Bill_Walker Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Other folks have posted here that their V1s and FRS radios work great inside an enclosed tank bag, but my experience has been otherwise. I think I've finally found the reason! I use a Marsee tank bag, which has a silver interior. I believe this silver has a metallic component, causing the tank bag to work as a weak Faraday cage, attenuating RF signals. This became very clear to me on this trip to Torrey, since I brought my V-Strom, which lacks a mount for my V-1, unlike my RT. I put the V-1 in the inside map pocket of my tank bag, and found that it was underreporting signals in known places (e.g., shopping centers). I moved it up to the clear outside map pocket and it worked as expected. Link to comment
EffBee Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Thanks, Bill. Good thing to know. I've got a couple of tankbag electrification/installation projects scheduled for some people. I don't think any of them are going to be in a Marsee tankbag, but I'll keep an eye out for them and for any other brands using silverized/aluminized liners. Link to comment
ProductUser Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 I ran into a similar problem in my electrified tank bag project. I had the power lead from the V1 too close to the positive and negative cables that powered my tank bag fuse panel. Once I re-routed the V1 power wires, everything worked as expected. In addition, the background noise I received while transmitting (Kenwood TK-3101) also went away. ProductUser Link to comment
BigAL Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Do those of you who use the V1 INSIDE your tankbags find that it picks up on radar well enough ? It'd be a great place to put mine, rather than out in the rain...... AL Link to comment
Bill_Walker Posted October 3, 2007 Author Share Posted October 3, 2007 Do those of you who use the V1 INSIDE your tankbags find that it picks up on radar well enough ? It'd be a great place to put mine, rather than out in the rain...... AL Well, you do lose any laser (lidar) coverage by putting the unit in the bag, but radar coverage works pretty well, as long as it's at the very top of the bag (and not inside any aluminized compartment!). Another option is a plastic case for the radar detector. Link to comment
lawnchairboy Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 the stock BMW RT tank bag works for my V-1 on the inside. I have it on a shelf which is located as high in the bag as it possibly can be located and still get the top of the bag closed and located left of center in the bag. Radar it picks up, LIDAR, you are screwed. It's like fernando said one time, it is almost boring waiting to see the cop, especially if he is just running active radar constantly running down the road, you'll have plenty of warning. Instant on, that's another problem, that's why you try and keep some "bait" out in front of you. The rearward warning on the V-1 has alerted me before also... I have the remote visual module for the V-1 located inside the map pocket of my tank bag... Link to comment
KMG_365 Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 the stock BMW RT tank bag works for my V-1 on the inside. I have it on a shelf which is located as high in the bag as it possibly can be located and still get the top of the bag closed and located left of center in the bag. Radar it picks up, LIDAR, you are screwed. It's like fernando said one time, it is almost boring waiting to see the cop, especially if he is just running active radar constantly running down the road, you'll have plenty of warning. Instant on, that's another problem, that's why you try and keep some "bait" out in front of you. The rearward warning on the V-1 has alerted me before also... I have the remote visual module for the V-1 located inside the map pocket of my tank bag... Yeah, I have to differ with the folks who say there's no benefit in Laser/LIDAR detection. Mine has saved me at least twice that I know of. Check out the tips from Mike Valentine himself. Link to comment
lawnchairboy Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 yes, I am sure you can get warned, I have been in my cage from Lidar... It is a choice on my part due to the local law's choice of weapon for speed detection and my desire to walk away from the bike with the tank bag with ALL of it in there and off the bike... v-1, gmrs, xm, phone, yada yada yada... or maybe just lack of creativity in mounting/powering and weather protecting the V-1 outside the tank bag.. Link to comment
KMG_365 Posted October 5, 2007 Share Posted October 5, 2007 [ . . .] my desire to walk away from the bike with the tank bag with ALL of it in there and off the bike... v-1, gmrs, xm, phone, yada yada yada... or maybe just lack of creativity in mounting/powering and weather protecting the V-1 outside the tank bag.. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound confrontational and I understand your point, "lawn". Personally, I cross the country at least once a year so I have to be prepared for all "weapon's of choice" and I just have to remember to leave space in the BigMak tank bag to pull the V-1, GPS, and XM off the GadgetGuy bracket (takes all of 15 seconds) and stow them in with the cell phone when I leave the bike (the Autocom and GMRS live safely in the locked glove box already ). The XM is in a vinyl make-up bag Leslie found at WallyWorld for $2.00 and the GPS is waterproof. The weatherproofness of the V-1 is an issue, but it's fairly weather resistant behind the windscreen and in total frog-stranglers I either stow it in the tank bag (the likelihood of either me speeding or a LEO watching are both very small in these situations) or pull the SaranWrap "shower cap" (the ones with the elastic band for putting over bowls) out of the tankbag and throw it on until I clear the weather. Also, I've read here of (and personally experienced) V-1's which have gotten soaked to the point of malfunction which, when allowed to dry back out, regain full function. There are many ways to skin a cat! Link to comment
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