Well, I got my perf board in from Parts-Express, and of course I had to start assembling the final version of my remote start cell phone trigger, so here we go.
Remote Start using Cell Phone: Part 3
First things first, I screw up ALL the way through this project. From the first picture of the tools, to the final assembly where I have a loose wire, this whole thing was a cluster. But what fun is it for you to read about something that went perfectly? It’s not. So I’ll take you through the ups and downs and ins and outs of what I did, and how I fixed it. In the end, it all worked out.Â
First, the tools:
The tools…well, some of them.
These are the tools & parts. In the picture are: The ethernet cable headphone jack thing, solder, flux (I know, I know, the wrong kind of flux…), epoxy, project box/plate/screws, perf board, mixing stick, 2-pin connector, electrical connectors, relay, optoisolator, jewellers tweezers, helping hands, needlenose, soldering iron and screwdriver. Not listed is the relay jack/dongle thingy and the hobby knife.
Ok, that was boring. Next I took the opto and mounted it on the perf board. At first I held it in place with tape while I soldered it, but then I realized I was an idiot and I took the tape off and just bent the 2 unused pins down.
Perf Board and Optoisolator
Held with tape (dumbass)
Pins bent and soldered.
- Alright, not too bad. Next I soldered on the jumper wires. Easy enough, but wait…they don’t touch? How to I get the jumper wires to touch the copper on the hole over? I’ll just solder a trace! (NO, no you won’t. This is forkin hard, and anyone who has successfully done it, it usually looks like crap.) I ended up just bending over the jumper wires so that they touched and soldered all together. I think I will use this method all the time. It was easy, and worked well.
Soldered up.
I didn’t want all the wires soldered directly to the perf board and sticking out of holes in the project box, so I scavenged some sweet little connectors that I would use to bridge between the box and ‘the outside world’. Here is my first attempt:
Something is wrong here…
Yeah…something is wrong here… It looks good, nice solder job… Oh damnit! This is the part that was gonna go on the OUSTIDE of the project box! Crap, now I have to desolder it and solder on the other part of the connector.
Other Connector Soldered Up
- Yeah, there we go. All ready to go. Now I just have to, wait… this connector…the other connector… the box, click, outside, here, there… … … AUGH! Sunnava*$@*! This connector is what goes FROM the phone TO the other connector on the outside of the box!  Dangit!
- So right about now I went and got a glass of milk, sat in my chair and collected my thoughts. I was getting a little rushed and ahead of myself, making silly mistakes. “What is the next thing I had to do? After that?” I took my time and planned the whole thing out, one logical step at a time (or so I thought).
- Next, put the square connector into the outside of the project box, and solder wires to it from the board. GO!
Lining it up to mark it. I just eyeballed it.
Marked with pencil and cut out with Xacto knife
- There is another connector (you can see it in the first picture of all the parts that everyone ignores) that I wanted to use to hook up the heavier wires from the relay. These wires aren’t gonna have a lot of current, they are just heavier cause the manufacturer thought they ‘might’.
Marking the center line and the marks for the spade connectors.
- I wanted to keep these holes small- because… just because. I decided the best way to do this would be to burn them in with something. But what? The answer was right in front of me.
Burn it down!
That’s a spade connector on my soldering iron. This worked exceptionally well. probably not an original idea, but I like it.
Here are the connectors epoxied in place.
Terminal Connector
Little white connector thingy.
Aaaannnd, solder the wires to the pins/spades on the connectors.
Small Connector Wires
Larger Connector Wired
- Next time around (I have to build some of these for friends), I’ll probably use A) Longer Wires, B) More flexible wires & C) Solder them BEFORE I epoxy the connectors in place. It’s a little cramped in there.
- Next thing, I attached and soldered the crimp type connections to the end of the relay socket wires.
