Mounting Origin B2
11 December 2004, 10:51 AM
#31
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Origin B2 is excellent.
It gives you no useful warning for lasers as they only take something like 0.2s to see you and detect the speed, so by the time you've had the warning it's too late. Only time this doesn't apply is if they're aiming at the car in front and you detect scatter but you definetely should not rely on this. This is no criticism of the Origin it's a fact of life and applies to all laser detectors, road angel, snooper, or whatever. Only defence for lasers is an active one, ie a laser diffuser.
The Origin will give you more than adequate warning of fixed devices like Gatso's, you choose how much warning you want and it's time rather than distance so on a road where you're doing 90 it will go off a bigger distance before the scamera than when you're crawling thro town at 31mph. Mines set to 20 secs, seems a sensible compromise.
The big advantage of the Origin to me is that it has a remote aerial so you can tuck the unit itself down out of the way where it can't see the sky and put the aerial somewhere where it can. My aerial is under the dash just in front of the clock pod, out of sight but good view of the sky. The Origin is down by the gearlever, out of the way normally but easy to glance at when it beeps.
Not tried a road angel but seems to me that all GPS based devices should be much of a muchness, choose the one you like the look of rather than anything else.
It gives you no useful warning for lasers as they only take something like 0.2s to see you and detect the speed, so by the time you've had the warning it's too late. Only time this doesn't apply is if they're aiming at the car in front and you detect scatter but you definetely should not rely on this. This is no criticism of the Origin it's a fact of life and applies to all laser detectors, road angel, snooper, or whatever. Only defence for lasers is an active one, ie a laser diffuser.
The Origin will give you more than adequate warning of fixed devices like Gatso's, you choose how much warning you want and it's time rather than distance so on a road where you're doing 90 it will go off a bigger distance before the scamera than when you're crawling thro town at 31mph. Mines set to 20 secs, seems a sensible compromise.
The big advantage of the Origin to me is that it has a remote aerial so you can tuck the unit itself down out of the way where it can't see the sky and put the aerial somewhere where it can. My aerial is under the dash just in front of the clock pod, out of sight but good view of the sky. The Origin is down by the gearlever, out of the way normally but easy to glance at when it beeps.
Not tried a road angel but seems to me that all GPS based devices should be much of a muchness, choose the one you like the look of rather than anything else.
12 December 2004, 10:30 PM
#32
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Originally Posted by Apple
I've just figured out how you've done it as I've seen a piccy of the cradle and harness - I guess for Origin to supply a pda version would mean making a full new cradle etc to include the extra wire and this is where the cost comes in 
How easy are the cradles to get into and is it only a single wire you have to shift or does the nmea output need a "+ve" and "-ve"? I'll have to go and have a look in my RA DIN connector to see how many wires that uses - it's only 1 or 2 AFAIR. As the wiring would be behind the dash for me, I could get hold of a female 9-pin DIN and male jack plug and make up a converter wire...
(if it works 
)
Andy
How easy are the cradles to get into and is it only a single wire you have to shift or does the nmea output need a "+ve" and "-ve"? I'll have to go and have a look in my RA DIN connector to see how many wires that uses - it's only 1 or 2 AFAIR. As the wiring would be behind the dash for me, I could get hold of a female 9-pin DIN and male jack plug and make up a converter wire...
(if it works )Andy
The PDA cable version will probably just have another jack socket on the end of a cable for you to connect to. It might be a 9-way D but unlikely. It is a whole new cradle they supply for this (or supposed to be) as you said. It is the same price as the ordinary cradle replacement, so I was hoping they would supply it as standard and wondered about waiting. Glad i didn't wait - that was a year ago.
It is very easy to get into the cradle. People talk about getting stronger magnets supplied from Origin and fitting them - they go inside, so Origin are happy for you to disassemble it. You can also disassemble it to move the cable entry from the left to the right if you need to. You just undo two cross head screws (underneath) and it comes apart. The cable comes to a small 12 way (approx) connector plug and the socket is on a small PCB which has the contacts to the Origin cradle. I only moved one wire - the signal wire to the laser jammer. The jammer socket on the cable harness is already supplied with power and ground (0 volts). RS232 is only signal and ground in one direction - you use 3 wires if you have Tx & Rx + ground. I connected the RS232 signal and ground to the PDA and that was it.
If you get a 9-way D socket and make a stereo jack to 9-way adaptor, you should be OK with your PDA cable.
