Beltronics 936CS Owner's Manual

with 65 Digital Voice Messages and Digital Display

Operating
instructions
for model
E936CS

TM

Ultimate Performance. Proven Technology.

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360˚

Thank you for purchasing an EXPRESS 936
Radar/Laser/Safety detector. EXPRESS 936 offers the most
advanced technology available for detecting all Radar and
Laser speed monitoring devices. In addition, EXPRESS 936
features Digital Voice, Text Message Display and the Safety
War ning System

®

with 60 Digital Voice messages.

To ensure maximum benefit from your new unit, please

read all instructions before operating your unit.

Remember, owning a Radar detector does not give you a
license to speed. Alerts from a Radar detector serve as an
effective reminder to check your speed. Laws vary
throughout North America governing the use of a Radar
detector. It is your responsibility to follow these laws.

Safety Warning System

®

(sws™)

EXPRESS 936 detects encoded signals from sws

™

transmitters
and provides 60 messages for:
Highway Construction/Maintenance, Highway Hazard Zones,
Weather Related Hazards, Travel Information/Convenience
and Emergency/Slow Moving Vehicles. For a complete
description of sws

™

audio and visual alerts, see page 18.

VG-2 Guard

®

Alert

EXPRESS 936 features VG-2 Guard

®

, to detect signals from the

Interceptor VG-2 (Radar Detector Detector).

For a complete description of the VG-2 Guard

®

audio/visual

alert, see page 17.

Safety Warning System

®

with Digital Voice Messages

Choose between Digital Voice Messages with a unique sws

™

tone or sws™tone only (see page 9).

Radar/Laser Digital Voice Prompts

Choose between Radar/Laser Digital Voice prompts followed
by “beeps” or “beeps” only (see page 9).

INTRODUCTION

SELECTABLE FEATURES

2

3

Profile of Features ➤ page 4
Description of Features ➤ page 5

Power Up Test Sequence ➤ page 5
Tutorial Mode ➤ page 5
Memory Retention of Feature Selections ➤ page 6
Adjusting the Audio Level ➤ page 6
DRK (Dim/Dark) Button ➤ page 6
AUD (Audio Mute) Button ➤ page 7
CTY (City/Highway) Button ➤ page 8
Reset to Factory Settings ➤ page 8

Selectable Features ➤ page 9

Entering Selectable Features Mode ➤ page 9

Installation ➤ page 10

General Guidelines ➤ page 10

Understanding Radar, Laser and sws

™

➤ page 13

Interpretation of Alerts ➤ page 14

Radar Alerts ➤ page 14
Instant-On/Pulsed Radar Alert ➤ page 16
Typical False Alert (Radar) ➤ page 16
Laser Alerts ➤ page 17
Safety Warning System

®

(sws™) Alerts ➤ page 17

Performance Verification ➤ page 19

Conditions That Affect Radar Alerts ➤ page 19
Conditions That Affect Laser Alerts ➤ page 19

Troubleshooting ➤ page 20
Consumer Warranty ➤ page 21
Service ➤ page 22

Warranty Service ➤ page 22
Post-Warranty Service ➤ page 22

Specifications ➤ page 23
Accessories ➤ page 23

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. P/V (Power/Volume) Button: pressing P/V briefly will turn
the unit

ON. Pressing P/V a second time will bypass the

power up test sequence. Pressing

P/V and holding will change

the audio level.

2. Text Message Display: communicates all mode selections (i.e.
DIM, DARK, CITY, HIGHWAY, and AUTOMUTE) and confirms
Radar band and signal strength, presence of Laser and sws

™

messages received.

3.

DRK (Dim/Dark) Button: provides dim or dark settings of

the Text Display for discreet night travel. Audio alerts are not
affected.

4.

AUD

(Audio Mute) Button: provides automatic and manual

muting of X, K, Super Wideband Ka Radar and manual
muting of sws

™

alerts.

5.

CTY (City/Highway) Button: minimizes unwanted X band

alerts without reducing sensitivity.

6. Antenna Opening: Radar and sws

™

signals are received by a
patented diecast antenna with integrated transition to
microstrip mixer.

PROFILE OF FEATURES

4

1

7

6

8

5

4

3

2

9

7. Laser Optical Sensors: collect Laser signals from in front and
behind.

8. Audio Alert Speaker: all audible alerts and Digital Voice
Messages are emitted from this location.

9. Power Jack: using the straight or coiled cord, EXPRESS 936
operates in any vehicle with a 13.8 volt

DC negative ground

system (l0.5 volt to 16 volt range).

Power-Up Test Sequence

Each time your detector is turned

ON, audio and Text Messages

for Laser, Ka, K, X and Safety Warning System

®

(sws™) are
presented. After this sequence, the status of Selectable
Features is displayed: “SWS on”, “SWS off”, “VG-2 on”,
“VG-2 off”, “SWSvoice”, “SWSclick”, ”VOICEon”,
“VOICEoff” (see page 9). If your unit displays information
other than this standard power-up test sequence, return it to
BELTRONICS for servicing. To bypass the power-up test
sequence, press the

P/V button during the Power up test

sequence.

