[Blacklight99] made this cool tool. It is a tester for those radar detectors that people keep in their cars. Though this seems like it would rarely be a tool we would need, it’s an interesting project. Some speed guns that the police use have a “stealth” mode that makes them invisible to some detectors. This tool can tell you if your detector is vulnerable to this. While this really is just a complicated flashing LED, he notes that it could be taken further to be made into a detector that is programmable and not vulnerable to any of the stealth modes.
Radar Detector Tester
YAY! It’s a hack this time on hackaday =]
Note, this is a LIDAR tester, not a RADAR tester. No RF to be seen here, just another arduino flashing a led at 238Hz.
But if you have a need it seems like a good solution to your problem
Yes , and a Big Truck goin up your butt will slow to a Crawl when his Bird Dog goes off ! I Used a K-40 for awhile till it was stolen , but worked like a Hack when I Hit the I-HWYS ! F’n Truckers oughta get a Jack Knife to wake em up .
Can I use it to make speeders slow down?
@gyro_john:
That seems like a great/hilarious idea for those annoying drivers that rely to heavily on those radar detectors!
… Is correct. This is a LIDAR testing unit. That’s also an Infa-Red emiting Diode, not just a standard LED.
Oops. Forgot. In many states, its illegal to have a Lidar/Radar jamming device. ;-)
Radar (from the cops) is in a part of the RF spectrum that is not open for folks to “play in”. If you do decide to play around in this part of the spectrum you are opening yourself up to getting to know the local FCC “agent”. The FCC, however, does not “own” the part of the spectrum which “light” comes from so you can hack away there as much as you want. This is why you can find legal laser jammers but no (or very few) legal radar jammers.
If you want to test your detector’s LIDAR capabilities just go follow a later model GMC around; their brake lights emit light in the LIDAR frequency range.
Then when you figure out that your RADAR/LIDAR detector sucks go get yourself a Valentine 1. ;)
Cool project nonetheless.
My R3 has NEVER gone off due to brake lights from a car on it’s laser band!
Happened to find this if anyone is interested in more about this topic:
http://www.guysoflidar.com/
Some crazy tests there.
What if you mounted this in the back of your car and had it constantly running a ‘test’? Would that screw with any LIDAR you passed? I mean the way it would work in my mind is that it would receive your signal far before it would receive it’s own back, so it would read your speed as being, say, 500MPH. It might still send you a ticket if it’s one of those systems that mails them automatically, but I don’t think that would be a very difficult one to contest…
In a word No, I made it on that ‘other site’, and it has very low Optical power in this standard one.This project does have potential for potential Lidar Jamming, but only at far higher Optical power, Osram have Answers to this.
@Greg: What is with all the people lately? Everyone’s going all “let’s be safe!” and “don’t break laws!”. GAH! That’s not the hacker spirit!
I agree, I mean someones got to push the envelope. Did the Unliberal Authorities ask anybody if they minded being Irradiated / Bombarded with potentialyl Blinding Pulsed speed gun Invisible Laser, or Radar Speed Gun X K & Ka Band not to mention Nuclear Radiation since 1940’s nope I don’t recall they did.In US they can throw you in jail for owning a home made 500Mw matchbox Bug!
>>>Radar Guns are being dropped rapidly by all Police Forces as less accurate easier to escape a ticket with
Yeah, not so much. RADAR is deadly accurate and in less fraught with the “fiddlys” than LIDAR. With RADAR, an officer can be moving (either way) and check the speed of a suspect vehicle, not so with LIDAR. RADAR units are also much cheaper to purchase and maintain, not too mention they have years of case law behind them. Many judges are inclined to believe the officer in a RADAR case because they know the accuracy is spot on if set up and operated properly.
As for the ball toasting, gene-splicing effects, those “experts” are incorrect and this type of litigation is decades old (and was unsuccessful). Just because they operate in the microwave frequency doesn’t mean you can heat up your coffee. The average RADAR unit puts out a bout as much radiation as 30 or so healthy fireflies. The Tritium night sights on the officers’ weapons put off more radiation than the RADAR unit.
