JamesO
Member
There might be hope for the Siren App and using a smart phone or tablet as a Remote Head in a mobile environment? Now maybe I am putting the cart before the horse, but I fully expect that the Siren App will show up sometime later this year.
After some thought and some testing, it seems that Uniden may have some of the hooks in place for allowing the 536HP to be remotely powered on and off to allow concealed mounting in a mobile environment.
This theory revolves around the situation where the scanner currently has a power off timer that puts the scanner into a “Standby” mode and the fact the 536HP has a “sense” wire for the display dimmer.
Assume Uniden could look into these features if they are not already working on it.
One of the problems with the x36HP scanner platform is the requirement to write to the SD card on shut down. From my understanding, this is required to save configuration changes as well as recordings.
After some checking, it seems the Orange power sense wire on the 3 connector plug is primarily use for dimming the display. There is even a reverse logic option for this power sense wire that is user configurable in the firmware.
With the shut down timer, the scanner is able to be programmed to perform a proper shut down, writing to the SD card and then going into a “Standby” mode. Then if the scanners primary power source is interrupted, the scanner will power back up. The only problem I have found is the scanner “Standby” current is too high, measuring in at 160mA. I did not wait to see if this changed over a longer period of time, but the “Standby” current would need to be reduced further if this feature was to be used. “Standby” current would need to be somewhere in the 25mA or less range, under 10mA would be far better.
I was able to also measure the “Standby” current with the physical switch turned off. I measured 280uA or 0.280mA which is very acceptable if Uniden could somehow get closer to a sub 10mA current draw on “Standby”.
It appears that the Orange “sense” wire would be the key to the feature for allowing remote mobile mounting of the scanner and remote power control. Currently the Orange “sense” wire is used for display dimming. This feature is not required, if for example the scanner is mounted under a seat, in the trunk or some other storage area where the display is no visible. If there was a user configurable menu option for the Orange “sense” wire to be either for display dimming or remote power off and on this would be ideal.
So If the scanner could be “soft” power controlled this would be ideal. For remote applications, the Siren App could have a Power Off button, no Power On as there would not be an option for the App to turn on the scanner because the WiFi would not be on if the scanner is in a “standby” mode as this would consume too much current.
Ideally the Orange “sense” wire would be connected to an ignition source, so the scanner could automatically power up and shut down when the Orange “sense” wire detects the ignition being turned on or off.
Another good option would be a user selectable shut down timer, which would stay unlike the current one time shut down timer configuration, so the scanner would not always turn off immediately when the ignition is turned off. For example if someone arrives on the scene of event, they may need the scanner to continue to operate for some period of time. Maybe the Siren App would have a single button to over ride the auto shut off for the this current ignition shut down cycle?
So hopefully Uniden has already thought about this issue. There is a large number of users that want to remotely mount this scanner in a vehicle and just having the scanner connected to ignition power is a problem and will not allow saving of user changes and recordings and may also result in more corrupt SD cards
.
With a bit of mental thought, I believe the firmware should be able to be tweaked to fully support the Orange Ignition “sense” wire feature for remote power on and off as well as allow user choice between display dimming and remote power control. I hope if Uniden has not already thought about this feature, they would strongly consider this feature and I would also hope that users that are expecting to remotely mounting the scanner would speak up in favor to support this type of feature.
Yes we are still waiting on the Siren App as well as the Analyze and Discovery features, but Uniden may as well surprise all the users with a decent feature like an Ignition “sense” for remote power on and off.
Something to think about and consider.
After some thought and some testing, it seems that Uniden may have some of the hooks in place for allowing the 536HP to be remotely powered on and off to allow concealed mounting in a mobile environment.
This theory revolves around the situation where the scanner currently has a power off timer that puts the scanner into a “Standby” mode and the fact the 536HP has a “sense” wire for the display dimmer.
Assume Uniden could look into these features if they are not already working on it.
One of the problems with the x36HP scanner platform is the requirement to write to the SD card on shut down. From my understanding, this is required to save configuration changes as well as recordings.
After some checking, it seems the Orange power sense wire on the 3 connector plug is primarily use for dimming the display. There is even a reverse logic option for this power sense wire that is user configurable in the firmware.
With the shut down timer, the scanner is able to be programmed to perform a proper shut down, writing to the SD card and then going into a “Standby” mode. Then if the scanners primary power source is interrupted, the scanner will power back up. The only problem I have found is the scanner “Standby” current is too high, measuring in at 160mA. I did not wait to see if this changed over a longer period of time, but the “Standby” current would need to be reduced further if this feature was to be used. “Standby” current would need to be somewhere in the 25mA or less range, under 10mA would be far better.
I was able to also measure the “Standby” current with the physical switch turned off. I measured 280uA or 0.280mA which is very acceptable if Uniden could somehow get closer to a sub 10mA current draw on “Standby”.
It appears that the Orange “sense” wire would be the key to the feature for allowing remote mobile mounting of the scanner and remote power control. Currently the Orange “sense” wire is used for display dimming. This feature is not required, if for example the scanner is mounted under a seat, in the trunk or some other storage area where the display is no visible. If there was a user configurable menu option for the Orange “sense” wire to be either for display dimming or remote power off and on this would be ideal.
So If the scanner could be “soft” power controlled this would be ideal. For remote applications, the Siren App could have a Power Off button, no Power On as there would not be an option for the App to turn on the scanner because the WiFi would not be on if the scanner is in a “standby” mode as this would consume too much current.
Ideally the Orange “sense” wire would be connected to an ignition source, so the scanner could automatically power up and shut down when the Orange “sense” wire detects the ignition being turned on or off.
Another good option would be a user selectable shut down timer, which would stay unlike the current one time shut down timer configuration, so the scanner would not always turn off immediately when the ignition is turned off. For example if someone arrives on the scene of event, they may need the scanner to continue to operate for some period of time. Maybe the Siren App would have a single button to over ride the auto shut off for the this current ignition shut down cycle?
So hopefully Uniden has already thought about this issue. There is a large number of users that want to remotely mount this scanner in a vehicle and just having the scanner connected to ignition power is a problem and will not allow saving of user changes and recordings and may also result in more corrupt SD cards
.
With a bit of mental thought, I believe the firmware should be able to be tweaked to fully support the Orange Ignition “sense” wire feature for remote power on and off as well as allow user choice between display dimming and remote power control. I hope if Uniden has not already thought about this feature, they would strongly consider this feature and I would also hope that users that are expecting to remotely mounting the scanner would speak up in favor to support this type of feature.
Yes we are still waiting on the Siren App as well as the Analyze and Discovery features, but Uniden may as well surprise all the users with a decent feature like an Ignition “sense” for remote power on and off.
Something to think about and consider.