Splitter Escort 8500 X 50

[Gixxer 4 ever]

I purchased an Escort 8500 X50 Radar detector 2 weeks ago and went to plug the ear plugs in and found it was mono. No problem but would have been good to know before I set out for a long ride. Dropped in to Dick Smith and got an adaptor. Mono to stereo. Had to purchase the splitter adapter as it was all they had. No problem and the ride went well.

The question is. Can I feed music in to the spare plug on the splitter from my MP3 player? I know it will carry to my head phones but will it damage the X 50? Remember I will be sending power back to the X50 from the MP3 Player.
It would be so good to put the MP3 player in the tank bag and run a short lead to the splitter and have the head phones with music and the occasional loud Beeep Beeeep Beeep.
I have asked my supplier and they are unsure. To expensive to damage but there are some people here that know this stuff.

[Lou Girardin]

I purchased an Escort 8500 X50 Radar detector 2 weeks ago and went to plug the ear plugs in and found it was mono. No problem but would have been good to know before I set out for a long ride. Dropped in to Dick Smith and got an adaptor. Mono to stereo. Had to purchase the splitter adapter as it was all they had. No problem and the ride went well.

The question is. Can I feed music in to the spare plug on the splitter from my MP3 player? I know it will carry to my head phones but will it damage the X 50? Remember I will be sending power back to the X50 from the MP3 Player.
It would be so good to put the MP3 player in the tank bag and run a short lead to the splitter and have the head phones with music and the occasional loud Beeep Beeeep Beeep.
I have asked my supplier and they are unsure. To expensive to damage but there are some people here that know this stuff.

I'm no electronics whizz, but I think you'll need a diode in the escort cable to prevent back-feed to it.

[Biff]

I'm no electronics whizz, but I think you'll need a diode in the escort cable to prevent back-feed to it.

Yup. Pretty much any diode will do. No need to use a zenner though.

I'm trying to viualise your splitter. Is it this type of splitter?:



If so then place the diodes in line as shown, with the polarity as shown. You may not actually need one on the - rail, but without knowing what the final circuit of the Escort looks like it's always best to protect both rails IMO.

Excuse the obvious typo in the diagram.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Thank you for your help Lou and Biff. Very much what I thought. I didn't want to try it incase it did it damage. The supplier is going to ask the manufacturer so I will post his reply here if I get one. Then I will put the two diodes in to protect the X50.
Thanks people
Steve

[BNZ]

Sick of the sound of the gixxer????

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Sick of the sound of the gixxer????

No. Bat out of Hell will inspire me to change out of second.

[MSTRS:Me]

Sick of the sound of the gixxer????

Sound of silence? Mach 1 you know.

[sAsLEX]

To expensive to damage but there are some people here that know this stuff.

yeah dont get them wet they dont like that! mine got wet once, worked for a while after with more falses now it dont! going to try fix it in the uni break

[Virago]

Yup. Pretty much any diode will do. No need to use a zenner though.

I'm trying to viualise your splitter. Is it this type of splitter?:



If so then place the diodes in line as shown, with the polarity as shown. You may not actually need one on the - rail, but without knowing what the final circuit of the Escort looks like it's always best to protect both rails IMO.

Excuse the obvious typo in the diagram.

.......the two diodes as shown will block the Escort circuit??????? One should do it, on the positive side.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

.......the two diodes as shown will block the Escort circuit??????? .

.Yep that's what we want. We need to stop the voltage going from the MP3 to the Escort. Diodes will let current go one way. In this case it should let the current from the Escort out and stop it going in from the MP3 Player. Isn't that it Biff ?

[Biff]

.......the two diodes as shown will block the Escort circuit??????? One should do it, on the positive side.

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "will block the Escort circuit". The only concern I have is the ablility of the diode to pass a non DC biased signal (audio is AC). I'll pop over to the lab shortly and run a couple of tests. I've done it before for a very similar application before, albeit using pin diodes. So we may need to be specific about the diode groups that would be suitable.

One 'may' do it, but if the there's a 'sensitive' final audio stage of the radar detector (or similar) I most certainly wouldn't want anything leaking back into it and running the risk of popping the circuit. And I for one wouldn't like to give out any advice that runs the risk of blowing the mans radar detector. So IMO it's always better to be cautious in the first instance. So placing a diode in the '-' circuit may be the safest thing to do.

Bottom line is 'hexperimentation'. But I'll keep you posted on my test results this avo or tomorrow.

.Yep that's what we want. We need to stop the voltage going from the MP3 to the Escort. Diodes will let current go one way. In this case it should let the current from the Escort out and stop it going in from the MP3 Player. Isn't that it Biff ?

Yep.

[Ixion]

I'm not sure what you mean when you say "will block the Escort circuit". The only concern I have is the ablility of the diode to pass a non DC biased signal (audio is AC). I'll pop over to the lab shortly and run a couple of tests. I've done it before for a very similar application before, albeit using pin diodes. So we may need to be specific about the diode groups that would be suitable.
..

[Puts on +6 Hat of Total Ignorance and gazes adoringly up at expert]

If the signal is AC won't a diode rectify it and turn it into half wave DC ?

[Gixxer 4 ever]

The only concern I have is the ablility of the diode to pass a non DC biased signal (audio is AC).

Darn I'm pleased I asked. I did not know that. Lucky I am old enough to know I know not enough.

[Biff]

Lab report:

As expected the signal was clipped and rectified, so it depends on what kind of tones your Escort gives out. I put some audio tones through a standard diode and listened to the outputs.

With a 'beep--beep-- beep--beep' sound - I had 'beep-beep-beep' on the output. Although he 'beep' in the result was more a mixture of a 'beep' and a 'click' , if that makes sense.

With a continuos 'beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep' - the sound was 'clipped' as the diode rectified the signal and we got a 'beep-beep-beep'.

If the beeps are fast the sound you get out is just a series of high speed 'clicks'.

So it depends on what kind of audio signal your Escort gives out. And what you're happy with listening to. It also depends on the pitch/frequency of the noise the Escort makes.

I've done this sort of job before on a Uniden and it worked fine, the sounds changed slightly but the audio could still be heard ok and the tones it gave out were still easily distinguishable so that you could tell what they meant.

If you try this and your not happy with the result PM me and I'll send you a little circuit diagram for a switching circuit that'll pass the audio through 'as is'. For a couple of $$ I'll even build it for you. You just pay for the bits and the postage.

If the signal is AC won't a diode rectify it and turn it into half wave DC ?

Yes it will rectify it, but not (quite) to a half wave DC as there's a lack of harmonics to the AC element of the signal.

Does anyone want to make an arse of themselves (as I've done) and write, or even better record) the sounds an Escort makes when approaching, sitting on a radar/laser. i'll then attempt to simulate this.

[Quasievil]

yeah dont get them wet they dont like that! mine got wet once, worked for a while after with more falses now it dont! going to try fix it in the uni break

I got a Cobra 9100 you can have if you can be bothered fixing it, it was a refurbed one that has never worked prolly something simple !
otherwise it will be in the bin this week