GEN 2 Radar detector install, over mirror

Howdy all,

Had the 2018 SCREW 802A / Tech Pkg for a bit over a week now, starting to get things installed. One of the first things that goes in any of my vehicles is a radar detector.

But, this is California, and radar detectors cannot, legally, be mounted on the front windshield in any way. Also, at my work detectors cannot be turned on when on the facility so I powered via an upfitter switch, so I can kill it at will. And I like clean installs, I don't like anything below the mirror to interfere with my sight lines. Either remote installations or over the mirror are my preferred installs.

But there is a shortage of good, over the mirror, mounts, so I often have to make my own. This is my latest take on such a mount.

The mount is made from 1/8 inch aluminum sheet cut (just a jig saw required) and bent (hammer and vice) to shape and a small block of 1 x 1.25 x 3/8 aluminum hogged out (Dremel tool or drill press) to make a clamp. Also used a mount clip cut from a suction cup mounting rig to hold the detector to the AL mount. Grand total of parts cost is about $15, and 3 or 4 hours worth of fitting, bending, drilling, threading, and painting.

Top view here:




Bottom view here:



Two views of it mounted before sliding the detector into the mount:



And a view with the detector mounted and on.


Yes, I absolutely understand what this does to the laser detection. But realistically a laser detector hit is typically just notification that you just got a speeding tax (if you don't run jammers, and I don't), so I don't really care much about that. And there is not much laser locally so that is really only a concern when on a road trip. I did check the loss of the shaded area material to various microwave freqs though, and while there is a slight loss I think it very acceptable.

T!

That is a thing of beauty !! Nicely done..
I have the same truck as you. Could I bribe you to make one for me??
I have been running BlendMounts but they hang below the mirror and are pretty obvious.

Very nicely done. How did you screw it into the roof? Drill holes first?


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Oh man this is nice - I have the same RD and same question - what’s it drilled into, and could you make some in matte black with black rivets

I think i see now (duh.. zoom on the picture) that it’s not screwed in but clamped to the plastic? Clever!


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I’m in Orange County and have never had a problem.

Very nicely done OP, you seem to have put some thought into this.

Does the windshield light sensor interfere with radar performance or range?

Great job!

As a mechanical engineer I love stuff like this. On the flip side, you should round up a group and see if you can get enough people in to take this to a CNC place and have them whip some out. We have a small CNC place here that builds small production items like this for a 300.00 setup fee and then another 40-50 bucks per piece. I would have to believe Cali has tons of those places available.

Interested, if this goes to production. I'm also not a fan of the blend being under the mirror. Can you include a picture of it installed from further back?

Thanks! Very nice work.

SOAKINRED said:

I’m in Orange County and have never had a problem.

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Never had a problem with what? Blendmounts like yours, attached to the mirror and hanging below the mirror, are seldom a problem. It is arguably legal. I was talking about windshield mounts being ticketable.

CVC 26708 (a)(1) states clearly that it is illegal to attach anything to the windshield, and makes several specific exceptions. Toll devices may go near the upper center of the windshield (26708 (a) (11) (A + B)), GPS devices can go in the lower left and lower right corner (26708 (a) (12) ), and video event recorders may be mounted lower left, lower right, or upper center (26708 (a) (13) (A) ).

So a radar detector attached by any method to the windshield is absolutely citable under CVC 26708. It is enforced in some areas, but not very often. Still, it can be, I have been warned myself and know people ticketed for this.

A blendmount attaching the detector to the mirror could be construed to violate 26708 (a) (2), the same as anything else hung from a mirror, like school tassels, suncatchers, etc. But that is pretty much never done unless they are dogging you for something else.

However I really don't like anything hanging off the mirror or getting in my sight lines, so a bottom hanging blendmount is a none starter for me. They annoy me. So I need to mount a detector near the top of the windshield, preferably in an area I already do not use to look through.

This was my answer to do so. Up high, out of my line of sight, not attached to the windshield in any way, and really not generally visible at a glance from outside the vehicle because it is behind the sunshading material.

And it was a fun afternoon project.

This is a seldom cited issue anyplace, so why does it matter to me? Every day I go to work my vehicle is visually inspected by an officer.

T!

---------- Post added at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------

BajaFred said:

Oh man this is nice - I have the same RD and same question - what’s it drilled into, and could you make some in matte black with black rivets

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It is not drilled into anything, removing the mount leaves no holes to be seen, although it might leave an indentation in the liner material above the mirror. Those silver things are not rivets, they are Allen cap screw heads for clamping the plastic trim of the vehicle.

T!

---------- Post added at 04:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:45 PM ----------

hammer73 said:

I think i see now (duh.. zoom on the picture) that it’s not screwed in but clamped to the plastic? Clever!

Click to expand...

Yes, clamped.

---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 PM ----------

xxaarraa said:

Very nicely done OP, you seem to have put some thought into this.

Does the windshield light sensor interfere with radar performance or range?

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No issue with the sensors impacting the detector.

There is a very slight reduction in performance because of the material the detector is looking through, however I mean VERY slight. I have measured the attenuation of that materiel to RF in K and Ka band, and it is under 2 dB. Essentially I cannot tell a real world detection range difference with the detector mounted in another location not looking through the shade, however there must be some quantifiable reduction.

And there is probably a significant impact to the detectors ability to see laser, but I have no way to quantify that and as I said, laser is not really used locally so it is of lesser concern to me.

T!