Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post - DIY: Blinder installation and radar detector hardwire

semtex · 01-21-2010, 10:31 AM

A couple of other things I forgot to mention. First, are you aware that you can test your Blinder with any standard TV remote? By standard I mean IR-based. It won't work if your remote works via UHF or Bluetooth. Now, the beam from a TV remote is pretty weak, relative to one from a police laser gun, so you have to pretty much hold the thing up to one of the transponders. But it should set the thing off. (This will work for testing the laser portion of a radar detector such as a Passport or Valentine 1 as well, btw.) Bear in mind that this will not test for range. Again, you have to hold the thing pretty close to a transponder to set it off, so obviously you're not proving the effectiveness of your Blinder at distance or anything like that. This test will, however, at least confirm for you that your unit is working and will go off when hit with a beam.

The second thing I wanted to mention is this. At various intersections in my county, we've got red-light cameras installed, and the units my county installed are all laser based. Guess what happens whenever I stop for a red light at one of these intersections? My Blinder alert comes on and stays on for the duration of the entire red light. I think this is significant because I presume that those who are concerned that my transponders are mounted too low are concerned that they're too low to jam a beam that is fired from typical chest height. Cops don't shoot their laser guns while laying prone on the ground, after all. Well, consider how high up red light cameras are mounted. They're up around what....10 or 12 ft? So the beam is hitting my car from high up at a downward angle, and the Blinder still works. So from this alone I'm pretty sure that the transponders aren't mounted too low. Don't get me wrong -- mounting them higher up certainly isn't going to hurt anything. But I wouldn't be worried with mounting them where I have them either is all I'm saying.

Hope this helps!

01-21-2010, 10:31 AM	#58 (permalink)
semtex A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Behind enemy lines Age: 54 Posts: 5,995 Drives: People to drink Rep Power: 32	A couple of other things I forgot to mention. First, are you aware that you can test your Blinder with any standard TV remote? By standard I mean IR-based. It won't work if your remote works via UHF or Bluetooth. Now, the beam from a TV remote is pretty weak, relative to one from a police laser gun, so you have to pretty much hold the thing up to one of the transponders. But it should set the thing off. (This will work for testing the laser portion of a radar detector such as a Passport or Valentine 1 as well, btw.) Bear in mind that this will not test for range. Again, you have to hold the thing pretty close to a transponder to set it off, so obviously you're not proving the effectiveness of your Blinder at distance or anything like that. This test will, however, at least confirm for you that your unit is working and will go off when hit with a beam. The second thing I wanted to mention is this. At various intersections in my county, we've got red-light cameras installed, and the units my county installed are all laser based. Guess what happens whenever I stop for a red light at one of these intersections? My Blinder alert comes on and stays on for the duration of the entire red light. I think this is significant because I presume that those who are concerned that my transponders are mounted too low are concerned that they're too low to jam a beam that is fired from typical chest height. Cops don't shoot their laser guns while laying prone on the ground, after all. Well, consider how high up red light cameras are mounted. They're up around what....10 or 12 ft? So the beam is hitting my car from high up at a downward angle, and the Blinder still works. So from this alone I'm pretty sure that the transponders aren't mounted too low. Don't get me wrong -- mounting them higher up certainly isn't going to hurt anything. But I wouldn't be worried with mounting them where I have them either is all I'm saying. Hope this helps! __________________ "There are no small accidents on this circuit." -- Ayrton Senna 316.8whp & 248 ft/lbs (Dyno Dynamics) \| 319whp & 256 ft/lbs (DynoJet) (04/23/10) Stillen G3 CAI, CBE, Pulley / F.I. LTH / GTSpec Ladder Brace / Setrab Oil Cooler / UpRev-tuned by Forged Perf.