bruce7

I love my Valentine V1 radar detector, and I swear by it as an absolute necessity for doing any cross-country
roadwork. Even taking the 993 for a quick run from L.A. out to the high desert I would feel naked without it.

But, I have been dissatisfied from day one with the Valentine V1 mounting options. If using the visor mount,
you cannot use the passenger visor to block sun coming in from that angle. Also, the visor mount means you have to
struggle to read the display as it is back and upward to the right of driver. But the V1 suction cup mount is a complete
joke. Often you cannot get it to stick without fooling with it and then it may come off and drop the V1 onto your dash
or console, possibly marking the plastic or even damaging the V1 electronics.

In contrast, my Garmin GPS has a fantastic suction cup mount that is easy to setup and release and never fails. So I've
always wanted something like the Garmin suction cup mount for the V1. I've called Valentine Research and talked to
customer service, but their response was basically take it or leave it. They appear to be trained to get rid of this complaint by asking "Have you tried cleaning the windshield with Windex and drying it off with an old newspaper?" Or suggesting they sell you some new suction cups.

Then recently a buddy of mine with a 997.1 C4S showed me some footage he made with a GoPro camera mounted
to his front bumper with an adhesive mount. I looked further into the GoPro products and their mounting options and saw a way to adapt the GoPro suction cup mount to the Valentine V1 radar detector. But, as was the case at Valentine, GoPro was not interested in my problem.

As it comes from the factory, the GoPro is designed to only connect their camera to the suction cup mount. However, by designing a simple "gender changer", I was able to mount the V1 radar detector with the GoPro suction cup mount and now I think I've solved my problem.

By the way, I want to emphasize that my problem may not be yours. If you like the V1 suction cup mount fine. If not, you might want to take a look at this.

Please refer to the album of photos that can be found here to accompany this writeup:

https://picasaweb.google.com/bruce.c...CJO-4u7Z6eKQTg

Rapid-Prototyping was used to create and test the adapter link that was produced. The part was designed in Solidworks,
using dimensions taken from one of the connecting links that is part of the suction cup mount. For lack of better terms,
the standard connecting link has a male end (2-tabs) and a female end (3-tabs). What I needed was a link that was male on both ends, in a sense a "gender changer". Such a thing is common in audio cabling.

A 3D image file was output from Solidworks. This image file was then sent to a Dimension 3D Elite printer which "printed" the part using ABS+ black plastic. The part is quite strong, easily matching the strength of the GoPro factory parts.

As you can see in the photos, the V1 is mounted near the center of the windshield, but back and beneath the mirror.
The curved adhesive mount was attached to the V1 on the top. One of the slip-in connectors from the GoPro grab bag
of parts was snapped into the adhesive mount and then the gender changer was used to connect the V1 to the suction cup mount.

Here is my list of Pros and Cons that I have noted from my install and use of the mount:

Pros

• Stronger than Valentine suction cup mount
• Better positioning of the V1
• Visor is still useable
• Easy to slip off V1 and leave mount installed
• Does not obstruct vision outward like V1 when attached to windshield
• Eye-line from straight ahead to V1 display is a quick glance without requiring head movement
• Less arm movement needed to mute audio alert
• Will not fall down like V1
• Can still be used for GoPro camera mounting
• Not specific to V1, you could mount any radar detector
• Can still put up sunshade when V1 slipped out

Cons

• Takes a bit longer to do initial setup and lock down mount
• Custom solution costs more than the $10 Valentine suction cup mount
• Will need to modify carrying case solution for GoPro+V1

So to sum up, my problem with the Valentine V1 suction cup mount has been solved. It provides a number of
benefits including better outward vision, easier monitoring and muting, stronger construction and bullet-proof
holding power.

I only used Rapid-Protoyping because I thought it would be fun and it was. But you could make a similar link using a mill and a piece of aluminum; or a couple of pieces of strap metal or you could even make one out of wood. Pretty simple really.

bruce7

bump for forum database glitch

power_up

Wow, nikon 990 DC. This is my first DC I buy.

EckFe1

I had imagined something smaller, almost net visibly or just tucked behind the rear view mirror and visor. Wow, what a statement of mount. You don't need such a hugh suction cup for that little V1.
It's not the kind of mount I would do. Hope it works for you and you're happy with it.
Ed

levtron

Why go thru all that trouble. I have a V1, hard wired. The wire runs up from behind the glovebox, up the right side of the window, tucked under the inside window gasket. The wire ends up directly behind the rearview mirror. I used the V1 suction cup clip, removed the cups (they are useless ), and replaced them with a large piece of plastic velcro. The good stuff from Radio shack. Then put the same velcro on the window behind the mirror.