Tutorial Mode

The tutorial mode allows you to become more familiar with
all audible and visual alerts. To engage this mode, press and
hold CTY, then press AUD while the unit is

OFF. The message

“TUTORIAL” appears in the display followed by the audio and
corresponding Text Message for “LASER”, “Ka AUDIO”, “K
AUDIO”, “X AUDIO”,”VG-2 Alert,” sample Radar alert (K
band signal ramping from weak to strong) and “SAFETY

WARNING SYSTEM SAMPLE ALERTS”. Three sample sws

™

messages are then presented in the display along with the
corresponding Digital Voice Message:
Sample 1 “ACCIDENT AHEAD”
Sample 2 “HIGHWAY WORKCREW AHEAD”
Sample 3 “POLICE IN PURSUIT”
Anytime during Tutorial Mode (except Safety Warning System

®

DESCRIPTION OF FEATURES

5

sample alerts) press CTY

or AUD to move forward or backward

through the alerts. During sws

™

sample alerts press CTY to

move forward in the sws

™

message list. “MSG 1”will appear

initially in the display confirming your selecion. Pressing the

AUD button allows you to listen to the sws

™

message while

viewing it in the display. Press the

CTY button again to step to

the next message; press the

AUD button to review, and so on.

This allows you to review all 60 messages.

To exit Tutorial Mode, press the

P/V

button and your unit

will be

ON and ready to receive signals.

Memory Retention of Feature Selections

Any time EXPRESS 936 is turned

OFF or unplugged from the

cigarette lighter socket, all feature settings are retained in the
unit’s memory. Memory retention eliminates the need to reset
your preferred feature settings each time your unit is turned

OFF and then back ON.

Adjusting the Audio Level

Once your unit has completed the power up test sequence, the
audio level can be adjusted by holding the

P/

V button down.

As you hear the audio level change, the display will provide a
visual reference of the audio level. To reverse the direction in
which the audio level increases/decreases, briefly release, then
hold down the

P/V button again.

DRK (Dim/Dark) Button

The

DRK button allows selection of a dim or dark setting for the

display. To engage dim mode, press the

DRK button once. A single

“beep” coupled with the brief illumination of “DIM” on the display
confirms your selection. To completely cancel the illumination of
the display during an alert, press

DRK a second time. A single

“beep” coupled with the brief illumination of “DARK” in the
display confirms your selection. While in dark mode, you will
notice an “H” (highway mode) or “C” (city mode) remains dim to
confirm your unit is receiving power. To return to a full bright
setting, press the

DRK button a third time; two “beeps” confirm

this selection. Use of the

DRK button does not affect audio alerts.

Important—if you press the the

DRK button and do not receive

audible confirmation, the audio level has been set too low.

6

7

AUD (Audio Mute) Button

Continuous Audio Alert Pattern

Your unit has been preset at the factory to provide an X, K, Ka
or Laser audio alert and Digital Voice announcement of the
signal detected. Digital Voice prompts are provided once after
the initial audio alert. (Note: DigitalVoice can be turned

OFF,

see page 9) This standard setting is often preferred when
background noise in a vehicle is loud.

Automatic Mute Alert Pattern (Radar)

To engage automatic muting, press the

AUD button once when the

unit is not alarming. A single “beep” and brief presentation of
“AUTOMUTE” in the display confirms automatic mute mode has
been engaged. The alert pattern when this mode is activated
consists of several X, K, Super Wideband Ka audio alerts followed
by the Digital Voice announcement of the signal detected. After
the Digital Voice announcement, a “clicking” tone keeps you
quietly informed for as long as the signal is present. This
“clicking” becomes more rapid as the strength of the Radar signal
increases. With this mode engaged, the automatic muting will be
repeated each time a new signal is encountered. The automatic
mute mode enables you to conveniently monitor extended
encounters without having to manually mute or adjust the
volume setting. To return to the continuous audio alert pattern,
press the

AUD button a second time (while the unit is not

alerting). Two “beeps” and the message “AUTOoff” confirm you
have cancelled automatic mute mode.

Manual Muting of Audio Alerts (Radar and sws

™

)

Regardless of the

AUD mode selected (continuous or automatic

mute), the audio alerts can be completely muted by pressing
the

AUD button during an alert. Once the alert has passed, me

unit will revert to the previous

AUD setting.

Note—because Laser alerts are not lengthy or sustained, muting is not
required (see page 17).

CTY (City X/Highway) Button

The

CTY X mode has been designed to effectively reduce

unwanted audio alerts caused by intrusion alarms, door
openers, and other devices which share X band with police
Radar—without reducing sensitivity. Signals from non-police
Radar sources are frequently encountered in urban and sub­urban areas, making use of this mode ideal in these areas.

Pressing the

CTY button once engages the CTY X mode which

is confirmed by “CITY” in the display coupled with a single
audio “beep”. Pressing the

CTY twice returns you to highway

mode; “HIGHWAY” will appear in the display coupled with
two “beeps”. Once

CTY X mode is engaged, weak X band

signals encountered will produce no audible alert until the
signal strength reaches a preset level. However, visual alerts
are processed the instant an X band signal is detected,
keeping you quietly informed. Since most “false” X band
signals are weak, the use of the

CTY mode allows you to drive

out of their range before they reach the preset level and
trigger a full audio alert. In contrast, signals from X band
traffic Radar are generally stronger and will exceed the preset
level, causing a full X band audio alert. Activating the

CTY

mode will not change Super Wideband Ka, K or instant-on X
band Radar alert patterns.

Note—the

CTY mode does not change the presentation of alerts

for Laser sws

™

or VG-2 signals.

City ALL (X/K/Ka)

City ALL provides an alternated approach for improving X,
K and Ka band selectivity and is ideal for use in areas with a

high level of microwave transmissions which can cause
falsing on all three bands. To engage City ALL mode, press

CTY until the Display shows “CITY ALL”. Once engaged, weak

X, K or Super Wideband Ka signals encountered will provide
no audible alerts until the signal strength reaches a preset
level. Visual alerts are processed the instant an X, K or Super
Wideband Ka signal is detected, keeping you quietly
informed.

8