Radar detector question for current owners

[tomfence]

Having driven a minivan for the past 12 years, I was not overly concerned with my lead foot, feeling like the police would pity me before they would ticket me
But I think that things might change with my grand touring, so I purchased the Radenso pro m, which would be my first radar detector in 25+ years. If possible I would like to hardwire it also. I feel like I read somewhere that the windshield coating may prevent the devices from working correctly. I just wanted to check if anyone has successfully installed a detector and hardwired it, and if so, how/where (on the windshield), and do I need to purchase anything additional to allow it to work?
Thanks for your help/advice.

 

[MoniputerLM]

I have used the K40 Platinum 360 radar system in most of my cars and am having one installed in the DE next week. The system is pricy but installed outside of the cabin so not visible and not affected by the glass coatings. The Lucid might present issues for the installer. Will find out soon!

K40 Platinum360 Dual Receiver Radar Detector

K40’s newest technology makes the Platinum360 the most reliable radar system you can buy, backed by a company that genuinely cares about your satisfaction.

k40.com

 

[SaratogaLefty]

I have used the K40 Platinum 360 radar system in most of my cars and am having one installed in the DE next week. The system is pricy but installed outside of the cabin so not visible and not affected by the glass coatings. The Lucid might present issues for the installer. Will find out soon!

K40 Platinum360 Dual Receiver Radar Detector

K40’s newest technology makes the Platinum360 the most reliable radar system you can buy, backed by a company that genuinely cares about your satisfaction.

k40.com

Please provide more information after your installation is completed.

 

[hmp10]

Having driven a minivan for the past 12 years, I was not overly concerned with my lead foot, feeling like the police would pity me before they would ticket me
But I think that things might change with my grand touring, so I purchased the Radenso pro m, which would be my first radar detector in 25+ years. If possible I would like to hardwire it also. I feel like I read somewhere that the windshield coating may prevent the devices from working correctly. I just wanted to check if anyone has successfully installed a detector and hardwired it, and if so, how/where (on the windshield), and do I need to purchase anything additional to allow it to work?
Thanks for your help/advice.

We put a Radenso remote system in our Model S Plaid and are scheduled to have one put in the Lucid Air in late February. After years of using Escort Passports, I was reluctant to switch when we got the Plaid, but chip shortages meant Escort was out of stock. It turns out we like the Radenso system better. (It's a 5-day installation job, so that was the earliest the shop had that block of time free.)

Unfortunately, due to the metallic coating on the glass, the only place a portable radar detector unit can be used in a Lucid is in the lower passenger-side corner of the windshield where Lucid created a small window for passive things such as toll pass readers. It's a very inconvenient place for anything that needs wiring or needs to be controlled by the driver or passenger. (I was told of this by Zak Edson, Lucid's VP of Sales & Service, so it's reliable information. And you can see the small window in the windshield coating very clearly from inside and outside the car.)

I'm afraid the unit you bought is not going to be the right equipment for this car.

You're right to worry about speeding tickets, though. Due to the smoothness of Lucid's massive power delivery and the quiet and compliant ride, you can be at speeds you did not intend unless you are very diligent. In our Model S Plaid, you feel the speed. In the Lucid you don't.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

We put a Radenso remote system in our Model S Plaid and are scheduled to have one put in the Lucid Air in late February. After years of using Escort Passports, I was reluctant to switch when we got the Plaid, but chip shortages meant Escort was out of stock. It turns out we like the Radenso system better. (It's a 5-day installation job, so that was the earliest the shop had that block of time free.)

Unfortunately, due to the metallic coating on the glass, the only place a portable radar detector unit can be used in a Lucid is in the lower passenger-side corner of the windshield where Lucid created a small window for passive things such as toll pass readers. It's a very inconvenient place for anything that needs wiring or needs to be controlled by the driver or passenger. (I was told of this by Zak Edson, Lucid's VP of Sales & Service, so it's reliable information. And you can see the small window in the windshield coating very clearly from inside and outside the car.)

