UK_Paul's - Slingshot Build & Other Adventures -

It appears that we may have many more European problems than I had seen.

I understand that the ECU is programed differently for the EU market as the US version does not meet our emission request. (One is different to the other, not just better or worse).

I have a US friend (not on a US military bsse - as exceptions may apply) who was considering bringing a US model into Europe, for a year or two, but it may prove too dificult/expensive to achive.

Re radio:
Let's not loose hope!!
I will be asking for ISO test & procedure documentation (TUV, BS.....) this morning. This is required by European law for procedures, testing and performance.

My farther was instrumental in the creation of some of these "dam stupid European rules" (his words) that I must now ask for.

Let's see what Polaris do next.

As said many times now.
:I just want a radio that works."

Quote from mytoy

Shut the &&&&### up that was GERLISH

We should all adopt "GERLISH" as the official language for this SlingShot-info Forum..

Quote from UK_Paul

Re radio:
My farther was instrumental in the creation of some of these "dam stupid European rules" (his words) that I must now ask for..........

For someone that hardly ever swore. My farther once described one of the forms that Polaris will now need to supply (by law) by saying:

"If it says tick the box - Tick the f¥€&ing box."

He went on to explain just how easy you can then loose your ISO certifications (and how to do it). I have seen him stop government members in their tracks with stuff like this. He was a dam good teacher, for me.

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On much happier things.

Today we went for a goid, long, run in the SlingShot, for a few hours (4-5).

Due to my bad health, my wife, Elaine drove the route, except or the last 15-20 mins before home.

It was one of the best days our, as a passenger/pillion that I have ever had. Elaine is still new to the SlingShot but her driveing was just amazing! We had a great time stopped at a couple of motorcycle hot pots allong with a few more places too.

Helmets aren't required in the UK on things with 3 or more wheels, so the wind in our faces was a tremendous experience, at times.

The attention was great (as always) and it was one of the best days we have for weather, this year.

When we got home, it was time for some cider (always made to inclde alcohol, in Britain & Ireland) under the apple trees in our garden. As they dropped some of the last blossom on yesterday's freshly cut grass - Britain at her best.

When I get up in the morning it will be time to do a little work on the SS then (health permitting) I'll be off again.

Good Radio News!

Using a combination of things that I have discovered today I am now hopefully that I can move forward with solving the radio problem.

I had to ask Polaris to define the test procedures that they will carry out, should I return the SS for evaluation. I suspect that they will be unable (or perhsps incapable) of doing this, to my satisfaction.

However through a very helpful European Polaris employee and some very, very clever independant UK technical contacts (radar and spy stuff) It appears that we have approached the problem, from totaly differing directions and possibly identified the cause of the problem.

My job, tomorrow is to check this out and hopefully identify how it occurs. If it is what we appear to think it is... Someone need a massive foot placing in a very inappropriate place, as it will show extreem incompetence in both management of the situation and the flow of technical information through the Polaris system.

I withhold my conclusions untill I action my intended tests/mods.. I will see how Polaris respond to the test requirement request and then move forward.

Things are looking up a little.

Today's (radio) adventures were rather good...

Took the SlingShot for a run with my "Savant" electronics friend, up to Polaris Britain's offices in the UK. In days of old customers were welcome, but we didn't impose ourselves on the people at Polaris as they are very firm that they can only work, exclusively, through the dealer network (thier loss, today, big time).

His assesment was "spot-on" as we British say. He knew the answers before we had even tested the product. Some people's brains are just wired so differently to the rest of us and they can understand/work out things without even taking an extra breath. He's got the most amazing brain, no wonder he has the job that he has.

The results need a little further reviewing tomorrow and I'll know just what the reason is that Polaris are blindly moving forward, without an understanding of why they will (always) get a "false true" in testing. More to follow on this when I have some confirmed results.

On a less constructive slant...
Polaris are still insisting that if I return the SS for tests, that they "will not" disclose tech details of, still at my own expense. If they won't supply a definition of the test, why should I be made to pay my costs for it? Especially with the information that I now have.

