Help with X50 radar falsies, electrical-related

[stubble!]

I have had an escort x50 for several years, and it's always had an issue with false laser alerts (and sometimes POP) when the engine revs up. In the past it was usually when the bike was cold and it stopped for the most part after the first few miles, so it was annoying but not terrible.

 

I recently cleaned up the power cabling for my Zumo 550 and radar and now I get false laser alerts constantly, basically whenever the RPMs are over 5-6k. The power cables for the radar and Zumo are wired into a single powerlet plug, which plugs into a socket that is direct-wired to the battery. This isn't really new, what changed recently was that I cleaned up the wires and removed a couple of adapters and splitters in the tank bag.

 

Another possible factor is that my AGM battery is on the way out again, and I have not replaced it to see if that's the reason for the false alerts.

 

I don't get false alerts in my truck.

 

In an attempt to kill electrical noise I added several ferrite beads to the power cables and it did help a little, but not much.

 

I've read this isn't an uncommon issue with the X50 on some vehicles, and I'm wondering if there's anything else I should try before I give up and buy a different detector for the bike.

 

[OoPEZoO]

It could have something to do with noise interference from your ignition wires. Have you ever tried running a temporary power wire from your X50 directly to the battery? Maybe over the tank and under the seat instead of mixed in with the rest of the wiring of the bike. If it makes a difference, it might help changing the X50 power cord to shielded cable.

 

Another thought:

The only goofy thing that ever happened with my X50 had to do with the audio out being mono with a floating ground. If you connect the audio out from an X50 to another piece of electronics on your bike that is grounded (like a bike powered Autocom), it will cause all kinds of weird crap. Mine used to work OK for awhile, then it would start to act up, then it would shut itself down. I no longer have the issue because I moved over to a Sena Bluetooth wireless system.

[stubble!]

Thanks Keith for your reply. The X50's power cable is about 10" and terminates in a powerlet plug. The Zumo's power cable of similar length is also wired parallel into this plug. The plug mates to a socket that's directly connected to the battery, also only about 10" of wire (and a fuse). The battery on the K12S is right in front of the tank by the handlebars, so very convenient for this type of direct wire.

 

Interesting notes on the audio aspect. I did have radar audio wired to an autocom until recently, but just switched to a Sena SR10 paired to a SMH10 headset. The false alert issue was present with both systems.

 

[smiller]

It's not an uncommon problem for some radar detectors, I experienced similar issues with my older V1 (the newer V1's have better isolation and are generally well-behaved) when I moved it from my low-tech oilhead RT to my high-tech K.

 

You can try some diagnostics like powering the detector from a completely independent battery with the detector mounted in place on the bike. This will help to isolate the problem to external RF interference or noise on the power supply, but if you are receiving laser alerts the noise is probably coming in on the power leads.

 

Chokes (ferrite beads) often aren't all that effective, what I did was install some RF bypass capacitors (anything in the .01 to .1 uf range should do) from the positive and negative leads directly to ground, as close as possible to the detector. Note that the ground end of the caps should go to a solid, low impedance ground like the frame or directly to the battery for maximum effectiveness. This largely cured the problem on my bike, although since these problems can be pretty squirrely and vary bike-to-bike it may or may not be effective on yours.

[stubble!]

As an update I changed out the wheezing battery for a new lithium jobbie. A world of difference in firing up the motor, not to mention the POUNDS of weight savings, but no change unfortunately in the false alerts. I also tried another variable of leaving the zumo off, but again no change. Have not tried powering off a separate battery yet, but I agree with the impression that it's coming from the leads. Probably worth a shot to prove it.

 

Seth can you point me to a resource for the bypass capacitors you mentioned and maybe a diagram of the technique? I'm not an electronics whiz but can wield a soldering iron and I think I'd like to try that approach before I punt to another detector or send the X50 in for de-tuning.

[OoPEZoO]

Something like the caps he mentioned could be picked up locally from a Radio Shack, or ordered online from a place like Digikey.com

 

Should look something like this

LINK

[na1g]

Try contacting tech support at Escort. There was a similar problem with Honda CRV cars that caused the X50 to signal false laser reports when the horn was beeped. (Actually, the X50 reports and the car XM radio jumps frequencies when the horn is beeped) So your similar problem seems like a vehicle problem, not an Escort X50 problem, or a combination of both. Ferrite beads don't work but the bypass capacitors may. A shielded power cord also might work. You might try to borrow a different brand of detector to see if that helps.

 

For what it's worth, my 2011 RT does not cause this problem but I haven't solved it on my 2007 CRV.

 

pete

pete

[smiller]

Ideal would be a low-inductance capacitor such as an axial lead ceramic unit, but it's not super-critical and if you don't want to hassle mail order you can get ceramic disc capacitors at Radio Shack. At RS the prices are high and the selction poor but any ceramic or film capacitor in the 0.01-0.1 uf (10-100 pf) range should work. Voltage rating should be 25 or higher but beyond that it doesn't matter.

 

I don't have a drawing program handy but just connect a capacitor from both the positive and negative power leads (one cap for each) of the radar detector directly to a good ground (frame or negative battery terminal if possible) through as short a wire as possible, and as close to the radar detector as possible. IOW the capacitor would be a 'short' to ground if it were a piece of wire (but it isn't, and since it is a cap it will only conduct AC to ground, which is what we want.) In a very stubborn case you may want to use a set of 0.1 and 0.01 uf caps (two units) on each power lead (+ and -) of the detector to ground as this will be even more effective (filter out a broader range of noise.) Normally one would engineer all of this more precisely but that's difficult in this case so we just brute-force and hope for the best.

 

Again, can't guarantee this will work but it will be much more effective than external ferrite beads and since it costs next to nothing it's worth a try. There are also commercial DC power line filters designed for automotive applications but good ones can be pricey (and still not guaranteed to work) so try the above first. In my case I went from unusable (constant laser alert falses) to virtually no problem at all. That was with a different detector and a different bike so YMMV, but the problem and the cure is universal so let's cross our fingers...