Relay and Relay Socket
Relay Socket Connections
- Now this picture highlights the next time I got into a hurry. The blue wire is the wire that will connect to ground (I know it should be black, but I am too lazy to disassemble the socket and switch them). It should not have that round junk on it, rather it should have an extension and a male spade connector, as it needs to reach over to the ground and span inline with the ground wire (you’ll see later). The red wire is correct, however I need to create a sister wire for it that comes out the other side of the screw terminal and connects to the Remote Start Accessory Input. The black wire and the white wire are correct, as they are going to go inline with the current Accessory output from the remote start. Poo on putting a fuse on that, it wasn’t originally fused, and doesn’t need a fuse cause it’s running through a 30A relay. I don’t care if you are an Electrical Engineer, I’m not gonna do it.
Wires Hooked Up Wrong
Yeah, the caption is right. Remember I said that I needed to extend the blue wire to ground and make another red wire to go out from there to the Remote Start? The Blue wire should not even be hooked up there. Straight from the relay to ground.
Relay in place.
Little White Connector Male End Soldered to Phone Output
White Connector In Place
The new spanning ground connection in place. This will span between the remote start ground connection and the ground wire. I soldered the stuffed connection on the left.
Shrink Wrapped
The whole ordeal soldered up correctly.
In the end it all worked out…AFTER I hooked it up and it didn’t work.
Turned out that the little white connector I used broke. Why? Because I soldered the ethernet cable to the little tiny original wires and they could not handle the strain, so I pulled it apart, spread the crimp connector and soldered the ethernet directly to the pin. Good. No… The pins were female and I soldered the entire opening full of solder. So not only did I screw that up, I destroyed the pins in the connector attached to the box trying to jam them in.
So I rummaged some more, and managed to find an identical connector! Yay. This time I took my time and made sure I did everything correctly. That connector turned out GREAT!
But it still didn’t work. I checked for shorts, and found that one of the spade connectors on the back of the screw terminals block wasn’t soldered very well and broke off when I was soldering on the other connections. Sooo, I melted the everliving Christ outta the project box resoldered the wire back into the hole in the spade connector, taking care to not contact the plastic with my soldering iron.
With that, the whole thing was together, and once installed in my car, worked like a charm. Since using it for about a week now, I have come to the conclusion that I probably will not purchase more minutes with the cellular provider, rather I will simply use the calendar on the phone to set events for when I leave for work or leave work to go home. This is what I have been doing most of the time thus far. There have been a few occasions where I used the call function, like when I left work early; but for the most part I leave at the same time every day. A recurring event on the calendar takes care of that just fine.
Cost breakdown.
- Remote Start – $35
- Phone – $10
- Minutes – $20
- Perf Board – $0.45
- Project Box – $2.10
- Relay Socket – $1.79
- Relay – $1.69
- Solder, tools, wire, optoisolator – $Free (Had or Scavenged)
Overall Cost of project:Â Â Â $71.03
Well worth it if you ask me.
January 19th, 2010 on 1:13 PM
Hey nice project! I was wondering what remote start you used for this, what model etc?
January 19th, 2010 on 1:34 PM
I can’t believe no one’s asked this yet but … what’s your car’s phone number? 😉
January 19th, 2010 on 6:44 PM
Wow i like this project and im realy intrested in doing the same. it would be great if you had some videos of it all working.
January 19th, 2010 on 9:15 PM
I may put up some videos. I didn’t consider it, since at the moment it looks like I disemboweled my dash, but maybe.
The model is the Ready Remote 24926.
January 20th, 2010 on 10:13 AM
the only unfortunate part is that is looks like a car bomb .. lol but def a cool idea .. if you could actually mod the phone to house the perf board and the relay and embed it into a project box that houses the remotes start and the wires, you would almost have a plug and play application … i would def buy one 😛
January 20th, 2010 on 10:39 AM
Wow, this is really cool. However, i have a few questions in mind. Would this interfere with normal key ignition unit in the car? Say after you remote started the car, and you get in the car and just drive? how do you turn off the ignition without key in the key ignition unit?