The great thing is that it is completely hidden from the outside. You have to know what you are looking for to even see it from the back or the front of the car.

No wires, no mess... Just the hassle of wiring it in first time. Not a 10 min job, more like 1-2 hours, since the best way to do it is by removing the dash..

Not sure what other "while you are in there" jobs there are with dash removed, but Im sure some on this forum has a list of possibilities

I too would be naked with out my V1, or clothes...

skl2

wow, Im sure that definitely holds better than the suction cups they give you, and yes, i have had mine come unstuck once or twice over about 10 years of ownership, but I couldnt stand that in my line of sight. In all of my cars, I simply hardwired them and ran the cord up to the top center of the glass - I can tuck it behind the visor when not in use....when I do use it, I simply wet the suction cups a little bit and stick it way up out of my sight and out of other peoples sight....works like a charm and no problems!

EckFe1

Although I also own a V1, I don't use it anymore. I now use a nav system with software installed that shows all the favourite hot spots for speed traps, stationary or mobile, red light cameras and even locations for DUI checks.
I select the region I travel in and it loads the locations as point of interest. I get plenty of warning and I can follow up on it on the monitor.
That makes the V1 somewhat outdated although moving radar is still going on in the US compared to Europe where they don't do that. There's more and more speed traps that go on lidar or light switches that are very hard to react to w/o ample warning.
People that have a nav system and pass a control point can mark the spot on the fly on their nav and when they hook up to the network, it publishes that spot for others to download too.
I think it's a great tool to have. It works for me.
Ed

Mark in Baltimore

Excellent write-up and DIY, Bruce! I, too, was expecting a smaller and shorter mechanism, maybe something that has the suction cup closer to the detector. I sometimes have issues with the V1 suction cups but find that keeping the cups and the glass clean makes a difference in adhesion. I like my detector mounted in front of me and close to the dashboard since I'd rather not have trailing cars (or cops) see the red warning lights.

Is there a way to use a short ball and socket?

Kika

I have a V1 and also feel naked without it. search the archives for my mount solution.

Bruce7's does not meet CA Vehicle Code, other states may vary.

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d12/vc26708.htm

Mark in Baltimore

Skimmed the regulations, but, from what I did read, it would seem that any radar detector would be considered an obstruction. Did I miss something?

J.Graham

I use the visor clip for my escort (hard wired) because it's completely tucked away out of sight and I can still flip the visor down if I need it.
I'm not sure if the V1 has the same attchment mechanism but if it does this would be a much less intrusive option IMHO.
http://www.ralphs.ca/products.php?pr...ndshield-Mount

Kika

I didn't analyze it, but what I understand is, that in CA, you can only affix things to the windshield, except for the excepted items, of which a radar detector is not, in the lower corners.

Everything else is considered an obstruction.

I believe it could be attached in the corners (ala GPS), also attaching to the dash seems to be accepted. I did the velcro to the dash thing on a previous car, and it is easy, but undesirable on 2 counts: not mounted very high, and easily seen from outside the car.

Clearly the first statement however: 26708. (a) (1) A person shall not drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied upon the windshield or side or rear windows

applies to items that are attached to a window.

My installation, detailed here: https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...e-install.html

attaches to the car, not the windshield, although it MIGHT violate paragraph 2:

paragraph 2: (2) A person shall not drive any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon the vehicle that obstructs or reduces the driver’s clear view through the windshield or side windows.

but since it is so high, it is much less in my Field Of View.

Pros:
mounted high, as recommended by V1
out of the way
solid mount; never had a problem with it falling, in 5 years.
Yes, it does detect from the rear, tested, arrows work fine.
since the car is low, it is difficult to see, unless you know it is there, I have never worried about it being "liberated", nor have I had a problem.
Both visors are still functional.

Rarely is the car parked in "suspect" areas however.

bruce7

One of the first things I thought of was could the Garmin mount be adapted to the V1? This is a ball and socket like you mention. I think that it could. I have a Garmin 1490T which has a cradle attached that snaps into the body of the 1490T.
You could create a cradle for the V1 that slides into the body like the visor mount.
That would be allow you to have a smaller package that would be more ideal.
If I were Valentine that is what I would do.

The other thing I was thinking about is that the connecting link I made could be modified to be 1/2 inch shorter, same as the shorter link included in the grab bag of parts. One other mod I might try is to square off one end of the link since complete adjustability for this application is not really necessary.

bruce7

That's a pretty neat idea to remove the suction cups and use velcro. Thanks for that!

bruce7

Yeah, essentially the V1 hasn't changed in probably 10 years. I wonder what their plans are with the serial communications upgrade they recently rolled out. What nav system do you have?