Next move...
More radio testing.
Then my friends/colognes will start working on some interesting electronic features for me (see next posting) It's going to be good.

So some more work is to be done, when the radio is fixed...

The SlingShot will eventually end up with 4 (or more) Bluetooth devices connected into the machine, 6 (or more) cameras, of which some will be totally hidden and set up transmitting video/stills to my phone & home. 5 (or more)GPS devices, some for tracking the Slingshot and some for navigation and telemetry. That's all the simple stuff and most of that will operate for (an anticipated) 4-6 years without needing a change of just 4 sets of AAA batteries.

Then it may be developed in a way that when the SlingShot is approached it can talk with people, through their phones. Should certain conditions be met it will also log who is near the device and if they return. This way if the SlingShot is stolen, (with certain permissions) I'll be able to call the driver on their own phone and let them know that I know, who they are and that I will also find out, where they live. It's all starting to sound a bit like the film "Taken" now. (Strange how life soon imitates films).

My intentions are to make the whole thing interactive. (If I'm allowed by the people fitting it together) I'll confirm some of the set up on this thread, but if it pans out as intended then I'll be one of the first to have some very new and advanced technology in the vehicle. This work should start soon. (In the next few months). Meanwhile the first job is that a "very simple" two way (microwave) alarm system, gets fitted, with a few modifications (But hey! You all expected that). After the radio is first sorted out

Lots of great stuff to develop now. I don't understand the half of it...
After all it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Quote from UK_Paul

So some more work is to be done, when the radio is fixed...

Lots of great stuff to develop now. I don't understand the half of it...
After all it's not what you know, it's who you know.

Quote from WOLF

That sounds all kinds of "James Bond" awesome @UK_Paul. I'll be watching. Get it?

I don't understand it all, but I know people who do.
Without them Polaris would still be getting me to pay for work that doesn't need carrying out.
Perhaps now, Polaris have actually done me a very big favour. As yesterday, this may have not been happening, had they been helping their customers.

Quote from Spudinator

@UK_Paul don't put the alarm in it until someone steals your radio. As a matter of fact take it out of the dash and put it into the passenger seat and park in a sketchy neighborhood. Then an insurance claim.

@Spudinator Don't worry, after today's findings, no one will be wanting to steel it. I'll be posting (a little) information about the problem in a post below.

It shouldn't affect any US units but it's suspected that some "cheep" codeing of the radio operating system (- they believe - probably put together in the far east) allong with a slight electro/mechanical problem causes the problem.
More to follow...

Radio Results:

Thanks to the British Taxpayers we now have a result, as to why the Polaris Radio fails!

Symptoms:
Not correctly receiving UK radio stations.
Differing results in various areas of the UK
Poor signal when receiving any signal.

Findings:
1. Poor grounding of antenna to a suitable "ground plains." (Partly a production problem and partly a design problem).
2. Repeated radio resetting, to US standards, from EU..

Reasons:
1. (Item 1 above). Bad/poor design & implimation of system.
2. (Item 2 above). Bad codeing of software.
3. (Item 2 above). Electro/mechanical failure.

Reason Polaris won't have a clue that the problem exists!
(This is where my friend the "Savant" was the star):
First a few facts...
Radio stations transmit on many different frequencies around any country. These frequencies all vary a little. The gap between US and EU frequencies are of a different standard (spacing & kHz). Some of these frequencies overlap. (therefore an old style US radio only picks up a few EU stations, when in Europe).

Now the good bit...
Polaris only work with a total of 3 dealers in Britain, in reasonably high density population areas. (4 branches total).
All of these and the Polaris Britain HQ just happen to be positioned in locations that can pick up "the few" US/GB overlapping frequencies. It was the "Savant" that recognised this freak situation, in our rescissions. He was able to tell me the names of the stations that were received at my dealer's location, when the radio was tested. He then predicted correctly what stations we would receive, when we traveled the 50 miles to check reception at Polaris HQ in Britain. He just knew all the associated radio stations, frequencies and approx signal strength of the different areas in Britain (I said his brain was wired a little differently). He could also perceive the grounding problem with the areal from his predictions (as I should have managed to have obtained better results in my home town).