January 20th, 2010 on 10:42 AM
Wow…yea videos would be great! excellent job!
January 20th, 2010 on 11:16 AM
Thank you Karu!
January 20th, 2010 on 10:50 AM
@Ricky
That sounds like some pretty good ideas. Ideas like that get my gears goin. The relay’s are tiny, so I probably could put it in the phone… We’ll see.
January 20th, 2010 on 10:52 AM
@CC
The operation of the car has not been altered at all. Neither has the remote start. I have modified neither. I simply am using the accessory wire of the remote start to initiate a start sequence.
The operation of the car is still normal. The key has precedence over the remote start, and the remote start over the phone.
I cannot drive the car without the key in the ignition. To turn the car off, I simply deactivate the remote start (by pressing on the brake) and turn the car off normally.
January 20th, 2010 on 11:40 AM
Fantastic project, I love every bit of it. Non-technical question: why would you need to buy more minutes for the phone? Do missed calls count toward the account balance or something?
I really like the areas where you thought ahead, such as the easy disconnect features. Funny how many times I, like you, think I’ve got myself all planned ahead and then do something boneheaded like solder the wrong wire.
Thanks for the extensive write-up!
January 20th, 2010 on 1:00 PM
I dunno if missed calls count toward minutes or not. I do know that minutes expire after so many months, though.
Thanks for the positive comments, and glad I could connect with ya. I think we’re all a little boneheaded from time to time. (Or most of the time, like me, lol)
January 25th, 2010 on 11:23 AM
Such as shame you’re in the USA. Here in the UK receiving calls (or texts) doesn’t cost anything, so you could use this device forever (well… until the battery runs out…I think minutes expire after a year here too..).
January 20th, 2010 on 1:05 PM
Building some for friends? How can I be your friend? 🙂
January 20th, 2010 on 1:14 PM
Ah, expiring minutes would do it. I’m unfamiliar with prepaid cell plans.
I’m trying to convince on of my friends with a remote starter to make the investment in the components, as I’m dying to try this out. My car is manual transmission, so no remote for me, or else I’d build it myself.
Side note for that optoisolator… next build you might want to pick up an 8-pin I/C socket. That way if the component dies, you can pop out the chip and replace it instead of removing the board and desoldering. A car is a volatile place for a little component like that, and it seems the most likely point of failure.
Another question, apologies if I missed this – are you powering the phone, or charging the battery separately? Wire up a car kit (or if it charges via USB, a simple reduction circuit would probably do the trick) to the accessory output on your board, run the power leads up your device-connection-wire there, and you’ve got a self-charging unit.
January 20th, 2010 on 5:15 PM
What kind of remote start did you use?
January 20th, 2010 on 6:41 PM
great article, I saw something about a year ago where a guy hooked up his remote starter to a prepaid phone but no instuctions like this. i guess i might be asking for too much but is there a way to program a sequence to access other remote features like lock/unlock doors, open trunk?
January 22nd, 2010 on 4:23 AM
Yep, working on a way to incorporate all the features of a remote start or alarm into a device that can be used from any mobile phone.
January 20th, 2010 on 9:58 PM
Great project. So many possibilities. Have you considered any feedback for when you call the cell phone? Like, if you were to call or text in to your car, it would notify you that your engine started or stopped successfully. Viper has an RF version of that feature on their systems, and I’d expect it to be really nice. Especially if you accidentally start it…
January 22nd, 2010 on 4:06 AM
Yeah, I thought about it, but a system like that is beyond my time, energy and talent at this point.
January 20th, 2010 on 10:53 PM
but if you call the phone, wont the phone starting the car keep sending the signal to start? how do you overcome this??
January 22nd, 2010 on 3:45 AM
The 2nd relay kills the phone signal when the ACC kicks on.
January 21st, 2010 on 11:06 AM
I was also wondering about how you were keeping the phone powered. Could you elaborate on this part?
