Stealth Valentine1 Display by Toy Guy

[nene]

I got a Valentine1 recently, and along with it I got the Remote Display, which I plan to install it stealthily on my beast.

I have doing it per Toy Guy Design (http://www.toyguy.o-f.com/v1.html)'s recommendation.

I will be taking pictures of the install and setup.
I plan to do a write up on this as I already started taking prep pix before doing the install. Toy Guy is currently working on fabricating the stealth remote display setup per his pix.
Once delivered, I'll finish the job, and do the write up.

I helped do an install on a B5 S4 yesterday, and it was easy.
The RS6 won't prove to be much of a difference in my opinion.
Toy Guy will fabricate the stealth remote display setup, and the mute swith that goes on the lever. His website shows also the mute switch on the door, but that is harder to setup, and he's moving to do only lever mute switches from this point on.

Erik...is it possible to host the write up with pix on the RS6.com website? I know that Toy Guy is not a paying advertiser here, but I was wondering if that is going to cause any conflicts?
I plan to do the write up anyway, and post it, but if you don't want it done, I can just host it on my site, and put a link to it on this forum. Just an idea.

Here's some preliminary pix of the goods:

Toy Guy Stealth Remote Display Fab:
http://www.toyguy.o-f.com/i/A6%20display1.jpg

Toy Guy Stealth Mute Switch Location:
http://www.toyguy.o-f.com/i/switch%20on%20lever.jpg

Final product:
http://www.toyguy.o-f.com/i/v1_img4.jpg

[RobertV]

I plan to do the same on my S6:thumb:

[Aronis]

Nice installation, neat and clean...

but what about the main unit?

It still is very visible?

Mike

[RobertV]

It would be great if V1 came out with a remote unit.
One that you could mount the front and rear rec. units high in the car, with the display on the dash. I'm going to ask Mike V about that, it is a good idea.
Edit: V1 stated that the remote unit was so down on sensitivity that they scrapped the idea. They were mounted in the front grill. I asked if they would consider making the unit smaller, but they said that it is limited by the antenna size and did not want to decrease the size for that reason.

[Aronis]

I posted this on another thread.

Mike V's opinion is that the receiver should be high as possible, thus the position just below the mirror on the windsheild optimized reception.

The all in one design has it's cost advantages too.

I would like a unit with separate front and rear receivers for both radar and laser, but it could be a lower profile that could be mounted at the very top of the windshield in a less conspicious location, but still have the high mount advantage. This smaller reciever pair for front and back could be less visible to theives as well.

I don't care if the police see the unit, if they are close enough to even see that you have a radar detector, then they either just pulled you over, or they are next to you pointing you over LOL....

The grill mount and rear bumper mount drops reception significantly, since you are dropping the unit about 3 feet in height!

As far as the lights are concerned for night driving, the unit with the remote control is good, I have the remote display positioned on top of the steering wheel arm..this position is good and I can still hit the mute button.

ONE BIG FLAW in the V1 is the mute. In other radar detectors the mute holds for 30 seconds or so, the V1 does not! this is a pain in the ass IMHO.

As far as seeing-more-than-you-see, the V1 is tops

Mike

[nene]

The main V1 unit still has to be visible for reasons that it won't work otherwise.
The good thing is that the wires that power it up won't be visible, except for about 1-1.5 inches of wire that will come from the rear view mirror area to the actual unit mounted right beside/above it.

It will be a very clean install.

We all want the main unit to be hidden, but we also want the product to work. After all, I just paid quite a few bucks for this radar detector, so I want it to work.

For a while I passed on buying it simply because you could see the main unit. However, I know that it's the price to pay in order for it to work optimally.
Then my main concern was to get the installation to be as clean as possible, without having to see wires everywhere.

About the mute button on the V1:
once you hit the mute button, it will mute the sound until a new radar is detected.
Now, in the main unit, where the power turn-on knob is, there is a ring surrounding it that you use to set the volume of the mute button. So if you turn it low, it will silence the radar sounds once you hit the mute button.

The mute should work for longer then 30 seconds.

[Aronis]

My install is pretty neat...

The wire from the main unit back to the firewall is tucked in nicely.