This will leave Polaris believing that the radio will work fine in Britain (even when it resets itself to US specs.).

So why does it reset?
I've given a few pointers but...
Well Polaris have been dam rude, not working with their customer to achive this result, so although I now know where the problem is, they can spend hours working it out for themselves, at their own expense. The radio has been tested by what is, no doubt, the best test fertility in Europe and very possibly the rest of the world. It will likely take Polaris endless hours to recover the fault themselves, but they dug the hole that they are now standing in, so they can get out of it, now.

Conclusions:
As previously stated the product is not fit for purpose, in European countries with the prevailing fault. I cannot state if all EU SlingShots are affected but my one is.
I have now had contact with EU drivers that are experiencing this problem and I also recall a conversation with a British Polaris tech guy allong the lines of my findings, (conversation mentioned in previous postings) before purchasing the SlingShot. (Perhaps he was talking about my SS, but I suspect not).

The situation was escalated and made worse, way beyond that necessary, due to the very poor management of the problem, by Polaris staff, it therefore ended up reaching the public domain. Had Polaris been proactive in working towards finding a result, rather than sitting in their plush offices, shouting the odds (possibly a British phrase) then things would have ended amicably. However Polaris have now shown themselves to be unreasonably arrogant and are left with a persisting problem, that they will now have to resolve themselves or perhaps, more likely, continue to shut their eyes to.

That's almost enough from me now.
People that matter will hopefully understand where thing went wrong, but I don't anticipate that I'll receive a "sorry" from them. My distributor was put in an unreasonable position and just one Polaris representative (based in the EU mainland) gave an exceptionally good service (shame UK could not do the same). He was a star! Somebody should take a look at this sorry state of events, had I not had the opportunity to progress thing the way I did then the company would be sitting there saying the customer was wrong or at fault. The unlikely situation would have never been resolved and the customers would never have know why.

No one wins, from this.
Lessons should be learnt and processes/customer relations improved.

Footnote for Polaris:

Note to Polaris Britain, (if they get to read it):
Tests not done in these actual buildings, but you can work out who it is from the picture.
And... "Oh Oh Bob" had absolutely nothing to do with this and knows nothing of the situation. (So Don't Blame Him, for finding out your own faults and failings, for you).

Quote from WOLF

So is your radio working now @UK_Paul? Sounds like some great investigative work. Did you omit "#3" on purpose?

Yes
:cool:

Sent from my SM-G955F using Polaris Slingshot Forum mobile app

Quote from WOLF

So is your radio working now @UK_Paul? Sounds like some great investigative work. Did you omit "#3" on purpose?

I have just loaded the site's app and haven't worked out how to edit a posting yet so I'll repeat myself (and add a little).

Yes
:cool:

Everything is working now. The engineers/tech guys that looked at the rafio and sugested that:
"It was a pile of Sh1t"

We will now be swapping it out for something that actually does the job properly (like many other owners have also done) I've seen details of what will be going in, to replace it and it's got a total of 4 aerials (hagging out the back of it) for 3 different setups.

The device is quite big and so the first job is a modification to the dash board, to fit everything in. (It will be modified to include some of the monitoring and control stuff, previously posted about). Everything will look reasonably standard when finished and the set up may take a while to get perfect.

Oh... the total value may be higher than the £2,500 UKP that Polaris think that the standard product is worth. But it's a test bed for something much bigger and better, so I'm only contributing for the dashboard mods. That looks like a very good deal to me.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Polaris Slingshot Forum mobile app

I got the Slingshot back today, with the alarm fitted.

They showed me where it was going to be fitted, but I can't find it.

All I know is that it works.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Polaris Slingshot Forum mobile app

Quote from MiM

Video please! And model number, etc... Sounds interesting what you described... Like an AI alarm...

I can't show you on a Visio, because they have hidden it all so well that I can't find it and they even told me where they were going to put it.

All I can see is one of the microwave/proximity sensors, (that's the one that I will use to adjust the system's sensitivity). Everything else has been hidden really well.
I cant even see the alarm's transmitter aerial.

It's what these guys do, just, so so well.