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New Car Windscreen - No Sat Reception


M3ZPY

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:yikes: I have just had my windscreen replaced (Renault Grand Scenic) but when I set up my GPSMap 60cs the unit is having trouble locking on to or even finding satelites.

I know the unit is ok cos as soon as I open the window and point it to the skies it locks on fine, so what is happening?

Is there a fine film stoping the unit recieving or is it the weather bieng too hazey for inside my car.

At first I though the satelites of the world had shut down!!

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No it shouldn't be a heated windscreen - but it does have a rain sensor - and I can't think that could contribute as the sensor is up near the mirror.

And the windscreen does curve but so did the old one.

But I wonder if the replacement was a heated one?

Hmm I will have a closer look at the glass when my wife gets back from shopping.

I did eventually get a lock but the acuracy was a bit haywire and the sats could not keep a lock on my speed either.

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I have a Peugeot 307 and have exactly the same problem. Its something to do with the tinting in the windscreen. Your older screen may not have had it.

 

If you pass a Renault or Peugeot car on the road you may notice a strange purplish colour to the windscreen. Thats the tinting. It makes the driving experience more enjoyable but Geocaching a PITA!

 

Luckily I can wedge the GPSr in the side window and get perfect reception. An antenna is expensive so maybe a holder located next to the side window would be a bit more cost effective.

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:D What choice do I have then eh? Other than give autoglass a bill for my antenae - I certainly can't just leave it as I enjoy tripping out as close to a cache as is possible.

So a wee bit more dosh to spend - at least the glass did not cost me :D

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We had a Vauxhall Sintra (sorry) it had a heat reflective screen. A very very very thin metalic sheet. You couldn't see it but it blocked any gps signal. I used one of those sucker type phone mounts and stuck it to the drivers side quarter light. It was mostly ok but the passenger couldn't see the display. Since then we've moved on to a Galaxy. This has a heated front screen which you can see as a load of very thin vertical wires. This doesn't appear to stop the gps signal significantly and we can mount the gpsr anywhere. So you probably have the heat reflector type screen and other than get a re-radiator your're stuck with crummy signals in the front. Hope that helps.

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The real moral is thast you need ot choose whether you want a car that can recieve a GPs siggnal, or one that reflexts more sun to help keep the interior cool. French cars are particulalry prone to being fitted with screens containing a metalic reflextive layer that is GPS proof. As normally only the front windscreen is so affected, one solution is an internal battery powered reradiating antenna on the parcel shelf. PC-Mobile sell one.

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We had a Vauxhall Sintra (sorry) it had a heat reflective screen. A very very very thin metalic sheet. You couldn't see it but it blocked any gps signal. ...

This has been my experience. My Van has a narrow strip at the top where the window is tinted that doesn't have the heat reflecting screen. This is so a garage door opener will work. Or so I've been told. The screen works very well for keeping heat out. Of course it's just as good as keeping my GPS from getting a signal. :D

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The real moral is thast you need ot choose whether you want a car that can recieve a GPs siggnal

Well actually the original windscreen was fine but got a stone chip, it was initially repaired but never took (the cracks that were supposed to fade actually refracted the sun back in my face) So I had a good moan and the company did the replacement - the last thing on my mind was "Will my gps unit have trouble recieving satelites?" You just don't do you? :D

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I have a Peugeot 307 and have exactly the same problem. Its something to do with the tinting in the windscreen. Your older screen may not have had it.

 

If you pass a Renault or Peugeot car on the road you may notice a strange purplish colour to the windscreen. Thats the tinting. It makes the driving experience more enjoyable but Geocaching a PITA!

 

Luckily I can wedge the GPSr in the side window and get perfect reception. An antenna is expensive so maybe a holder located next to the side window would be a bit more cost effective.

thats correct it is called a comfort screen my renault has one and it says in the instructions for my tom tom that these types of sreens will couse havoc but dont worry the covering wears off after a few months as after all it is frenck lol

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You're all wrong... :D

 

It's to do with the metal content in the Renault windscreen (which resists UV and is the tinting in the glass), that causes issues with everything from GPS reception to toll-bridge badges not being read.

 

There's an article from the Irish Times here, I spotted it in last weeks Motoring supplement.

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Renault offer, 3 types of screen, Basic, no problems with GPS, Tinted for those with A/C no problems, but the third and only for vehicles with full full climate control has a second heat filtering to it and it is that, that stops you from getting the gps to work. Fortunatly I have only A/C so I am not effected

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There is a thin metal film layer in these windscreens, it's got a marketing name but I can't remember it. But it's designed to reduce the heat, by blocking the radiation, and does a great job of killing GPS signals.

 

I got a bluetooth receiver so I could place it in the back window of the car if I needed to. Turns out my Toyota doesn't have the same problems as the Renault.

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You're all wrong... :D

 

It's to do with the metal content in the Renault windscreen (which resists UV and is the tinting in the glass), that causes issues with everything from GPS reception to toll-bridge badges not being read.

 

There's an article from the Irish Times here, I spotted it in last weeks Motoring supplement.

You are exactly right and it applies to Peugeout (I have a 307SW with this screen), Citroen and some of the Fiats too as others have discovered!

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Just an after thought. I have just got new company car (Renault Laguna) and whilst having a mobile phone fit installed the engineer had to get a new aerial for the phone. A normal one would'nt work because of the tint on the screen.

