Radar Detector - Weird Behavior

[ZoomVT]

OK here is the deal.
My radar detector (Escort Passport 8500 Red) has been very good, since i had it i have received no tickets and my driving record has been clean for over 3 years.
About 2 months ago, i madea 4 hour trip to Foxwoods casino in CT and borrowed my roommates Magellan GPS. I used a cigarrete lighter extension plug (4-1) to connect both the GPS and the Radar. Everything worked great throughout the trip, except when i got back and disconnected the GPS, my radar went ******* crazy.
Since that time, my radar goes crazy at different times reporting LASER when there is obviously no LASER around, even worse in VT where they have 1 laser gun in the whole state.
Now, there is sort of a method to the radar madness. It goes off whenever i reach certain "milestone" RPMs. SO it goes off when i hit 3k, 3500, 4k and 4500 RPM. Also not all the time but very often it goes off when i reach 3250, 3750, 4250, 5000 RPM. Believe me, that s*** gets annoying very fast.
Regardless what gear im in, the radar goes off when i hit these RPMS, and the LASER stays on for a little while after. Thank god this thing has a mute button near the shift knob, or i would be crazy by now, but i think the LASER being the highest reported alert, it ignores any lower alerts while it has the LASER on, rendering it useless.
One more thing, some people suggested that some reflections could trigger these alerts. nonsense.
i moved the radar around the windshield and surprise! it worked for 1 or 2 days max, the it would start doing it again.


Any ideas on WTF is happening here?
Suggestions? solutions?

 

[sanblaster]

How old is it? If it is between 3-5 years get a new one. Have you tried turning it off and leaving it off for a while. Does it have a fuse that maybe you can replace? Move it to a different location for a while. I don't have any other ideas. That is strange.

 

[ZoomVT]

it is 3 years old now, but it has been babied. Also, even after 3 years it is still top of the line only behind the Valentine One. Other than that it works fine, this seems to be a problem with the 12v cig lighter outlet.
I am not sure if its outputting too much power and the radar is going crazy at those points or what, otherwise i cant see the connection between RPM and radar.
Someone told me that maybe my alternator was ******.

 

[DeanSweet]

I would call Passport on this one... in the past, they generally have superb customer support. 800-543-1608

 

[ZoomVT]

hmm, i am going to try to call them, maybe they will offer a free replacement?
ha that would be nice. doubt it.

 

[sanblaster]

hmm, i am going to try to call them, maybe they will offer a free replacement?
ha that would be nice. doubt it.

s*** doesn't hurt to call bro. Tell them everything on your first post maybe they have an idea or a solution.

 

[smo0f]

if it's related to rpms then it's related to engine noise. the grounding on your cigarette lighter may have gotten loose possibly. try the radar detector in a different car first, that would be the easiest method of troubleshooting whether it's your cig lighter or radar detector that is faulty.

 

[DeanSweet]

my guess if you ship it to them(they are right up the road from me) they will fix it for cost of shipping, if not, then it will be quoted up front...

-Dean

 

[ZoomVT]

goos call smo0f.
I will try that with my friends car.
i just cant live without my detector....

 

[bdd]

You could put the Magellan GPS back on and see if that regulates the power somehow since that seems to be what caused it. Then you know if it was the detector or the electrical sys.

 

[ZoomVT]

good ideas guys, thanks for the replies.
i am going to try a few of those. The engine noise makes a lot of sense. where is the wire for the ground?
i will also try it in a different car justin case.
and i am going to call Escrot, see if i can score a free replacement.

 

[GHOSTWHISPER]

Holy cock batman i thought this was just me. I have the same radar detector just the blue series and it started doing it to me. So I turned off laser because it got so annoying and now it is starting to do it with POP. This is the problem, I cannot live without a radar detector. So i have to send it on a long weekend. Very ******* weird man... I truly thought i was going nuts... My car is loud as **** too, but i surely dont think that is the problem since it does it my very quiet EP as well.

 

[smo0f]

i would just try it in a different car first, that way you can target the location of the problem. if it's acting the same way in a different car, then you can go ahead and deal with escort right away. otherwise the issue is in your car and you can go from there. no reason to start taking your car apart when the problem is coming from the r.d. all along

 

[ZoomVT]

holy s*** dude.
ha i didnt bring it up earlier because i thought i was crazy and everyone would be like "you are crazy mang..."
ha, yeah i cant live without it and i have been meaning to turn laser off but i am slacker. lol.
but now that you tell me that it will do it with POP then im screwed.
you said your car is loud, but i dont think thats what smo0f is referring to as noise, he means electrical noise i think; thats why he refers to the ground.
Anyway, im gonna give them a call and see what they say.
im starting to worry about my electrical system thats why i brought it up, see my other thread on my CAI problems as reference

 

[GHOSTWHISPER]

Doesnt make any sense man, it doesnt it my almost stock EP as well, it has 23000 miles on it, and it does it in my friends WRX as well, it is the radar detector

 

[GHOSTWHISPER]

keep me informed man

 

[ZoomVT]

well since you tested it with another car then i dont have too
it is the radar detector.
im gonna call Escort in a little while see what they say.

 

[Zano]

Not saying that our issues are related but... I have the 7600s and it goes off everytime a T-Mobile cell phone sends or recieves a call/ text/ whatever. Thankfully I have Verizon, and Passport said it's a common problem with my model.

It could be possible that your radar detector had a short of some sort and now spits warnings of radar when of course there are none.

 

[ZoomVT]

Alright i just talked to the customer support guy.
He says they have heard of this issue before, not common (yeah right dude) but they have heard about it. (By the way, how long have you ha dyours? mine i had for over 3 years).
Anyway, they can take it in and "recalibrate it to factory specs, as well as fix this issue" for the flat fee of 59.xx. that includes shipping it back to you through UPS.
I asked them what was this due to? and he said that the radar has a IR shield or something like that, and that it wears out with time and that the electrical noise ***** with it.
Anyway, this seems to be the answer to this issue.
the bad news is it takes 10 to 12 days to get it back. i cant live half a month with out it.

 

[tsunami]

just drive the speed limit for those 12 days.... there can't be that many cops in vt anyways....