I'm afraid the unit you bought is not going to be the right equipment for this car.

You're right to worry about speeding tickets, though. Due to the smoothness of Lucid's massive power delivery and the quiet and compliant ride, you can be at speeds you did not intend unless you are very diligent. In our Model S Plaid, you feel the speed. In the Lucid you don't.

Yeah when I talked with the two techs at Millbrae, they told me to try it up on the windshield and see if it works but at a minimum the range will be impacted. As you say, I can mount it over in the lower right section. I use an iPhone App called V1Driver with the Valentine and I don't need to touch the unit at all. The app tells me everything I need to know through the car's audio system and will mute the unit easily for me. The main issue is how to hard wire it from that position, but the techs said they would investigate and let me know if it can be done without any negative impact. A second issue is the low mounting position will probably negate any reception from the rear, but reality is the front is where 90% of the hits come anyway.

 

[SaratogaLefty]

We put a Radenso remote system in our Model S Plaid and are scheduled to have one put in the Lucid Air in late February. After years of using Escort Passports, I was reluctant to switch when we got the Plaid, but chip shortages meant Escort was out of stock. It turns out we like the Radenso system better. (It's a 5-day installation job, so that was the earliest the shop had that block of time free.)

Unfortunately, due to the metallic coating on the glass, the only place a portable radar detector unit can be used in a Lucid is in the lower passenger-side corner of the windshield where Lucid created a small window for passive things such as toll pass readers. It's a very inconvenient place for anything that needs wiring or needs to be controlled by the driver or passenger. (I was told of this by Zak Edson, Lucid's VP of Sales & Service, so it's reliable information. And you can see the small window in the windshield coating very clearly from inside and outside the car.)

I'm afraid the unit you bought is not going to be the right equipment for this car.

You're right to worry about speeding tickets, though. Due to the smoothness of Lucid's massive power delivery and the quiet and compliant ride, you can be at speeds you did not intend unless you are very diligent. In our Model S Plaid, you feel the speed. In the Lucid you don't.

I will appreciate any information you can provide about the Radenso installation. I think you are in SoCal so might be worth a trip down there if your guy does a good job on the Dream.

 

[hydbob]

It's weird, I don't see a cutout square on my windshield that is missing that coating...is it visible to the naked eye like in that picture?

 

[hmp10]

It's weird, I don't see a cutout square on my windshield that is missing that coating...is it visible to the naked eye like in that picture?

It's easily visible in our car, both from the inside and out. It appears as a pale purplish rectangle in this picture (but in actuality it is a clear spot in the tinted windshield).

 

[hmp10]

I will appreciate any information you can provide about the Radenso installation. I think you are in SoCal so might be worth a trip down there if your guy does a good job on the Dream.

I'm in southwest Florida.

The Radenso gets very good reviews from independent testers who consistently find its sensitivity a tad less than the Passport's but its filtering algorithms better. I like its user controls better, as both the display and the controls are integrated into a single unit instead of the dual units used by the Passport. Also, when the laser jammer activates in our Passport and you slow before the police can reset their gun, you then have to turn off the jammer manually in the Passport. In the Radenso, the jammer will turn itself off automatically at the interval you set (between 2-6 seconds). And if you want to mute the Radenso, you can do so by hitting any of the first three control buttons, meaning you don't have to look for or feel out a tiny mute button as with the Passport.

The Radenso is a fully modular product, meaning you can choose how many radar antennas you want, whether you want laser detecting and jamming only up front, on both ends, or at all. However, as some EVs (new Teslas included) no longer have a switched 12-volt circuit that goes completely dead when the car is turned off, it takes some engineering by the installer to find a workaround. For our Tesla, the installer had to build and program a module that read a voltage drop in the power line to the center screen as the signal to power down the radar unit. (Our installer has been ranked among the top 12 installers in the nation at the annual trade convention for this industry. He photographically documents every step of the installation for reference should the car need repair or body work, he engraves all the component serial and models numbers on a plate he installs in the door jamb for warranty and replacement purposes, etc. He has a 3D printer, acrylic fabrication equipment, and an upholstery shop for matching any control housings to a car's interior.)