January 21st, 2010 on 1:05 PM
Suggestion….I have a fairly good electrical “know-how” so the soldering/modding of the phone I could definitely handle. But getting my hands on the parts (the right ones especially) are another story. Have you thought at all about ordering a few of those parts (minus the phone or course), putting it all together, and selling it with some markup? It sure would make me think of purchasing it…..
P.S. – Great job! After installing car starters for 2 years I am now thinking of tackling this!
January 22nd, 2010 on 3:36 AM
I have thought of that, and am currently building a few for my friends. They are gonna pay me for the parts and a few $ for my time. Before I start sending out kits, I am going to work on a new version that can work with any unmodified cell phone. It may take me a few weeks, but the end result should be plug-and-play.
January 21st, 2010 on 3:33 PM
I’m actually working on a similar project (except it’s a remote starter that I made myself last year – using a Basic Stamp 🙂 ).
For others, you should look into which pre-paid service you use. I chose T-Mobile because there minutes last 90-days and they have a $10 card – so it’s $10 every 90 days (and after you spend $100, they last for 1yr). Virgin and most other carriers require you to add minutes every 30 days. Virgin also requires you to add $20 every 90 days, even if you have a balance.
January 22nd, 2010 on 2:59 AM
True. That is one aspect I failed to research beforehand. I assumed they all had similar plans. Y’know, the whole “comepetetive market” thing. Buoy was I wrong.
January 21st, 2010 on 8:31 PM
@Tucker
Neutral Safety Switch.
January 21st, 2010 on 11:15 PM
so is the output from the phone just from the headphone/mic jack?
January 22nd, 2010 on 2:55 AM
@Tucker
Good call on the opto and the socket.
AS for charging, the phone uses a micro USB type charger, and I picked one up on the web for about $1.50. I plan to hard wire that into the 12v constant and run it to the phone.
January 22nd, 2010 on 2:56 AM
@Tim
Yes. The output is all through the jack. I wanted to be able to remove and fool with the phone as needed without “disassembling” anything.
January 22nd, 2010 on 10:25 AM
Love the hack.. if you do come up with a kit, let me know…..
January 22nd, 2010 on 12:21 PM
Great idea but I have a few questions because I would like to build one on my own. I found the IL203 NPN but the resister looking orange things on the perf board I cant idenify. Could you tell me what they are? Also can you tell me any modifications you did to the cell phone?
Thanks Again
January 22nd, 2010 on 2:27 PM
The orange looking things are just coated jumper wires. I got them at Parts-Express for a couple dollars. Look up ‘Jumper Wire Kit’.
Any mods to the cell phone are covered in Part 1. Lemme know if you have any more Q’s.
January 22nd, 2010 on 4:12 PM
I love this hack! Very inspiring!
I actually have almost the same phone as you. It has a setting under “accessories” to make it ring “out of headset” any time a headset is plugged-in when the call comes.
I wonder if there is any way to keep the phone completely unmodified and disect a headset instead… and see if there is any aspect of the ringing “out of headset” that could drive the relays. Obviously the audio signal for a tiny headset speaker is not going to be as strong as whatever drives the vibrate motor, but if you could find a way to make it work… it would keep the phone unmodified, removable, and potentially work for any phone with a ring “out of headset” option.
January 22nd, 2010 on 8:18 PM
I am currently working on that. Still in the planning phase, however. 😉
January 25th, 2010 on 10:00 AM
I have to ask…anyone who calls that cellphone will start your car or just specific phone numbers?
January 26th, 2010 on 5:35 AM
Technically, anyone; but you can set custom ringtones for different persons on MOST phones. This one, however, is el Cheapo, so it does not. That is why I am recommending for anyone that would like to try this or something similar to go with the plans with Verizon. They, apparently, have better phones and better plans than Virgin Mobile.
January 25th, 2010 on 10:12 AM
A cool proof-of-concept project, although it’s not the first example of using a cellphone to control a car I’ve seen (engineering students at my alma matter University of Saskatchewan posted videos of all kinds of auto control stuff with cellphones about two years ago .. they used text messaging instead of just a ring to code different actions with the call).