In order to tuck it along the a piller where it is quite tight, I removed the outer shielding to reveal the individually sheilded conductors, then I was able to tuck those in using a credit card as a tool.

The wire for the remote display is a little visible but only over a few inches.

The main unit sits just below the rear view mirror so as to allow the rear laser receiver to 'see'.

I have an additional wire which can be pulled out from under the dash to allow the main unit to be moved to the dash so I can 'hide' it under a map when driving in Canada. The rear laser is blocked but the Canadian mounted police can't afford laser units anyway LOL.

Mike

[Erik]

Originally posted by nene
Erik...is it possible to host the write up with pix on the RS6.com website? I know that Toy Guy is not a paying advertiser here, but I was wondering if that is going to cause any conflicts?

nene, go ahead! It's to the benefit of all the members avoiding tickets :D But please try to keep the speed limits in town and around schools etc. Thanks!

If you or I host the pics doesn't matter to me.

[nene]

Ok team...I have some updates....but Erik, to put you at ease, I always obey "most" traffic laws, and always obey when child polluted areas are involved.

I did some preliminary work while not doing much yesterday in the afternoon. The 'Direct Wire Power Adapter' for the V1 has the power wire with a plug, but it's not the one that I needed. So I went to the local ACE Hardware store, and bought some U-shaped plugs. Cut the power wire, stripped it, and attached the new U-shaped plug. You will see it's importance later on the write up. This step is not needed, as there are other ways to do it, and I'll show it on the write up.

Once that was done, now my fingers were just hitching to get the thing hardwired. I can do the hardwiring job without having the Remote Display installed. So I figured I'd take a close look.

Please keep in mind that your hands MUST be checked and cleaned various times. We're dealing with white cow Alcantara leather roof line cover. YOU DON'T WANT TO MAKE IT DIRTY!!!

Getting the A-pilar trim to move is a little harder then the one on the B5-S4. On the RS6 it extends from dashboard all the way to -B-pillar. A total of 4 screws need to be removed, including the 'oh-shitte' handle on driver's side, and the driver's side visor. Then some elbow grease need to be used to bend the plastic trim piece to move the wire from inside the car to the outside.

There are a few more details, and I tool plenty of pictures of the work being done. Full write up coming soon. It totally rocks!!!

Now there are no wires showing and the thing is plugged in. It turns one everytime I turn on the car, because the power on the V1 is on. I can just turn it off myself if I wish. While the car is off, the V1 draws no juice, because the terminal I plugged it into, is cold when car is off. So no batter drainage here!!!

Because the A-pillar trim piece is harder to work with on the RS6, it took me about 1hr30min of work, as I was trying to come up with the process. But should not take too long.

I'm so excited that I got to do it. Now I can hardwire V1s on S4s or RS6s.

[Aronis]

DON"T NEED TO REMOVE THE A Piller COVER.

This is not necessary.

The Wire for the V1 is a standard four conductore telephone wire.

Strip the outer plastic shield and expose the four separate conductors which have their own insulation.

Then the four wires can easily be slide in between the window and the a piller cover with a credit card.

This will not create a night mare if you mes up the cover or liner, and will completely hide the wire.

IMHO.

Mike

[nene]

I could not do it that way, because I need the Direct Wire Power Adapter installed, in order to use the Remote Display.
And for that, I need the telephone looking plug to be attached.
In your case, the wire looks like the Poodle fur-do. Where you got no telephone cable type insulation for about 1.5 feet of wire. That's certainly one way to do it. Just not the way I chose it.
One of the main reasons for this, is because I already have a crack in my windshield, and I need it replaced. Those wires will come exposed once again, and I would have to once again insert them into the little tiny space between the windshield and A-pilar once I get the thing replaced. Chose against it.

If all I wanted is to have it hardwired, then I see where what you did is fine. You can also draw power to the V1 from the wires that power the garage door opener. But that is not what I wanted.

Striping the wires and hiding them between the window and the A-Pilar was one idea I also though of, but I eventually left that as a last option, just in case.

I did the whole job without messing up the trim piece. All you really have to do is make sure you have clean hands, or if you get the trim dirty, there's always a bit of soap and water to clean it up.