In the Tesla, we opted for laser detection only in the front, as we don't plan any long road trips in it. (Lasers are used by police to fire at cars from the rear primarily from bridge overpasses on interstates.) That installation cost just over $8,000. The more-complete Lucid array is going to cost $10,038.66. (I know because I'm still grimacing from writing the check just a few days ago.)

 

[hydbob]

I don't have the cutout...hmmmm...

 

[hmp10]

That's interesting. And we don't have the product stamp that you're showing in that location.

I wonder if Lucid switched suppliers for the canopy along the way? That is not an "off-the-shelf" sort of part. It would take quite a bit of time and effort for another vendor to ramp up for a piece of automotive glass this large and complex.

 

[hydbob]

Yea, I wonder if that means I don't have the UV film...maybe this is part of the fit and finish part problem they were having? Either way, I'll ask the service guy when he comes to replace the door latch

 

[hmp10]

I'm sure you have UV protection, as that comes from the plastic film that is used in all laminated windshield glass. I think the question is more about IR blocking, as I think that's what the metallic coating handles.

Just a SWAG here, but if you have an earlier generation of glass canopy, I'd bet you have the IR blocking, as the car would be intolerable in warm climates without it. If anything, it's probably the non-metallicized "window" you're missing for an RF signal to reach the cabin.

 

[hmp10]

I'm wondering if someone makes an RF antenna for a car that transmits signals to a receiver inside the cabin. A lot of newer cars are using films and coatings that can interfere with RF signals to some degree.

When we were building our house, no one had trouble getting a cell signal inside the house. But as soon as the high-efficiency windows were installed, all the contractors lost their cell signals, no matter who the carrier was. We had to mount an antenna on the outside of the house that transmits signals to repeaters installed above the ceilings on both floors. I'm thinking the same principle could work for RF signals in a car.

 

[hydbob]

I'm sure you have UV protection, as that comes from the plastic film that is used in all laminated windshield glass. I think the question is more about IR blocking, as I think that's what the metallic coating handles.

Just a SWAG here, but if you have an earlier generation of glass canopy, I'd bet you have the IR blocking, as the car would be intolerable in warm climates without it. If anything, it's probably the non-metallicized "window" you're missing for an RF signal to reach the cabin.

Yea you are probably right, and since I wouldn't use that window, it shouldn't be an issue. I'll ask anyways to get clarification just for completeness.

 

[hmp10]

And we don't have the product stamp that you're showing in that location.

Oops. Just took a closer look, and we do have that Lucid stamp in the glass inside the clear "window".

 

[niejelow]

We put a Radenso remote system in our Model S Plaid and are scheduled to have one put in the Lucid Air in late February. After years of using Escort Passports, I was reluctant to switch when we got the Plaid, but chip shortages meant Escort was out of stock. It turns out we like the Radenso system better. (It's a 5-day installation job, so that was the earliest the shop had that block of time free.)

Unfortunately, due to the metallic coating on the glass, the only place a portable radar detector unit can be used in a Lucid is in the lower passenger-side corner of the windshield where Lucid created a small window for passive things such as toll pass readers. It's a very inconvenient place for anything that needs wiring or needs to be controlled by the driver or passenger. (I was told of this by Zak Edson, Lucid's VP of Sales & Service, so it's reliable information. And you can see the small window in the windshield coating very clearly from inside and outside the car.)

I'm afraid the unit you bought is not going to be the right equipment for this car.

You're right to worry about speeding tickets, though. Due to the smoothness of Lucid's massive power delivery and the quiet and compliant ride, you can be at speeds you did not intend unless you are very diligent. In our Model S Plaid, you feel the speed. In the Lucid you don't.

If I am not mistaken not all Lucid Air Dreams have that sppot in the windshield

 

[hydbob]

If I am not mistaken not all Lucid Air Dreams have that sppot in the windshield

Yep, will ask the service guys about it next time