As for getting out of a ticket, sure, you can retain and atty, who will advise you to have your car calibrated and bring that sheet to court. In court he will ask to see the officer’s calibration sheets for both patrol car and the specific radar unit and tuning forks (used to test the calibration). You can do all this yourself for free (free meaning no atty fees) of course. Easier to just pay the fine. If you are not driving like an idiot, it should be fairly inexpensive; certainly cheaper than atty fees and all the other stuff.
Dammit, this was supposed to go here: http://hackaday.com/2009/11/15/radar-detector-tester/#comment-2502601
I can’t disagree with any of that wise Arbitrator. Modern Ghz-Radar systems are very good & very safe in reality it has to be said. Here in UK at least we never see Radar (it’s invisible so we wouldn’t anyway would we?). LTI who invented Lidar does great £-$ deals for UK-US many Police forces, far cheaper than other US sellers, so they use nothing else (handy to know Pulse rates used on Ultralyte & compact)..
I often see x3 on tripods on a Freeway / Motorway bridge near where I live. Targets rears of vehicles Hundreds in a day. My Cobra has saved me at least 1 ticket locally as it picked a stray trace up over 1/4 Mile away (though lucky) shows they can sometimes help.Back to the Soldering Iron for me Ha Ha.
LOL, Well, I do know a bit about Police Traffic RADAR here in the colonies because I was a very vigilant (Semper Viglio, motto of the Scottish Police IIRC) young traffic cop once a upon a time. I was also a RADAR instructor for the local Police Academy. Too old (and too fat) for all that mess now. Like you, I am more comfortable with a computer in front of me, a soldering iron in my hand and some decent single malt in glass on my desk. ;)
Oh Hell and I just posted a ‘somewhat’ Illegal flip down Number Plate on my old Modeo Occifer Ha Ha, ah well long sold. Yes Malt Whiskey is one superb Invention from Scotland I like myself on occasions.. Also from Scottish guys Antibiotics Tarmacadam the Telephone Steam engine, the list goes on. My Brother has many friends in US, he has apersonal Lear Jet as a Hobby so has done well for himself, maybe I need to get some pointers Ha Ha..
@Urza9814:
Didn’t read the Instructable that closely, but I would assume this device has a very limited range, as the IR LEDs here must be putting out many times less energy than what is used in a real LIDAR gun.
Presumably that could be addressed with a larger LED array and more powerful driver though, if you really wanted to aggravate law enforcement.
Cyclists could have some fun with this, embedding IR LEDs into existing bike light setups so it doesn’t look like you’ve got any additional devices.
I can see the intentions in this and every other radar detector.. But the plain and simple fact is- if we don’t have our radar on the front or back and it is on standby, IT IS NOT TRANSMITTING. Some might say that it still transmits a minute signal, but still.. the case of the radar is metallic so that would block anything from getting out
@incognito53
…which is why detectors are damn near pointless.
…unlesss….
Ok, for our next hack, someone rig up a radar detector to either a rig to flip/change your license plate (james bond style), a rig to flash a _really_ bright light, a smoke screen, or a HERF gun. So the automated camera either can’t get your plate number or can’t get a picture of you.
Of course, all of these ideas are just more likely to get you arrested…especially if it’s a cop sitting hidden on the side of the road rather than a mounted camera…
Yes a flip up-down plate would be very effective against Auto Traps but quite Illegal if caught. I guess you mean something like this idea-test? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4_CohIdCAI
@Urza9814
Or you could drive the speed limit and not run red lights. Just a thought.
This is a cool hack, though the guys of lidar link above is really all you need to know about detectors.
The best defence against lidar is a laser parking sensor. Fit it to the front of the car to help when parking. Also happens to disrupt police lidar guns, but is 100% legal as it is a safety device.
