Passport 8500 Radar Detector

[Geezer]

I think Fred (and Prof. Ionbeam) have the right answer. The only time I get the false laser signals is after I have left my bike parked outside on a damp night. This usually happens when I am camping. Once it has been in the sun for a while the false signals stop. So, it is definitely related to moisture.

It is annoying enough that I plan to disable the laser warning.

 

[madmike2]

Mine used to do it when I was riding in a spirited manner. Especially when the RPMs were higher on the meter. I guessed it might be a signal the computer was sending and the 8500 interpreted as a laser.

It hasn't done so since I move the detector.

 

[puppychow]

Mine used to do it when I was riding in a spirited manner. Especially when the RPMs were higher on the meter. I guessed it might be a signal the computer was sending and the 8500 interpreted as a laser.

It hasn't done so since I move the detector.

This! I have had issues with my V1 when running the FJR in a spirited manner with high RPM's. I get spurious readings on my remote display as well as audio alerts. Not exactly laser readings but radar hits when none exist. Seemed to me like electrical issues, but only happens after sustained spirited riding..

 

[DANA]

I have a Passport 9500IX which has given me a false laser warning a few times. This usually happens at higher RPM such as when passing a car. The tech at Passport told me that if the vibration frequency transfered from the motorcycle to the detector was just right, it would trigger a laser warning. The detector would need sent in for a software update to correct that issue. Still, it is an awesome detector.

 

[rdg20]

This is a known problem with the Passport 8500. There are some caps that age and don't filter the input power adequately. See the forum at https://www.escortradarforum.com for more details.

 

[Fred W]

What Geezer was referring to:

Both Professor ionbeam and I have experienced intermittent false alarms on our own respective Escort Passport 8500's (at different times). In both cases we were able to rescusitate our old RDs by carefully opening them up and (using static free tools) clean off the circuit boards and blow out the heterodynes, inside the units. I've also had occasion where I tried to use the RD in the rain with a plastic sandwich baggie, which eventually allowed enough moisture inside to cause it to give constant false alarms (K ro Ka I forget which it was). I just turned it off and unplugged it to try to prevent any further damage. Eventually it dried out and recovered on its own when fully dry.

If the only falses are on Laser, you could just program that function off. If you get shot by a real laser speed trap, when the alarm goers off, it is just to inform you that you'll be getting a ticket. I've programmed my X-band off because I know that no cops around here still use it. I hear that New Jersey does, and maybe Virginia, since you can't even legally use a detector, why would they bother to upgrade? X band is also the most common false alarm, as it is widely used for automatic door openers. If your RD is accurately reporting K and KA you are still getting the best help you can get.

A slightly different situation that I have encountered is that, sometimes I'll be riding along through a very rural area, on a perfectly clear and dry day, and suddenly, beeeeep, beeep, beep, beep , beep! Get a laser alert! Laser alerts on the passports, as you probably already know, are always at maximum intensity, so they can be kind of jolting when you get one out of the blue, out in the boonies. I've noticed these seem to be most often in the White Mountain National Forest. So, I wonder if someone has set up some sort of a hidden, unmanned, laser speed measuring device of some sort to find out what the average speeds are on these roads? So far I've never been able to spot where the alarm actually came from. One day I will try back tracking to where the alarm started and see if I can sniff it out.

 

[CAJW]

Like Fred, I've gotten Laser alerts in the absolute middle of nowhere, which must have been false. While riding the Cherohala Skyway years ago, I got 4 or 5 Laser alerts where I would've been very surprised if a LEO was using one. One other oddity, when I honk the horn (both on the bike and in my cage) the Laser alert goes off. I'm not a good enough sparky to figure that one out so at some point, I'll send it back in for a tune up if I get to the point where the alerts are just to annoying. Either that or just defeat it since I'm sure I'd get an award if actually targeted by laser.

 

[Geezer]

Like Fred, I've gotten Laser alerts in the absolute middle of nowhere, which must have been false. While riding the Cherohala Skyway years ago, I got 4 or 5 Laser alerts where I would've been very surprised if a LEO was using one. One other oddity, when I honk the horn (both on the bike and in my cage) the Laser alert goes off. I'm not a good enough sparky to figure that one out so at some point, I'll send it back in for a tune up if I get to the point where the alerts are just to annoying. Either that or just defeat it since I'm sure I'd get an award if actually targeted by laser.

I too get the occasional laser alert out of nowhere. It has happened since my 8500 X50 was new. And I also get the false laser signal when I honk the horn. My Escort is powered through the horn circuit so I assume it is a voltage drop causing it. I actually take advamtage of this to test my helmet speakers once in a while. These don't bother me as much as the repeated false alarms I get from moisture.

 

[painman]

Like Fred, I've gotten Laser alerts in the absolute middle of nowhere, which must have been false. While riding the Cherohala Skyway years ago, I got 4 or 5 Laser alerts where I would've been very surprised if a LEO was using one. One other oddity, when I honk the horn (both on the bike and in my cage) the Laser alert goes off. I'm not a good enough sparky to figure that one out so at some point, I'll send it back in for a tune up if I get to the point where the alerts are just to annoying. Either that or just defeat it since I'm sure I'd get an award if actually targeted by laser.

I too get the occasional laser alert out of nowhere. It has happened since my 8500 X50 was new. And I also get the false laser signal when I honk the horn. My Escort is powered through the horn circuit so I assume it is a voltage drop causing it. I actually take advamtage of this to test my helmet speakers once in a while. These don't bother me as much as the repeated false alarms I get from moisture.

Just thinking outside the box here, but when in the trucking business years ago, aircraft would use road markers or objects to "time" your speed and relay it to a waiting LEO. Just wondering if that "bear in the air" could be using laser and causing an alert? PM.

 

[ionbeam]

...Just wondering if that "bear in the air" could be using laser and causing an alert? PM.

Nope, the laser gun can not be moving (so far) which is why all laser traffic patrol is standing by the car or shooting from a parked car.

When the sun is lower in the sky, especially during fall afternoons and you ride through tree shadows which strobes the sunlight it fakes out the laser sensor with pulsing light causing falsing.

You know that handy volt meter that the Escorts have? It's just a secondary thought to make a voltage display for our convenience. The detector has to monitor the supply voltage because the power through the receiver affects its sensitivity so the software needs to know what the voltage is. The detector also needs to have a fairly stable power supply to work correctly, rapidly changing voltage or electrical noise gives the detector indigestion resulting in false beeps.