Re: Car Interlock Houston , Texas

I am a new car interlock user , the machine was installed feb 27, 2012 looking for other users in the state of texas to discuss the 20/20 machine

Look for tommy on this board. He has the 20/20 and I believe he is in Texas. I had the 20/20 for 5 months but I am in Illinois.
Are there any questions you have?

You have no idea how happy I am to find that I'm not the only person having a tough time with the blow/hum! I had to try several times in a 100+ degree car yesterday (my first day), with a parked cop staring me down. I've found the blow part to be fairly easy but the hum is messing with my head. I tend to either stop blowing when I transition to humming, or I transition okay but run out of breath before the test is over. Has anyone found another sound besides "whoooooo" that works?

I have the 20/20 with a camera and am in the Houston area...be forewarned...you will get violations for taking medicines, eating a bagel, spraying perfume, using mouthwash, hand sanitizers....so many things can make you have a fail at no fault of your own. However in the courts eye you will always be in the wrong.

That is interesting you mention that since I had the 20/20 (sans camera) and had absolutely no problem with any of that at all. I pumped gas, ate and drank in the car, etc..... As long as you follow the directions you will be fine. Take a swig of water just to be careful and you will be fine.

As we all know the machine is intimidating and frustrating. I am having the hardest time with the blow and getting the hum right. I keep getting abort early, abort hum, Today I got a grip of my fear and went outside to practice since I dare not drive anywhere in the car for the fear of being stranded somewhere, So I blew about 7 aborts , until finally I was able to get a pass so I drove the car up and down my driveway and then shut it off before my retest came up , and then waited to restart and blow again to test. I passed again and probably did this for 3 or 4 more times until I felt comfortable with the tecnique. Will this cause a violation doing this ? Because so far Its not reading that I have any ? Ok so now I get a letter in the mail telling me in April my license will cancel unless they get a court order stating device is no longer required .. Well I had to pay for a occupational license $300.00 the day of my plea to drive between hrs 10 am to 6 pm with the interlock installed, and will have it in my car till sept 2, 2012 , Am I supposed to send tx dept public safety a copy ?

First, I do not think you will get any violations for aborts. That is just saying that the sample was inadequate. I had many many aborts the first two months that dwindled to nothing once I got used to the humming. So I would not worry about that. Fails are bad and missed tests are bad. SO always look down at the device to make sure its not going into re-test mode before you shut off your car.

Second, have you called or talked to the dept to ask what it is about? It may be a mixup in paperwork or it may not be. But I would have called them first.

@ Bliddy Bo , thank you soooo much for answering me back , I called the tx dept pub safety the lady said license will expire in April, but for now send a letter requesting a restricted license along with $$$$$$$$ of course 10.00 it will be reviewed well seeing that court was over since feb 27 and they are just getting notification that I was ordered to install the interlock I took it upon myself to send them a copy of Occupational license with the start and end date of interlock on my car along with the 10.00 . She said after being reviewed I will receive a letter Ordering a suspension if thats the case File a Sr22 which I did homework and called insurance company , they have it and will cost additional 35.00 added to policy, insurance said I can call the 800 back with out going thrue my agent , also include court order which I guess was the court oder of the Occupational license ???? not sure but I guess include that again because Im sure its going to be mislplaced, it will cost 135, to reinstate dont know why court made me pay 300 for occupational , and another 10.00 for occupational for tx public safety ...lol also the sr22 ..... I still have a long way to go before I can EXHALE and put this nightmare behind me . HAving a chat site with people having some of the same questions and fear is reassuring to know Im not alone in this horrible mess i put myself in. The lesson learned is choosing friends and and making right choices , THINK BEFORE WE ACT ! No one in this situation understands until you are in it .

slw008 Wrote:
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> I have the 20/20 with a camera and am in the
> Houston area...be forewarned...you will get
> violations for taking medicines, eating a bagel,
> spraying perfume, using mouthwash, hand
> sanitizers....so many things can make you have a
> fail at no fault of your own. However in the
> courts eye you will always be in the wrong.


i agree so true

thank you Donna I will remember to not do any of those listed Im to afraid to go anywhere period lol the car sits in driveway and just yesterday I got into into the car to ........ (BLOW HUMMMMMMMMM WHOOOOOOOO ) lol, how I hate those words
thank you for your kind advice Sept 2, 2012 Never looked so good

Hello Lola, I have the same device as you and have never experienced any fails due to eating, smoking, colgne, pumping gas, hand sanitizer, etc... I have read about some of the other devices here and feel confident that the device we have does exactly what it's supposed to do, which is detect alcohol in your system. I have had one fail and it was accurate...I don't drink very often anymore and if I do I do not drive my vehicle the following day. I'm awaiting trial and can't stand the device but am happy to have it in comparison to the others frequently discussed on this forum.

As far as the $10 that is required from DPS it's because the court you were in has ordered you obtain a restricted license that will have some type of marking on the front of it so if you are pulled over it will alert the cop that you are to be driving a vehicle with the IID. The court handling my case did not order me to obtain a restricted license but I'm sure they look at my calibration report every other month when I take my car in to have it calibrated to make sure I'm driving it regularly.

I've only had mine since November but I'll be happy to help you out in anyway I can.

Best of luck.

