I have created a sub-album of my empeg car installation photos, which shows the stealth mounting of my radar detector.

Click here if you're interested in seeing the details.

so cool. I keep staring at my map light housing to see if there's any way to do something like that, but the roofline curves down....tough.....custom casting time, maybe!

Thanks. I was surprised at how well everything went together once I screwed up the courage to disassemble the casing of the detector. When I bought the unit, I was hoping that I'd find a way to mount it with no disassembly and some clever way to view the display through a carefully aligned window. That dream didn't last long.

It was interesting to see how much wasted space there was in the detector's casing. The thing is easily twice as big as it needs to be. Have you investigated just how much space you'd really need if you dismantled your detector? I'm sure it depends on the detector. I've heard that with some of them, the casing material is an important component. With mine, the casing was plain old ABS plastic and could be discarded without a second thought.

Great idea. My idea would be similar but different. If we could convince ol' mister Valentine (of Valentine 1 fame) to whip out a detector-only detector ... with no display, button, audio, or laser circuitry (to make it small as possible), and swing a Dallas Semi-conductor one wire hookup (or just serial out), run this to the empeg for the display, control, and audio ... then stuff the detector in a similar spot as yours, or in my case, behind the rear view mirror.

The key here would be leaving off all unnecessary circuitry, but adding a method of digital output (like the serial, etc, above).

My problem is the Valentine 1 is unsightly, and it's so damned obvious. If they were priced as other detectors, I'd simply buy it and mod it myself ... but at $400, I'm a little to chicken-[censored] to wave a soldering iron near one.

Greg

I really liked the pictures of the rear-view mirror remote display for the V1 (in another thread in the ICE forum I believe). That was rather excellent. Combine that with a stealth-mount of the VI detector itself and you're golden.

If it weren't for the sudden unexpected expense of the $300.00 ticket, I might have actually been able to afford an ebay'ed V1...

Very nice setup, you have inspired me too try to do the same with mine, and as its is very old Im not worried about breaking it. I am going to require the screen though, being half deaf, I hear little things all the time between my stereo, loud exhaust and Tires roaring I need a little visual confirmation. But I think Ihave the perfect place for it... now just to get off work, so I can work on it.

All I can say is be real careful. I thought I was careful and I broke my screen anyway.

And make sure to test and re-test each modification you make to the detector at every stage. There was a point where I made multiple mods in one fell swoop (button extensions and power-plug removal) at the same time I broke the display. So I can't be certain which of my things caused the unit to quit POSTing properly when the display is powered.

Oh, and another piece of advice. Don't use hot-melt glue for anything in the assembly. My initial attempts at mounting the buttons used hot-melt glue. After the first summer day it spent in the parking lot, all the glue had melted and run away. I re-did it with actual RTV silicone and now all is well.

Why don't you use the Concealed Display for the Valentine?
www.valentine1.com/moreinfo/PriceList.asp $39

I've seen those, those are still way too big for a genuinely stealth installation.

What about the remote audio adapter lower on the page? By the way, how fast were you going for a $300 fine?

Sweet.... another guy that drinks Smirnoff ice (at least from what I can tell in pic #6).

Now I don't feel as bad from everyone always tellin me it's a womans drink.

And then there's the possibility that ice in the pic is actually his wife's drink in which case i'll shutup and deny that I drink it

Bah, I love the stuff.

The Smirnoff Ice was mine, I admit it. I usually only drink sweet-flavored stuff like that. It's essentially alcoholic soda pop. I'm just not much of a hard drinker. And yes, my wife happens to like it, too.

By the way, how fast were you going for a $300 fine?

It's not so much that I was going particularly fast. I think I was doing 71. The problem was that I was on a straight open highway in the middle of B.F. Nowhere, so I guessed the speed limit was 65 or at least 55. Turns out I'd just passed through a "town" (in quotes because it was one of those if-you-blink-you'll-miss-the-7-11-store-that-counts-as-a-"town" places), and that's where the guy was napping with his lights out and his continuous radar on "wake me up if it's worth the effort" mode. So the speed limit was 45. He was right on the edge of the 45 zone, too, so that he could nail people who were speeding up as they exited the town area.

He seemed real grouchy to have been awakened from his nap, too.

He seemed real grouchy to have been awakened from his nap, too.


Naah, probably pissed because you stopped rather than giving him his annual dose of excitement.

Having family now that lives near one of these "towns" I now always respect the speed limits there, just as I do in any area with housing and such. After seeing some people around here in Colorado just go speeding through these places with no thought, I wish more cops would sit around there, instead of random places on empty road.

I'm sure after a $300 fine, you pay attention more in these towns :-)

It's just not that attractive, and I'd much prefer to have fewer pieces of equipment to clutter ... the more things the empeg can do for me, the more it's worth it's weight. Since it's already there, and since conceivably monitoring a radar detector (with proper outputs) is possible, ...

Greg

Here's a spot where you can buy a mirror for this purpose...

http://apexcone.com/Radar/RadarLove.html

A stripped down no-display or control model of the V-1 would appeal to me. In theory it should be smaller, so easier to mount stealth, and less likely to be stolen even if you didn't. The mirror display is interesting, but doesn't keep it from being noticed when the display is lite. An interface and display on the empeg would be the ultimate. Who knows ... maybe Mike Valentine reads the empeg bbs and can accommodate us.