@mojo
that is like using a tv remote as a mirt.
supposedly you can get a certain make of universal remote and program a tv to 911 and viola you can now turn all the lights green
i saw that device with IR diodes and NE555 to turn traffic lights green when in range. here it is i-hacked(dot)com/content/view/176/44/
As previously stated by incognito53, RADAR, when on standby, the mode in which most experienced officers run it, is not detectable in anything but laboratory conditions. LIDAR detectors are a joke, since most of them are also off, until the officer is actually tracking a violator. Since it operates at light speed, the violator’s speed will already have been checked by the time his detector alerts and he reacts. Again, the best method to avoid detection is to not drive like an idiot.
Oh, and have a nice day. :p
@Greg: That’s not entirely true. K-band radars use the 24 GHz ISM band, which anyone can play in without a license. Intentional interference is illegal, however. (Tripping someone’s radar detector…probably OK. Jamming police radar…probably not OK.)
The 10 GHz X-band is off limits (unless you have an amateur radio license), and the 34-35 GHz range used by photo radar is also only for licensed use.
Maybe harder in the states given that your plates out metal embossed, but in the UK I wondered if it would be possible (expensive though) to build plates from an LED screen?
You could have some crazy refresh rate on the screen that obscured the whole plate value (perhaps scanning left to right).
Just something I thought about on one of my long commutes.
There were 2 products on sale like that (they are on You Tube I think) they sit in front of a plate and ‘white’d out’ at the press of a switch (wasn’t Auto triggering I don’t think).Another that had flash units close to the plate to ‘blind’ a Camera. Most Camera’s like the Truvelo etc used in UK and EC now use IR invisible flashes though. Dave UK.
@tehgringe
I also have thought of an LCD screen that is transparent, but flickers between dark and transparent at a certain rate that cams can detect it.
The point of a radar detector isn’t to detect when the cop is pointing the gun at you. It is to see when the cop is pointing the gun at someone ahead you, preferably as far ahead as possible. I’ve had radar hits 5 miles away with my Valentine 1. Most of the time, though, it’s just beyond line of sight, which still gives me plenty of time to slow down.
When I read the title, I thought that this would be a device that tests radar detectors for VG2 detection. Some radar detectors have very noisy oscillators that can be “heard” from far away. My V1 has picked up on noisy off brand detectors many times. It can be annoying if it is someone heading the same direction as me on the same road. I generally end up speeding up or letting them pass to get away from them.
@Orv: thanks for the clarification. My muddled point was that there can be legal issues “playing” with RF (K, Ka, etc.) but that you can do anything that you like in LIDAR range.
@Min: yup the V1’s are the best money can buy! The newer versions even detect that they are detecting a crap detector (oscillator noise) and give an audible as well as “J” (for junk) indication.
@Arbiter: yes, not driving like an idiot will save you in more ways than one. However I would not trade the situational awareness that my V1s (plural) provide. Agreed most of the time LIDAR is detected its aimed at you and you are already “cooked” – so to speak. But my V1 has saved me numerous times – not because I was driving like an idiot but because I was driving faster than the posted limit (there is a difference).
Whew! I’m so relieved that your detector works, because we just bought a Valentine, this one in fact: http://detectorsusa.com/alldet_172529_B000U89KGW_Valentine-One-Radar-Detector.html
Newbie here, so glad to know that we chose the right one.
It is a tester for those radar detectors that people keep in their cars. Though this seems like it would rarely be a tool we would need, it’s an interesting project.
Radar Detectors detect 10-36Ghz high frequency Microwave RF (Radio Frequency) and have NIL to do with this 905Nm IR Laser optical jammer-detector tester.tester. The confusion arises cause many Detectors detect both Laser/ LIDAR and older Radar traps.
.Radar Guns are being dropped rapidly by all Police Forces as less accurate easier to escape a ticket with Cash/ a good Lawyer and can affect Officers-Drivers Balls-Genes some experts say.