 

He said there is an area (behind the rear view mirror) that was deliberately not tinted to attach phone aerials, GPS etc. Moving the aerial there would probably have worked.

 

Having said that in this world that makes no sense my tomtom works fine on the dashboard with a strength signal of (on average) 9 out of 10.

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What a suprise, should've know that YOU'd know better.

What a suprise, should've know that YOU'd know better.

 

I refer you to 1. the newspaper article which I linked, 2. Harry_Bristol_UK's post, 3. the smiley used to imply light-hearted fun, and 4. this thread with leads me to the conclusion that you're holding some kind of a grudge.

 

You are exactly right and it applies to Peugeout (I have a 307SW with this screen), Citroen and some of the Fiats too as others have discovered!

 

Do you know which FIAT's specifically? It's not an issue in my Punto and not in a Seicento and Stilo Estate which one of my mates owns.

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What a suprise, should've know that YOU'd know better.

What a suprise, should've know that YOU'd know better.

 

I refer you to 1. the newspaper article which I linked, 2. Harry_Bristol_UK's post, 3. the smiley used to imply light-hearted fun, and 4. this thread with leads me to the conclusion that you're holding some kind of a grudge.

 

.

Well, it seems at least two other posters said that it was related to the tinting, so how exactly are they wrong.

 

I posted a suggestion as to the possible cause, and yes, I was wrong. Unfortunatly I do not had detailsed knowledge of every windscreen on the market. Terribly sorry.

 

As for your suggestion that I hold a grudge, if you look at the thread you kindly linked to but I had forgotton, you will see that you jumped in with this:

 

...and since you appear to be the new moderator, feel free to post that on the cache page in question.

 

Oh... you already did. 

 

So, who's holding the grudge?

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the rain sensor is not the problem, that's for sure. I wonder if another model in the range has a heated screen and that's all the windscreen folk had is stock?

Just to add to the fun and knowledge, only Fords ( and related companies) can have heated front windows.... they own the patent.

 

Well, other companies could licence it from them, but they choose not to.

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:P

So, who's holding the grudge?

We shall have less of the handbags at dawn on my thread ladies - otherwise I shall lock it and thank everyone for their assistance - but it seemd to be going slightly off course and I don't mind the odd bit of sidetrack banter as it eventually goes back to the original topic.

Anyhow slighly off the original topic -now everyone knows my other name on E-bay and is sooo bored has probably checked out what tripe I buy the next question is-

What wierd gear has others gone looking for on t'bay and actually found?

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So you can just use a (cheaper) plug in antenna.

eg this on eBay. .

I use one of these with my iQue 3600 in the car. I have it placed between the glass sunroof and the sliding plastic thingy beneath it. It works very well indeed. I believe it's an 'active' antenna and draws some power from the iQue but as it's only ever used in the car, it's not a problem. The iQue certainly indicates higher signal levels with this antenna than it does when it's used with the built in flip-up patch antenna.

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On Renaults, at least in the French market, the reflecting windscreen is typically unavailable on the entry-level engine/trim level, optional in the middle, and standard at the top. However, if your windscreen needs replacement, you can of course end up with one or the other, especially if neither you nor the person in Autoglass knows that both versions exist. :P

 

My wife loves the reflecting windscreen on our (Mk1) Scenic, as she has quite sensitive eyes, especially to oncoming headlights.

 

My 60cs works OK in the Scenic, as long as it isn't on the dashboard! There's usually enough signal coming in through the windows (it's not called Scenic for nothing) to navigate by, although it can fail when there are mountains either side.

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Do you know which FIAT's specifically? It's not an issue in my Punto and not in a Seicento and Stilo Estate which one of my mates owns.

Whatever Fiats name for the Pug 807 lookalike is! My boss has one and it is essentially a Peugeot with a Fiat name! The electrics, sat nav and everything else about it are the same!

 

I proved the theory last night whilst in my PUG307SW and can confirm that my Garmin 60C has very weak reception (if any at all) when sat on the dashboard. Hold it near a side window and the signal ramps up staraight away.

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:lol::D:lol: Hi all!!

I have now got my antenna and it works very very well indeed- in fact so well virtually all the sat signal strengths are at full and have a D on plus it even locks onto the US WAAS sats but what really interests me is that it was trying to lock onto sat number 49 so where is that in relation to all the others?

I know the 30's are the WAAS sats so where is 49 located - some where near Mars?

 

My 60cs works OK in the Scenic, as long as it isn't on the dashboard!

 

The problem with my Scenic is it is a new Grand Scenic and the dashboard is curved like the earth and I have to use the 60cs beanie in the corner on the dash to view where I am going.

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the rain sensor is not the problem, that's for sure.  I wonder if another model in the range has a heated screen and that's all the windscreen folk had is stock?

Just to add to the fun and knowledge, only Fords ( and related companies) can have heated front windows.... they own the patent.

 

Well, other companies could licence it from them, but they choose not to.

actualy my reanaut safran has electric heated screen and so dose my sisters peugeot

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the rain sensor is not the problem, that's for sure.  I wonder if another model in the range has a heated screen and that's all the windscreen folk had is stock?

Just to add to the fun and knowledge, only Fords ( and related companies) can have heated front windows.... they own the patent.

 

Well, other companies could licence it from them, but they choose not to.

actualy my reanaut safran has electric heated screen and so dose my sisters peugeot

As ever, I Stand corrected. Maybe someone has seen sense and either paid the fee or challenged it and won.

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