Remote key weirdness

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monaro308
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Remote key weirdness

Post by monaro308 »

Had a strange thing happen today.
My mate rings me up and tells me his VE SSV will not unlock with the remote key.
He unlocked it this morning to move the car onto the lawn to get his Harley out and go for a ride.
Later this arvo he went to unlock it to go to the shops and nothing....He unlocked the door with the key and the anti theft horn went off.
He rings me to tell me what happened and I said have you tried starting it and he said not yet because of the horn going off.
He asked if the remote could have a dead battery and I said yes but doubt since it worked fine this morning.I told him the RF module is under the parcel shelf.
I just said stick the key in the ignition and see if it starts,but he wanted me to come over but I said I was about to go for a ride on my Hardley Davidson = Suzuki Boulevard :-)
We left it at that.
A couple of hours later I drove to his place in my VF SV6 and parked in his driveway behind his car (he obviously got his going) walked towards his front door as I was locking my car with my remote and nada,zilch,nothing....my car wouldn't lock!
He opened his front door and I said have you seen any aliens around here? WTF was his reply as I was trying to lock my car with my remote.
He thought I was joking and handed him my keys with no luck either.
I said looks like you got yours running and he said yeah after I told him where the RF module was,he walked up to the rear of the window and it unlocked and off he went.
Mine finally locked when I walked right next to the fuel flap.
We both had to practically touch the cars with the remotes to get them to work. One step away and nothing.He parks in the driveway all the time and so do I when I visit.
All I could think of was the power lines or heat (32deg day) interfering with the signal.
Mine worked fine when I got home.
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VL400
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by VL400 »

Get your tin foil hats on :lol:

Could be someone playing on the 433MHz band with a high power transmitter, or a faulty device spewing crap out.
monaro308
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by monaro308 »

Lol I spotted crop circles on his lawn and a dissected cow on the road :-)
slewinson
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by slewinson »

I have encountered this phenomenon a few times. There is a fuel station on the Hume highway where my lexus remote will not work at all. It functions perfectly elsewhere....

I agree that it is most likely a nearby transmitter that is swamping the front end of the receiver. Thinking about the time of year, it is likely that cheap remote controlled toys could be the issue.

Simon
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festy
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by festy »

VL400 wrote:Get your tin foil hats on :lol:

Could be someone playing on the 433MHz band with a high power transmitter, or a faulty device spewing crap out.
Maybe a local ham operator got a new radio for xmas? 433MHz is right in the middle of the 70cm band...
I use 433MHz for my house energy monitoring system, when I was first testing it I was half expecting random doorbells and garage doors to be going nuts up and down the street :mrgreen:
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Jayme
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by Jayme »

I have similar problems on my VZ.... never on my VY, but on my VZ, sometimes both remotes just plain stop working altogether and I have to lock it with the key, doesnt always happen at home tho, it has happened at a shopping center before. comeback half hour later, it works.
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vlad01
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by vlad01 »

maybe try putting the remote to your head to amplify the signal.

A bucket of water with remote against it works many fold better again. Its to do with 433mhz band exciting water molecules to re-emit the same signal but amplified.

I tried it, it works lol.
HQ355
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by HQ355 »

My VZ does it sometimes as well, normaly I just open it with the key and the alarm goes off and I then start it with the key and it re-sets and goes good again for a few months, I just put it down to still having the original key that's nearly 10 yo ?
slewinson
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by slewinson »

vlad01 wrote:maybe try putting the remote to your head to amplify the signal.

A bucket of water with remote against it works many fold better again. Its to do with 433mhz band exciting water molecules to re-emit the same signal but amplified.

I tried it, it works lol.
I thought that inserting the key where it is extremely dark and down south of the border shields it from cosmic radiation :shock:

Simon
mattyc
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Re: Remote key weirdness

Post by mattyc »

What year model ve? 2006 and some 2007 built ve's had a software issue with the rfa module, will require a trip to holden to reprogram the rfa and have key heads re linked to the vehicle, make sure you take both keys