I think I've got the pin numbers written down somewhere - although I got them wrong a few times and had to do some swapping. If you want them I'll see if I can find them.
Nick
Last edited by Nick100; 03 January 2005 at 01:35 PM. Reason: cross head screws hold it together, not allen screws
15 December 2004, 10:36 AM
#33
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Nick,
I'd be grateful if you could find the pin numbers as it seems you've more of an electronics background than me
I've seen an origin "gps out" cradle mentioned on a website for approx 45 quid (here) but I bet it's only for standard B2s and not for the solo I was thinking of getting
Thanks,
Andy
I'd be grateful if you could find the pin numbers as it seems you've more of an electronics background than me
I've seen an origin "gps out" cradle mentioned on a website for approx 45 quid (here) but I bet it's only for standard B2s and not for the solo I was thinking of getting
Thanks,
Andy
20 December 2004, 04:30 PM
#34
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Originally Posted by Nick100
Andy
With the ferrite, you can improve the suppression by passing the power lead through it more than once. Ideally you should pass the power lead through the middle, around the outside and back through the middle again. If you want to go for another loop it should be even better. Keep the cable short and tight aroung the outside of the ferrite.
Since fitting my ferrite I've had several genuine laser warnings and no false alarms. Once I was sitting behind a queue of six cars doing about 50 on a 70 dual carriageway, alarm went off and 200yds up the road was a Police man at side of road with hair dryer. Another time I was on a dual carriageway and saw what I thought might be a scamera van about half a mile away. Eased off the gas to slow down slightly from about 80 and the warning went off as I got to 73 at about quarter mile range.
Have had some no show's though - doing about 25 in a 30, saw man in van with gun on tripod, looking straight at me from less than 100m - nothing. He may not have had it on, or it may have been below the Origin speed warning threshold ? Wondered if you needed to be further away to get the scatter or wander as the operator targets you. Close up might be too easy for them to target the plate accurately. Detector mounted in middle at base of windscreen BTW.
Origin - Excellent bit of kit, very effective for fixed cameras (including temporary) but doubtful benefit against laser guns, coz it's probably too late by the time it goes off. If you react quickly enough you may be able to hit the brakes and if you're lucky they may take a couple of readings to verify your speed. B2 also now feeds GPS date to my iPaq with TomTomNav on it
With the ferrite, you can improve the suppression by passing the power lead through it more than once. Ideally you should pass the power lead through the middle, around the outside and back through the middle again. If you want to go for another loop it should be even better. Keep the cable short and tight aroung the outside of the ferrite.
Since fitting my ferrite I've had several genuine laser warnings and no false alarms. Once I was sitting behind a queue of six cars doing about 50 on a 70 dual carriageway, alarm went off and 200yds up the road was a Police man at side of road with hair dryer. Another time I was on a dual carriageway and saw what I thought might be a scamera van about half a mile away. Eased off the gas to slow down slightly from about 80 and the warning went off as I got to 73 at about quarter mile range.
Have had some no show's though - doing about 25 in a 30, saw man in van with gun on tripod, looking straight at me from less than 100m - nothing. He may not have had it on, or it may have been below the Origin speed warning threshold ? Wondered if you needed to be further away to get the scatter or wander as the operator targets you. Close up might be too easy for them to target the plate accurately. Detector mounted in middle at base of windscreen BTW.
Origin - Excellent bit of kit, very effective for fixed cameras (including temporary) but doubtful benefit against laser guns, coz it's probably too late by the time it goes off. If you react quickly enough you may be able to hit the brakes and if you're lucky they may take a couple of readings to verify your speed. B2 also now feeds GPS date to my iPaq with TomTomNav on it
Thanks - have now purchased, (per a different thread) another ferrite collar from maplins for £0.99 and fixed that, leaving the existing collar in place and it works fine. No false alarms so will be interesting to see if I ever get any - after nearly 1.5 years of owning an origin, the laser detector has never gone off.
Then again, as my b2 suddenly decided last night to give up the ghost (no power to it at all- either in the car or via the updating utility) it's now gone back to origin for repair - have to also say that while theire communication via email is very poor, their after-sales service/repair is excellent - they always return the b2 within a few days and by courier. Had a rattle inside which they fixed FOC and also relapced the screen (as mine has a small scratch on it). Full credit to them....
Andy
22 December 2004, 12:52 PM
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Origin B2
Anybody heard anything more about the proposed USB update method for the Origin (bearing in mind that a lot of PC's these days do not have serial ports) and whether it's going to cost for extra wires?
