West Coast Testing

[RedRocket]

Hi RedRocket, I understand your thoughts and concerns regarding a lengthy "pass" driving towards a "shooter" in a test situation. A shorter "pass" will have the Laser Diodes actually firing for a shorter period of time, thereby keeping the Transponder cooler. Hopefully that will prolong the life-cycle (life-span?) of the Laser Diodes. So, that deals with a heating, or possibly an over-heating situation. If the Laser Diodes actually do have a finite life-cycle (life-span?), what are your thoughts regarding the number of times a Laser Diode actually fires? In other words, if a member tests his car's ALP systems every couple of months with an array of different Lidar guns, in order to confirm that the transponders are still positioned correctly and successfully perform their function, would or could that amount of testing eat into the life-cycle (life-span?) of the Laser Diodes and/or the Transponder?

While I rarely have an encounter with actual Lidar, (I have actually encountered Lidar only in NY, CT, and MA, when driving to and from your area), maybe the more often testing I perform on my systems might equate to members who have numerous actual Lidar encounters but who rarely test their systems.

What are your thoughts or advice? Should I keep the actual testing down to a minimum, in order to conserve the number of remaining life-cycles available, for actual Lidar encounter situations?

I personally don't Test my install frequently w/ normal testing runs like we do at Meets. Occasionally, I do use the AL handheld Tester to fire the Transponders for a short burst & use my IR camera to view the patterns & relative output to make sure all still looks good. I also infrequently look/check physical alignment to make sure nothing has changed.
At present, there is no history on the life cycle reliance of the Priority & I was one of the earlier adopters of the "Priority" when it came out in late 2013. I've had plenty of encounters over that period including lots of initial Testing when I first got them...so that a damn good history so far. Only time will tell how much life is left in them.

I understand. But the bigger picture is to avoid getting clocked by an officer at a "ticket-worthy" speed. It'd be nice to know how much speed could be reduced before PT happens.

Your main concern once your sys. is fully Tested soon is to remember in a real LEO encounter is to not stab the brakes to hard that you cause the nose of the car to "dip" to severely...if you do, that will likely result in an instant P/T !

You need to be quick but also smart about it.

[SurrealOne]

how does one use a IR camera to view patterns? And what kind of IR camera do you use?

[RedRocket]

how does one use a IR camera to view patterns? And what kind of IR camera do you use?

I use a cheap camera I bought off the Internet that had the "hot" mirror removed.
I place a wide (as wide as the Front of my car) cardboard placard (painted light grey) I made so all 3 Transponders fit on it & get 3 images like the single one you see below.

[SurrealOne]

I use a cheap camera I bought off the Internet that had the "hot" mirror removed.
I place a wide (as wide as the Front of my car) cardboard placard (painted light grey) I made so all 3 Transponders fit on it & get 3 images like the single one you see below.

Very cool I'm thinking about renting a IR cam from local hardware store(homedepot) You think that would work?

[RedRocket]

Very cool I'm thinking about renting a IR cam from local hardware store(homedepot) You think that would work?

I have no idea what the particulars of this camera are for viewing 905nm IR...so why don't you inquire about what its wavelength response is in the IR range before spending money.

[SurrealOne]

That's great advice and thank you

[ptatohed]

I forgot about this thread. I had started following the one on rdforum. Are you guys following that thread too?

[RedRocket]

I forgot about this thread. I had started following the one on rdforum. Are you guys following that thread too?

Not me...gotta link ?

[ptatohed]

Not me...gotta link ?

I wasn't sure if that was cool to do or not? Anyway, here it is.

https://www.rdforum.org/showthread.php?t=55546

[SurrealOne]

Not sure whats going on I was planning on the dry lake bed but after looking at the other forum it looks like things have changed. Not sure what to do now?