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My Tesla Transformation - Radar and Laser Integration

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I picked up my P85D two weeks ago. All my cars have radar detectors and laser jammers. For the Tesla, I wanted to do it right and have them perfectly integrated into the car. My work was done by Systems Unlimited in Bellevue, WA and I highly recommend them. I have never seen such a cleanly integrated set-up.

I had a complete system installed:
Beltronic STIR Plus w/ Escort Live Integration
Antilaser AL Priority (ALP) with Hifi controller
Radar Mirror
USB Ports in rear console (executive seats).

The Bel and ALP have pretty ugly control systems (follow links above to see the original equipment). I really didn't want the standard control units and was looking for something more clean. Systems Unlimited was able to disassemble the control units, rewiring to custom buttons as necessary, and provide "factory-like" integration directly into the car.

Below are a few photos and explanations (the photos don't do it justice - it really looks like it came with the car).

The Beltronic control module are the 5 buttons in the middle. To the right, the two little push buttons are the Hifi Controller for the ALP laser jammer, and the two little buttons on the left are the escort live buttons. The display is integrated into the mirror. Only the 5 middle buttons have a slight backlight (the other buttons blend in - my camera brightened them up in the picture). There also is another LED in the upper left of the mirror (turns off after 10 seconds) for the laser jammer.
D51A0099.JPG
D51A0111.JPG

The mute button is the center round button - extremely convenient to reach while driving.


The on-off-reset switch for the bel and a master kill switch for the entire system were integrated below the center armrest (the bel on/off/reset switch is needed in addition to an overall kill in case the bel ever needs a full reset). These switches are invisible when seated in the car since they are flush to the downward angled part of the arm-rest.
Power-0102.jpg


One of the best things about the Bel and ALP is their firmware is occasionally upgraded and both head units have USB access ports. Since the head units were installed out of site, the upgrade ports were extended and exposed in the driver-side foot well. The speakers for the system are also in the foot well area and are easily heard over the radio.
Upgrade-0107.jpg


I also have the rear executive seats and was surprised that there was no power ports for rear-seat passengers. Two USB ports were installed in the storage of the rear console.
USB-0101.jpg


The laser jammers have 4 heads. Below are the rear heads. The ALP has fairly small heads so it is barely noticeable even against the pearl white car.
D51A0096.JPG


Below is the left sensor in the front (there are two) and they are essentially invisible (you have to bend down and look for them).
SensorLeft-0097.jpg


The Bel radar and GPS units were installed behind the Tesla nose cone.

Loving the car. I keep looking for excuses to run errands :)
 
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I've got mine on order. Exact same thing except im getting the lights changed to blue along with the display like I did for my G37. I really like the clean look. I didnt know if there was enough room in that area to mount the STI-r's control module. I'm going to do the install myself along with the Dashcam front and rear group deal i got in on. Love it!
 
Is that a brand new rear view mirror and if so is it just as good as the factory rearview mirror with auto dimming and all?

Really impressive installation and I bet a bunch of us would like to know exactly how much this cost so we have some idea about the cost of perfect install... :)

My only negative comment has to do with the rear laser shifters being visible. Cops who know will pick them up immediately as laser jammers. It would have been incredible if the rear laser jammers could have been made to look more invisible by perhaps concealing them inside the rear lights but the light units could be sealed I suppose. Same with the front. It's too bad the front shifts can't be concealed behind the nose cone but I guess where you have them is pretty much out of sight.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Also forgot to mention that the USB ports in the footwell there is nice. I would get some dust/splash rubber usb covers from eBay to put on there just to keep crap from getting in there. mselectric. This is the most common place to put them without hindering. I am looking at putting them in the light area but I am waiting in a rear brake light to try first before ripping mine apart. Also the alp is officially a parking sensor and can be switched to so right away easily. Officer states what are those. They are parking assist features to keep me from backing into my wall at home
 
Also forgot to mention that the USB ports in the footwell there is nice. I would get some dust/splash rubber usb covers from eBay to put on there just to keep crap from getting in there. mselectric. This is the most common place to put them without hindering. I am looking at putting them in the light area but I am waiting in a rear brake light to try first before ripping mine apart. Also the alp is officially a parking sensor and can be switched to so right away easily. Officer states what are those. They are parking assist features to keep me from backing into my wall at home

I love that they have been designed to act as parking sensors! Brilliant. I was afraid some cop who acts like a pirate thug out of state may use it as an excuse to seize the car or impound it by saying you how laser jammers are illegal. After reading all the civil asset forfeiture horror stories I am always concerned as what may happen when driving the car out of state if you somehow come under the purview of overzealous law enforcement. I think being able to demonstrate the front and back sensors are used as parking aids is a big deal and brilliant.

In any case I think the key part of having this technology in the car is to SLOW DOWN immediately when you start jamming an acquisition and then once you've reduced your speed to turn the system OFF right away so they are able to get a reading. Keeping the system on and driving past them is a very bad idea.

What about the mirror? Does it replace the factory mirror and does it have auto dimming?
 
It is a customized factory mirror so it auto-dims. Systems Unlimited outsourced the work to radar-mirror (they apparently are the industry standard for radar-integrated mirrors).

