs and have put the old V1 into the box/packaging the V1G2 arrived in. Monday I'll arrange to get the unit on its way to Valentine One to get fixed.

And that new V1G2 is very nice.

I upgraded my V1 for a V1G2, and the laser alarm went off frequently. I ended up turning off the laser detection function, and now rely on Waze for detecting the police, since the laser is a line-of-sight gun. As I understand from various sources, it is the gesture control that is causing the issue. The V1G2 with Waze is so far working well. Another passive measure I took was to select a dark grey color, that is not easily observed, which should make it more difficult for the police to spot my car at a distance to line up a laser shot, or radar instant-on.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by ManhattanBMW

I upgraded my V1 for a V1G2, and the laser alarm went off frequently. I ended up turning off the laser detection function, and now rely on Waze for detecting the police, since the laser is a line-of-sight gun. As I understand from various sources, it is the gesture control that is causing the issue. The V1G2 with Waze is so far working well. Another passive measure I took was to select a dark grey color, that is not easily observed, which should make it more difficult for the police to spot my car at a distance to line up a laser shot, or radar instant-on.

Have only put a few miles on my car with the V1G2 detector. So far no excessive laser alerts.

Usually the V1 alerts on laser when I pull up behind a vehicle with I guess LED tail lights.

But on the road -- surface streets or highway/freeway -- laser alerts are very rare. I treat each one like the real McCoy though. Better safe than sorry...

That damn gesture control is a nuisance. At least once whenever my sister is in the car she does something that causes the radio to come on. 'course, to be honest I've done this to fumbling for a control button or gesturing too energetically in front of the display.

But the V1G2 even being held in hand right in front of the display manifests no reaction to whatever RF/light signals are coming from the display area.

As for WAZE: Too often on the section of I580 in the Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore/Tracy CA area I drove on every day my V1 would detect a CHP with radar and often times I'd see the cruiser with a customer pulled over. Sometimes I'd see the customer pulling away and then the officer. Or sometimes there'd be just the officer and he'd be pulling away as I watched. Invariably he would drive down to the next exit and turn around and then drive the opposite way and set up shop some distance from where he was.

Thus I like a radar detector. The V1/V1G2 doesn't rely upon where the radar source was but where it is at the time I'm coming up on its location.

[ManhattanBMW]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

Have only put a few miles on my car with the V1G2 detector. So far no excessive laser alerts.

Usually the V1 alerts on laser when I pull up behind a vehicle with I guess LED tail lights.

But on the road -- surface streets or highway/freeway -- laser alerts are very rare. I treat each one like the real McCoy though. Better safe than sorry...

That damn gesture control is a nuisance. At least once whenever my sister is in the car she does something that causes the radio to come on. 'course, to be honest I've done this to fumbling for a control button or gesturing too energetically in front of the display.

But the V1G2 even being held in hand right in front of the display manifests no reaction to whatever RF/light signals are coming from the display area.

As for WAZE: Too often on the section of I580 in the Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore/Tracy CA area I drove on every day my V1 would detect a CHP with radar and often times I'd see the cruiser with a customer pulled over. Sometimes I'd see the customer pulling away and then the officer. Or sometimes there'd be just the officer and he'd be pulling away as I watched. Invariably he would drive down to the next exit and turn around and then drive the opposite way and set up shop some distance from where he was.

Thus I like a radar detector. The V1/V1G2 doesn't rely upon where the radar source was but where it is at the time I'm coming up on its location.

Gesture controls are a gimmick IMHO, so I turned them off to avoid them inadvertently being activated by hand movements in my car. As for laser detection, basically, there is no advance warning since it is a line of sight narrow beam, so if your detector picks up the signal, you have been caught by the police. I looked into laser jammers as an alternative, but they require body work for installation, and are not easily upgradable, so I passed. As for Waze, typically a laser trap is a two cop operation, with one cop operating the laser, and another pulling over cars and writing the tickets, so the location of the laser operator should show up in Waze, and not be so variable.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by ManhattanBMW

Gesture controls are a gimmick IMHO, so I turned them off to avoid them inadvertently being activated by hand movements in my car. As for laser detection, basically, there is no advance warning since it is a line of sight narrow beam, so if your detector picks up the signal, you have been caught by the police. I looked into laser jammers as an alternative, but they require body work for installation, and are not easily upgradable, so I passed. As for Waze, typically a laser trap is a two cop operation, with one cop operating the laser, and another pulling over cars and writing the tickets, so the location of the laser operator should show up in Waze, and not be so variable.

Think I'll turn off gesture controls, too.

Laser beam spreads out less than radar for sure. But I've gotten enough advance warning from my V1 to avoid getting nailed by what proved to be laser speed trap.

[claykin]

If turning off gesture control doesn't stop the laser falsing, you'll want to use a piece of black electrical tape to cover the lens from the ir camera in the overhead control console.

[ManhattanBMW]

Originally Posted by claykin

If turning off gesture control doesn't stop the laser falsing, you'll want to use a piece of black electrical tape to cover the lens from the ir camera in the overhead control console.

Yup, that is an alternative I read about, but I wanted to keep my interior as pristine as possible, so I punted using tape.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by claykin

If turning off gesture control doesn't stop the laser falsing, you'll want to use a piece of black electrical tape to cover the lens from the ir camera in the overhead control console.

Had the car out today for a longer drive.

The laser signal isn't coming from inside the car.

Oh, first the older V1 falsing on laser is because the unit has a problem. I'm sending it in to be fixed.

The new V1G2 unit didn't alarm on laser right away.

But I got some laser hits when I got on a state highway and then on I49 freeway. These appear to be from other vehicles. Some from vehicles coming toward my car. But some seem to emit some laser (laser like?) signal from the rear of the vehicle. The signal would go away if I let the distance between my vehicle and vehicle ahead increase. But when I caused the distance to decrease -- but still a safe distance back more than that from using the 2 second rule -- the V1G2 alarmed on laser.

Thought at first it might be the adaptive cruise control of my car but I experimented and it wasn't.

[drpeters]

My laser alert goes off on bright mornings when the sun is bouncing off of oncoming traffic windshields with a blinding light. It feels like a laser in my retina so I am guessing that is why it is a false alert. The gesture control false alarms happened whenmy V1 gen 2 was mounted on the passenger side, have not seen it when mounted on drivers side.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by drpeters

My laser alert goes off on bright mornings when the sun is bouncing off of oncoming traffic windshields with a blinding light. It feels like a laser in my retina so I am guessing that is why it is a false alert. The gesture control false alarms happened whenmy V1 gen 2 was mounted on the passenger side, have not seen it when mounted on drivers side.

I'll keep that possibility in mind next time I'm out in the car. Usage of the car is on hold as I await tomorrow's (Thursday Dec. 19) 1200 mile service.

My radar detector mounting location is on the driver's side just enough to left of the inside rear view mirror for clearance and to be sure the detector is not looking through any window tint or other surface/internal treatment that might interfere with radar/laser signal reception.