Some things that are critical to consider with any remote start (like those aftermarket units, commercially available for 20 years; works on any fuel-injected vehicle):
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning: if a vehicle is parked in an attached garage, you can kill everyone in the house if it starts unattended or without your knowledge … ie a spam call or wrong number. People have died when their toddlers played with remote key fobs. There should be an in-vehicle switch to disconnect this project where necessary, and everyone who drives the car should be aware of how it works and what to do to disable it.
Vehicle must be in Park with an Auto Transmission; although there is a start lockout on AT equipped cars that prevents starting in gear, that can fail (it’s usually mounted on the transmission, dirt and road debris can dislodge or impair it) and the vehicle would then start in gear.
Although it would work with a manual transmission car, you’d probably have to disconnect the clutch sensor, which means the vehicle would start in gear at any time.
Everyone should definitely install a switch for the driver to disable this where advisable.
January 26th, 2010 on 5:44 AM
Exactly what it is, a proof of concept- kinda just to see if I could do it.
Also: Automatic Tranny, Not in Garage, Start Lockout tested functioning perfectly.
All in all, the advice is sound and all should heed. BE SAFE WHEN YOU HACK! And know your environment.
January 25th, 2010 on 10:30 AM
Instead of messing with the higher currect Accessory wire (which you’d want o make sure there’s a fuse inline), you could just re-design your relay wiring to use the Ground-Out-While-Running off the remote start (same wire that’s used to turn on the immobilizer bypass if one was needed on the car). On DEI units I know it’s a BLUE wire that goes to ground (200mA) when the remote start is activated. Of course you would have to rework the rest of the wiring for the relay to match whatever other changes need to be made
January 26th, 2010 on 5:46 AM
You’re absolutely right, but there were 3 things preventing me from doing that.
1.) Laziness
2.) lay-zee-ness
3.) Lehzieniss
But yeah, that would be the better way to do it.
January 25th, 2010 on 10:31 AM
Instead of messing with the higher currect Accessory wire (which you’d want to make sure there’s a fuse inline, just like you would if you pull the +12v off of the main +12v feed to the ignition cylinder), you could just re-design your relay wiring to use the Ground-Out-While-Running off the remote start (same wire that’s used to turn on the immobilizer bypass if one was needed on the car). On DEI units I know it’s a BLUE wire that goes to ground (200mA) when the remote start is activated. Of course you would have to rework the rest of the wiring for the relay to match whatever other changes need to be made
January 25th, 2010 on 11:24 AM
Kids, safety first. Put a 30a Blade fuse on your power source to prevent a fire if you try this at home. Your insurance company wont like it if you burn your car down. The argument that they didn’t put one in, so why should I is invalid. I look at all the starters I installed over the years (1500+ easy..) and a few had come back with burnt fuses due to malfunctions in the car’s wiring/accessories.
Q: What is triggering the car’s ignition circuit? I follow the relay’s momentary output to the starter but I don’t see anything for the ignition. Am I missing something? Same for the accessory circuit? Do you have two more relay’s outboard triggered by something?
Q: what about over-rev and brake lockout?
January 26th, 2010 on 5:53 AM
Actually, I have 2 30A blade fuses inline with the remote start 12v Power. My argument that “they didn’t put one in, so why should I?” stems from the standpoint that Directed Electronics did not recommend nor put a 30A fuse on the Accessory Out from the Remote start module, as this circuit is protected from the 2 30A blade fuses going into this module. The 30A relay tha I have installed to open the start module circuit should prevent any crossover current which could overload the tiny wires in the phone circuit (as this is EXACTLY what relays are designed for).
I didn’t put any of the other information into the writeup as this is not a writeup on a DIY remote start, however, a writeup on a DIY phone add-on to the remote start.