When I asked Origin they simply said watch their web site!!
When I asked Origin they simply said watch their web site!!
22 December 2004, 02:27 PM
#37
Originally Posted by aqua
Anybody heard anything more about the proposed USB update method for the Origin (bearing in mind that a lot of PC's these days do not have serial ports) and whether it's going to cost for extra wires?
When I asked Origin they simply said watch their web site!!
When I asked Origin they simply said watch their web site!!
23 December 2004, 10:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Apple
Nick,
I'd be grateful if you could find the pin numbers as it seems you've more of an electronics background than me
I've seen an origin "gps out" cradle mentioned on a website for approx 45 quid (here) but I bet it's only for standard B2s and not for the solo I was thinking of getting
Thanks,
Andy
I'd be grateful if you could find the pin numbers as it seems you've more of an electronics background than me
I've seen an origin "gps out" cradle mentioned on a website for approx 45 quid (here) but I bet it's only for standard B2s and not for the solo I was thinking of getting
Thanks,
Andy
Sorry for the delay, I've not managed to find the pin out info yet, but will look over the hols.
I suspect the cradle you've seen is for the standard B2 as well, although a quick call to Origin would confirm. I would still buy the standard unit over the solo. Although the solo is going to be quicker and easier to install, you need to consider where you want to mount it and whether the aerial will see enough satelites. I mounted mine by the central air vents, where it is easy to see and has a neat install. You only need to install it once, but then need to live with it. If you do go for a standard B2, I would try to buy it with the GPS out cable instead of the standard one. The price difference is only £5 more for the cables, so should be worth trying for, unless you want a spare cable set for another car.
Nick
23 December 2004, 10:15 AM
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Originally Posted by mightyyid
Nick
Have to also say that while theire communication via email is very poor, their after-sales service/repair is excellent
Andy
Have to also say that while theire communication via email is very poor, their after-sales service/repair is excellent
Andy
Wise advice for anyone else - don't bother with emails, just call them.
24 December 2004, 07:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Nick100
Andy
Sorry for the delay, I've not managed to find the pin out info yet, but will look over the hols.
I suspect the cradle you've seen is for the standard B2 as well, although a quick call to Origin would confirm. I would still buy the standard unit over the solo. Although the solo is going to be quicker and easier to install, you need to consider where you want to mount it and whether the aerial will see enough satelites. I mounted mine by the central air vents, where it is easy to see and has a neat install. You only need to install it once, but then need to live with it. If you do go for a standard B2, I would try to buy it with the GPS out cable instead of the standard one. The price difference is only £5 more for the cables, so should be worth trying for, unless you want a spare cable set for another car.
Nick
Sorry for the delay, I've not managed to find the pin out info yet, but will look over the hols.
I suspect the cradle you've seen is for the standard B2 as well, although a quick call to Origin would confirm. I would still buy the standard unit over the solo. Although the solo is going to be quicker and easier to install, you need to consider where you want to mount it and whether the aerial will see enough satelites. I mounted mine by the central air vents, where it is easy to see and has a neat install. You only need to install it once, but then need to live with it. If you do go for a standard B2, I would try to buy it with the GPS out cable instead of the standard one. The price difference is only £5 more for the cables, so should be worth trying for, unless you want a spare cable set for another car.
Nick
I'd looked at the solo so I didn't have to uproot all the carpets to put the receiver in the rear window but it doesn't seem to mind being in the front from what people say.
At the mo I've got the RA classic to the right of my defi pod and thought of putting the b2 there - are they distracting to have nearly in the line of sight as I prefer on top of the dash to down by the ashtray - I can watch the gps speed and clock? I know they can be dimmed so I guess it's playtime to get the setup "agreeable."
I've managed to get a 9-pin DIN socket and some wire if I need to make up a converter cable.
Andy
03 January 2005, 01:43 PM
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Andy (apple)
I've finally taken my cradle apart, to find out how I got RS232 out. I'll pm you the details. I don't want to make this too general in case Origin get upset, but will pm to anyone who is interested.
Nick
I've finally taken my cradle apart, to find out how I got RS232 out. I'll pm you the details. I don't want to make this too general in case Origin get upset, but will pm to anyone who is interested.
Nick
04 January 2005, 05:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Ray_li
not a stupid quesstion but why would you want to connect a RS232 to the cradle?