I did not completely remove the A-pilar trim. I simply loosened it, to give me some room to snake the V1 wire across it.

There are many ways to get a V1 hardwired, just as there are many ways to put the main unit location.

[Aronis]

I have the remote display and main unit.

The wires use to connect the two are the same telephone wire with the same RJ 11 jack (RJ 11 I think it is called as opposed to RJ 45 for ethernet).

The four conductors are needed since two send power and two send digital info back and forth.

You can fish the wire up to the corned of the dashboard from the fuse panel access and then the wire also fits into the headliner without a problem.

Where you find a problem is in the a piller cover which is very tight to the window, so by removing the insulation from this section of the wire, not all of it, you can push those four wires into this tight space easily, one after the other.

Removing the A Piller can be a pain in the anal location.....

Neat is important, I agree and I hide all the wires as best as is possible too.

Too bad the remote display is not a lower profile

[GoFastKindaGuy]

Here is how I mounted the V-1 remote.

[GoFastKindaGuy]

The main V-1 unit fits nicely above the mirror and still has front/rear detection. Wiring runs across, then down the pillar and ties in behind the fuse box.

[nene]

That is pretty good GoFastKindOfGuy. My main unit will be at about the same location as yours. The remote display, will be a bit to the left, at the center of the console, where the little trim is.

I think that using the Toy Guy approach will just seem like the whole setup is from factory, except that the main unit won't!!! But we all know that.

Seems like various folks have approached this same problem with various degrees of success. Surprised no one decided to do a write up, and take some pix.

[Aronis]

any problems with rear reception with it that high? from a line of sight standpoint?

Mike

[nene]

I have yet to be hit from behind, so I can't vouch for the reception factor being good or bad.

However, when I do find a fake radar, it seems that once the front hits, the rear will light up as I pass by the offending radar location. But usually these radars are not as intense, thus the lighting up of the V1 is usually only for 100 feet or so.

[GoFastKindaGuy]

V-1 saved me three times yesterday (with the above pictured install)! Once was from the rear. All were conventional radar.

I also got a full blast laser, but I never saw a cop.
:confused:

[Finnus]

Go-Fast,

Valentine 1 saved me 3 times yesterday too on a trip to Long Island, NY and back!

Interestingly, just as I was leaving town on a secondary road at 5:30 AM, the laser went off. I couldn't see anyone around. 10 minutes later on the NY State Thruway, it went off again. Again, no police to be found.

My best guess is that it was some kind of malfunction or something else that tripped it. I go through both those areas regularly, so it will be iteresting to see if it triggers it again, especially during the daytime ...

Finnus
:addict:

[Aronis]

V1 laser get's fooled by breaklights in Chevy Trailblazer and GMC Envoy, 2003 model I think.

They use LEDs instead of lightbulbs, and that light fools the laser receiver! It's a pain if you are following one LOL..

Mike

[AudiPilot]

For the first time in more than two decades, ValentineOne updated its external form factor (and of course internals, too) with release of the Gen2: https://www.valentine1.com. Over-the-air update capability sounds great... I had a 2003-era V1 in my 2002 S4, so looking forward to a hard-wire install in the RS6 with the Gen2 concealed display (when it's available later this year).

Doesn't sound like ToyGuy is still operating to offer the sleekest integration (in this thread), so planning to mount the display to the right of the steering column as was done here: https://www.rs6.com/showthread.php/20114-Valentine-One-Hardwire.

ValentineOne has come up on several threads over the years (in addition to this one and the one above):
https://www.rs6.com/showthread.php/2136-RS6-and-radar
https://www.rs6.com/showthread.php/9212-Valentine-One
https://www.rs6.com/showthread.php/26478-Have-a-Valentine-1-think-I-will-go-this-route

[hahnmgh63]

Your right, it's about time. I have an older V1 that I've sent in to be updated twice, but what are they really updating? Who knows. I still like it but it falses a lot more than my newer Escort. I also like the Escorts GPS that you can use to lockout known false alarms at Geographical locations. Also the Escort has it's database of Redlight and Speed cameras which is constantly updated.