Just so the information is out there, the remote start was installed properly with fuses at all high-current points with a brake lockout and hood switch. The module itself has logic to handle over-rev.
January 25th, 2010 on 11:48 AM
Better for a car bomb than for a starter.
January 26th, 2010 on 5:53 AM
Yeah, thanks for the insight. Just so you know, the terrorists already know how to do this. This is not new information.
January 25th, 2010 on 3:13 PM
Great job! Thank you for posting this.
Just a thought here, but wouldn’t it be cheaper and just as easy to use a numeric only one way pager for the activator?
I can get one for my local area for $10.99 a month
January 26th, 2010 on 5:54 AM
Yes it would. And that would be awesome. GET ON IT! I couldn’t find a contract-free pager plan or I would have used it. Good luck, and I wanna see if you do it.
January 25th, 2010 on 4:52 PM
It looks like an IED minus the explosives.
January 26th, 2010 on 5:55 AM
Nah, IED’s don’t have safety cutouts. The explosion usually takes care of that.
January 25th, 2010 on 6:23 PM
Wow!! This makes me really regret being a non-technical douchebag. Good freaking job, man.
January 26th, 2010 on 5:55 AM
Be nice! And thank you!
January 25th, 2010 on 6:27 PM
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January 26th, 2010 on 5:56 AM
This post was from Russia somewhere. Apparently, they are really confused folks. But thank you for the feedback!
January 25th, 2010 on 6:51 PM
What kind of security could you work into this system? Could you have the phone only respond to calls from a certain number? Or use text messages with a certain encoding?
January 26th, 2010 on 5:56 AM
The next model will be better. Wait for it! 😉
January 25th, 2010 on 9:12 PM
Dude man. I’ve been thinking about this idea you’ve had for three years! I have a cheapo remote starter in my truck and always wish I could start it with my cell phone when I’m walking down the halls of my school getting ready to leave; or if I’m on a plane getting off it would be nice if the truck was warm when I got there. I have discussed it with my students regularly. The thing I couldn’t overcome was what if someone called the phone on accident once the car was running. You’re brilliant and a pioneer! Way to go in pushing through the obstacles (I’m sure there were many)! I’m so pumped to give this a try. You have no idea how happy I am right now knowing that someone forged on ahead and now I can follow your tracks. Thanks so much! You’ve given me a great project to work on with my students.
Matt
January 26th, 2010 on 6:04 AM
Cool. Hope your students enjoy it. If you really do teach an electronics class, I am going to try to knock out a ver.2 that will work with DTMF, so mebbe that would be a better project. Good Luck, and be safe!
January 26th, 2010 on 12:08 PM
I’m a software rather than hardware guy, but I wonder if it wouldn’t be possible to use some kind of bluetooth receiver (like a gutted headset) instead of a whole other phone, so you could simply pair your own cellphone with it and send a specific bluetooth command to trigger the remote start?
January 26th, 2010 on 1:36 PM
One of the ideas that I’m working on for my version of this product is a way to prevent others from starting it.
On my T-Mobile phone, while you can’t assign ringtones, you can select from 26 pre-included icons for a contact, so my plan it to identify that the icon is being displayed.
Basically, I choose a heart for my contact, because it was the largest area of a primary color. Now, I put a photo-resistor with a red filter over it. When someone else calls, the icon area is just white, so the photo-resistor sees light. When I call, the icon is almost all red, so with the red filter, it sees darkness. I still have to test it, but, at least in principle it could/should work.
January 26th, 2010 on 2:03 PM
#1 To use an unmodified phone set ring audio to output headphone jack at max volume. Put a small signal diode in series to rectify audio from AC to DC (ie: 1N4141) and a capacitor (IE: 1 – 10uF) accross the opto-isolator. You might need to put a small resistor in series to limit the current to the opto or not. The AC audio is rectified to DC and is held on the cap as DC which will drive the opto. Measure the DC voltage with your DMM to verify DC voltage.