I am not worried about the visibility of the jammers in the rear (you can't see the front ones at all unless you look for them). It is going to take a very good eye to see the rear ones when the car is moving since Laser must be shot from a standstill. Laser Jammers are also legal everywhere I drive so I really don't need to disguise it. If I am pulled over and am questioned I will claim it is a "parking sensor" (or depending on the officer's demeanor just tell him the truth where they are legal - amazing how sometimes being polite and courteous can go really far). Officer's aren't stupid - they know exactly what they are.

For covering the foot-well USB ports, I thought about that also. They are high enough that nothing really should get into them but I may just put a small piece of black electrical tape over them as they rarely need to be accessed (you need to bend down in the foot well to see them). The real benefit is I don't need to worry about having access to the head units to do upgrades (e.g., the ALP jammer is apparently getting a firmware update really soon).
 
Hey siteexperts, Nice install! You have the exact configuration that I'm about to put in my P85D in Portland at MusicarNW. I'm gonna have to steal some of your ideas and not mount the controls in the cubby hold. Regarding the STiR-plus control, what are the four extra buttons located to the side of the STiR buttons?
 
The two buttons to the right are a rebuilt ALP Hifi controller for the laser jammers. The two buttons to the left are a rebuilt escort live controller. (follow links to see what these looked like before integration)

Also, make sure the power button to the Bel is not buried anywhere (a separate kill switch is apparently not enough if you ever need to reset the unit). That is why I have two power buttons in the underside of the center console (the push-button is wired to the bel's original power button and the other is a master kill that turns off everything).

Also, apparently there is very little clearance where the buttons are installed (took a lot of work and custom fabrication).

Have the car delivered to Seattle - between Metropolitan Detail for the wrap and Systems Unlimited for the hardware you will be in very good hands and then you can try out the supercharger on the way back to Portland :) I am very happy with both companies.
 
For covering the foot-well USB ports, I thought about that also. They are high enough that nothing really should get into them but I may just put a small piece of black electrical tape over them as they rarely need to be accessed (you need to bend down in the foot well to see them). The real benefit is I don't need to worry about having access to the head units to do upgrades (e.g., the ALP jammer is apparently getting a firmware update really soon).

No need to mess up such a beautiful install with electrical tape. They make little plugs for all kinds of USB ports, of all different varieties. As an example, these ones a pretty low profile, but I'm sure there are tons of other options.

Amazon.com: Cosmos Black silicone anti-dust stopper/plug set - 4x USB, 2x 3.5mm earphone/mic jack: Electronics
 
I also had the Belltronics system installed professionally, and here are the results.


I didn't spring for installing the display into the mirror (maybe I'll do that in the future), but my shop does this often enough in Teslas they have fabricated a little metal bracket that mounts the display on the roofline as shown here:

22IMG_3570.jpg
22IMG_3571.jpg


When the display is dark or off, you can barely tell it's there, and it's doubtful a LEO would see it unless they're bending way over in the window and looking up at that area, and even then it's unmarked and quite inconspicuous (by the way, the wire you see in the image is the power to the dashcam behind the mirror.)

For the control unit, I toyed with probably 10 different placements before taking the car in to get the unit installed, and none of the locations I was considering was optimal, until the shop recommended placing it in the cubby below the touchscreen, but facing down, and entirely hidden from view. At first I wasn't sure about this placement, but once I got the car back, it is an awesome place. It's well within reach, very easy to reach under and tap the big button to mute an alert -- as easy as hitting any of the static buttons on the touchscreen. And once you quickly learn what the other four buttons do, it's all "by touch". Even the power button on top is facing "out" so I can turn the unit on and off (not that I ever really do, except when travelling through Virginia). It also does not obstruct the use of the cubby at all.

Here are a couple of images of the control unit placement:

...of course you can't see it from this angle.. :) :
22IMG_3562.jpg


But there it is, very well hidden:

22IMG_3574.jpg



I would highly recommend this placement for anyone looking for an easy, "no mods required" install of the Bell STIR system.



I had a complete system installed:
Beltronic STIR Plus w/ Escort Live Integration
Antilaser AL Priority (ALP) with Hifi controller
The Bel and ALP have pretty ugly control systems

I can't speak about the ALP system being "pretty ugly", but I'm confused by your comments about the Bell control unit.

What you had done for the Bell unit really isn't much different from their standard control unit,your shop just mounted the same buttons flush to the panel in the same configuration, or not much different than doing something like this:

33IMG_6926.JPG


So I don't see how what you had done is that much different from the stock unit for it to be called a "pretty ugly control system".
 
I would just like some tips on first gen interior mirror (pre-Sept 2014) removal / disassembly please. Pix if you got 'em.

I've already made 3D printed dashcam mount that clips around the mirror post, as seen here:
custom designed mirror mount for dashcam, 3D printable model


But now I've got some more ideas.

I see there's a casing/shell with left and right halves that look like they should separate somehow... revealing whatever solid mount post is underneath. How do these shells connect and best way to separate?

Then the mirror itself... how to get the mirror off the ball joint of the post, and how to separate the glass from the shell to get at the guts.

If there's no pictures out there, I will photo document mine coming apart for others to see, but right now I'm just very receptive to any advice, tips, lessons learned on doing this... so I don't snap something. I'm very far from any Tesla service or parts center wand would prefer not having to buy an new mirror / mount because of pulling something too hard.

THANKS in advance.