Thank you so much Tommy I as referred to you by Bliddy Bo (thank you again Bliddy Bo), and thank you Tommy for finding me .... I will have to have the machine until Sept and I am sure I will have more questions each day . Im going to practice THE TECHNIQUE lol tommorow in my driveway , I have a friend that offered to meet me in a grocery store parking lot (Thank god its close by about a mile ) and Im going to drive my car for the first time on the street after the install feb 27, Pretty pathetic as it sounds , I know but anyway Im supposed to drive and meet them there hopefully I can get there shut it off before the retest and then blo hum from the start and get the car back home the point is to give me back my confidence and drive again with out having one of my panick attacks . Well I know I better get over it quick because I have to bring the car in on march 27, for the first upload on what I have been doing . Do we get a copy too ? The shop is less than 5 min away from where I live I was actually able to get the car home on the first day before the retest Ahhh yes another question when your driving and its time for a retest , your told pull over and when you go to retest say it aborts several times because wrong breathing test ... will it shut my engine off ? Tell me your experience with this ....

Good morning, when blowing into the thing, try this...take a deep breath then blow and when it makes the beep signaling to hum try saying who.....ooooooooo in as high pitched tone as you can...the hum part shouldn't be that difficult. If you're really having that hard of a time with it I wouoldn't try driving somewhere with the anticipation of getting there before it asks for a rolling test...sometimes it'll ask for one in 1-2 mins after the initial test and sometimes it'll take 15 mins. be careful as you don't want unnecessary violations, but really it's not that hard...again, try saying who while blowing and you should have no problems.

As far as the calibration results, you will not get a copy of the results but after a calibration you can contact Smart start and a supervisor will go over any results you wish to discuss.

The IID will NEVER shut your car off once it has been started, but you will rack up violations if you don't figure out the hum part of the test. After 5 it goes into lockout where you'll have to contact Smart Start for a code to start it to get it to their shop for calibration (I think that's how that works, I haven't even been close to that stage).

I've got to get to work but I'll check in later this afternoon.

Best of luck

thanks a million for the reply ... is there a fee for the lockout I think I read somewhere 45.00 ???? Thank you I will be back if anymore questions

I agree with Tommy...I have a different brand than you two, but have not had the experiences others have related with false readings. Reason being, I have been extremely careful and smart with it. I have never eaten or drank anything in the car, except water. Never used mouthwash, or any of the other things people mentioned that cause them issues. Read through the forums and see what people say has caused false fails, and simply avoid that. Just use common sense and you'll be fine. I've had mine for a year and am due to get it off on Monday(!), it could be a lot worse than the six month term you have.

Wow I am proud of myself today blew two different times and passed, didnt leave the driveway lol 6 more days to practice before bringing car into the shop for the check ... I feel like a 16 yr old getting my license for the first time .

mcpuntblock Wrote:
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Just use common sense and you'll be
> fine.


Exactly. Read the directions, keep water handy. Dont drink. Do the BAC math if you do. It should be fine.

on the hum part...two things it looks for 1. a steady blow...dont start blowing too hard, then lower the amount towards the end. keep it steady, doesn't have to be a strong blow, just medimum and steady with some type of noise will work. I mess with mine and do all sorts of blows to see what will work and wont, but it seems to like me because usually i get a pass, some aborts for no reason, but their no big deal.

tommy1 Wrote:
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> on the hum part...two things it looks for 1. a
> steady blow...dont start blowing too hard, then
> lower the amount towards the end. keep it
> steady, doesn't have to be a strong blow, just
> medimum and steady with some type of noise will
> work. I mess with mine and do all sorts of blows
> to see what will work and wont, but it seems to
> like me because usually i get a pass, some aborts
> for no reason, but their no big deal.


WOW...I re-read that post, and sounds like some kind of IID porn...sorry, not what what was intended!!!LOL

lol yea that did sound pretty funny .... the whole blow hum technique trying to explain that to a friend lol they laugh. Well.... I had a successful day following your Advice , first blow passed , second abort , third pass, and so did the 4th and 5th after that my jaw and head started hurting lol so I took the dog for an hour walk and came back and did it again and it passed . Ill practice this weekend and weds Ill take her for her spin to the shop I just want to get there they can always get me started if the car locks up. And Monday is the first visit with the probation officer Im ready to get this started .. Ohhhh did you have to take the DWI class ? I have to go to the bldg on Eastex Freeway for po and dwi class they have me going to dwi from 6pm to 10 pm which is crazy since I wont be driving ..... do you know if they will let me change my hours ? What can I expect in the dwi class ? Well again thank you for your help it certainly does ease my mind , I have been having sleepless nights over all the questions rolling around in my head .

Have a good evening

Lola

I think IID porn is pretty common, actually! My device uses the blow, then suck back method. In the first week or two when I was getting used to it, I had lots of "blow harder" or "blow softer" messages. But my favorite was the most common error I had, when it would tell me to "suck longer". That is the only redeeming thing about the device, the comedy it provided with it's dirty, dirty talk.

mcpuntblock Wrote:
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> I think IID porn is pretty common, actually! My
> device uses the blow, then suck back method. In
> the first week or two when I was getting used to
> it, I had lots of "blow harder" or "blow softer"
> messages. But my favorite was the most common
> error I had, when it would tell me to "suck
> longer". That is the only redeeming thing about
> the device, the comedy it provided with it's
> dirty, dirty talk.

Now that's funny...LMAO

Sure is funny .... Went to my first po visit yesterday and after she read to me my conditions she told me she was going to do a home visit . Can anyone tell me in the state of Texas does the PO really come to your home ? Or do they tell you this for a scare tactic. She said if Im not home she will leave her card to let me know she came by. She also questioned how I got to the eastex freeway building ,I told her my husband dropped me off and she questioned why , I told her Im still not comfortable driving and I am on a restricted driving time as needed, well thank goodness she never said anything more about it . Tommorw is the day to drive to the smart start office whooo hoo we will see what happens ...... and also my first dwi class . Wish me luck ! Hope everybody is doing well .....