To do this you need to get the GPS data out of the B2 but the cradle does not have the wires in it as standard, so you need to make a minor mod so you can connect to it
05 January 2005, 11:32 PM
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Ray,
To use a pda for satnav you'd need something like TomTom Navigator software (www.tomtom.com)
If you haven't got anything then it'd probably be cheaper getting a standalone TomTom Go unit that is a gps receiver and TTN software "all in one." You could then use the POI (points of interest) downloads from the web to give you camera warnings on the Go unit or buy a gps camera detector (road angel / origin etc) as a seperate bit of kit (has advantages as the database is potentially better as it's a subscription service rather than relying on somebody in their bedroom adding a camera or two to the list whenever IMO)
Doing things my way involves a pda (ipaq 2210) running the TTN3 software and a cable to a NMEA (gps) signal provider - in my case a road angel classic until I sort out the origin gps output. My current setup was put together piecemeal as I already had the road angel and wanted a pda for the other stuff they can do so I got the software, cable and a vent ipaq holder and linked it all together - see piccy
The biggest ball-ache is the hardwiring to provide the power supply - I used the back of the *** lighter and have a 3-way socket under the clock pod to still use the original *** lighter type connectors as the data cable has a pcb in the end so it's not possible to chop off the plug and wire it straight in to the power (or at least I wasn't going to try... )
Andy
PS the "sun" shaped bit at the top is the laser alert that reflected the flash straight back...
To use a pda for satnav you'd need something like TomTom Navigator software (www.tomtom.com)
If you haven't got anything then it'd probably be cheaper getting a standalone TomTom Go unit that is a gps receiver and TTN software "all in one." You could then use the POI (points of interest) downloads from the web to give you camera warnings on the Go unit or buy a gps camera detector (road angel / origin etc) as a seperate bit of kit (has advantages as the database is potentially better as it's a subscription service rather than relying on somebody in their bedroom adding a camera or two to the list whenever IMO)
Doing things my way involves a pda (ipaq 2210) running the TTN3 software and a cable to a NMEA (gps) signal provider - in my case a road angel classic until I sort out the origin gps output. My current setup was put together piecemeal as I already had the road angel and wanted a pda for the other stuff they can do so I got the software, cable and a vent ipaq holder and linked it all together - see piccy
The biggest ball-ache is the hardwiring to provide the power supply - I used the back of the *** lighter and have a 3-way socket under the clock pod to still use the original *** lighter type connectors as the data cable has a pcb in the end so it's not possible to chop off the plug and wire it straight in to the power (or at least I wasn't going to try...
) Andy
PS the "sun" shaped bit at the top is the laser alert that reflected the flash straight back...
Last edited by Apple; 05 January 2005 at 11:38 PM.
10 April 2005, 04:21 PM
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Hi
i have installed my B2 works well got a small problem there is some hissing noise coming checked all wires still no luck
the laser defuser does it go in blue or green connecter
i have installed my B2 works well got a small problem there is some hissing noise coming checked all wires still no luck
the laser defuser does it go in blue or green connecter
10 April 2005, 04:31 PM
#48
Originally Posted by 2old4this
Hi
i have installed my B2 works well got a small problem there is some hissing noise coming checked all wires still no luck
the laser defuser does it go in blue or green connecter
i have installed my B2 works well got a small problem there is some hissing noise coming checked all wires still no luck
the laser defuser does it go in blue or green connecter
White/Gold = Antenna
Red = Power
Blue = Laser Detector
Yellow = Optional Laser Diffuser
15 April 2005, 09:38 AM
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Originally Posted by aqua
Anybody heard anything more about the proposed USB update method for the Origin (bearing in mind that a lot of PC's these days do not have serial ports) and whether it's going to cost for extra wires?
When I asked Origin they simply said watch their web site!!
When I asked Origin they simply said watch their web site!!
Just received my B2 and it comes witha USB cradle
22 May 2005, 02:49 PM
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Originally Posted by Griffman65
Anyone got any pics of where they have mounted their B2'S?
I'm just moving my B2 from my other car to the Impreza, and am not sure where the best place is to mount it.
I'm just moving my B2 from my other car to the Impreza, and am not sure where the best place is to mount it.
I made a an MDF backplate that was slightly smaller than the back of the origin then mounted the origin to that using the small screw hole in the back (the small screws that hold the faceplate of a plug socket on are a perfect fit for this) and hinged that to another piece of MDF that is screwed into the cubby hole under the drivers side vent. I sprayed the MDF black so it blends in and as the MDF is slightly smaller than the origin it is virtually hidden anyway.
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