#2 Slightly more secure. Use an unmodified phone set ring to auto answer. Output headphone jack to DTMF-BCD decoder. (IE: Mitel 8870). To use a single digit to start and / or another to stop engine. No microcontroller is required. Simple AND or NAND gate logic can decode the 4 bit BCD to a single or dual Start/Stop output.
#3 Same as #2 but decode a multi-digit DTMF sequence with a BASIC Stamp or some other micro-controller to start, stop honk the horn, flash lights etc.
Have Fun.
Bill
January 26th, 2010 on 6:36 PM
Bill, you got it man. All three are fantastic ideas.
This first one was a proof of concept. Yes it can be done (and has been before), but, at lease, I can accomplish it. Next comes the 8870 coupled to a PIC micro controller. If I can package it well enough, I will try to work out a small PCB design (probably in Eagle) and offer it as a kit for hobbyists and the like for simple automation solutions. For example, not only could you use this as a remote start, but you could use it to restart a router or PC remotely. If you hosted a blog from your home, you could wire this in to 2 different relays and use option 1 to restart the router or option 2 to restart your Apache server. The possibilities for practical use are limited, however it interests me, so it may interest other people.
January 26th, 2010 on 4:16 PM
Wow, beautiful site! Is this of your own design or is it this site’s theme? Sorry if I’m asking this in the wrong place.
January 26th, 2010 on 6:30 PM
This is actually a template that I downloaded and installed on top of the standard wordpress theme. I will be customizing it little by little. Thank you for the compliments.
January 27th, 2010 on 1:00 AM
This is awesome! My only question is what happens if someone dials a wrong number or a telemarketer calls you?
January 27th, 2010 on 12:08 PM
My God, really? How many times am I gonna get this same question?
January 27th, 2010 on 7:51 PM
there are a lot of ways to restrict receiving calls from only your contacts… so just have a select few contacts from the phones you would call if from and BAM problem solved
January 28th, 2010 on 11:25 AM
Not all phones support that (esp not on these super cheap phones)
January 29th, 2010 on 11:25 PM
Awesome article, saw the link on Autoblog and the project looks cool as hell. I’m into gadgets but not too knowledgeable on the electrical aspects of setting this up. It does remind me of two stories though…
When working as a Valet at a wedding reception, a customer’s Chevy Tahoe automatically locked in the back of the lot with the keys inside. (and was still running!)
We found the owner outside smoking a cigar and asked if he had a spare key to open the truck. He just pulled out phone and dialed a number, then dialed some more numbers, then put away the phone, saying “it’s open”. We were kinda blown away by this.
The guy had a setup like this back then, and said it cost ‘a fortune’ and could unlock the doors, start it up, and flash the lights. He said he had it installed when he had the killer stereo in the truck installed as well. He seemed to dial into some cellular unit in the car, then enter codes to perform the functions.
Side note: At a country club a few years before that in the mid 90’s, we had an almost new Lincoln Town Car also lock with the keys inside, and still running. We tried looking for the owner but no luck, figuring the guy was out on the golf course. We didn’t want to try coat hangers to get into the car, since it was close to the front of the club and we didn’t want to attract attention to our ‘mistake’ of having a locked, running car.
About 5 hours later, the guy showed up and entered a code on the keypad Fords and Lincolns have near the door handle. He popped the trunk with the code (which also seemed to unlock the doors) tossed his clubs into the trunk, and thanked us for having his car ready for him, with the AC cooling down the black leather seats on the hot day.
If he ever noticed that the gas tank went from nearly full to well below 3/4 while he was out playing, he never mentioned it to us.
January 31st, 2010 on 12:04 AM
hi this is awesome. do you think i could connect the cellphone to the keyphob? use the pulses to activate the remotes buttons? thanks
January 31st, 2010 on 10:44 PM
Sure
February 1st, 2010 on 5:18 AM
I was thinking, maybe use the phones gps (if it has it) to track it if stolen and a way to remotely shut the car off if stolen? hmmm