Increase the range of your remote

[dma550]

I'm gonna do this operation this weekend. It's twice now I see people touching my car, pressing their grubby little hands all over it. One time, I reached for my fob, and hit the panic button to scare the little brat away. It didn't go off, so I just banged on the window instead.

[DragonRider1]

HELP!!!!! I tried doing this earlier in the week but it was getting dark. Came back today and all I have is a huge bundle of grey foam that refuses to budge. It feels like it's double-taped on both sides and appears to wrap all the way around the inside beneath the HVAC. Enough pulling yielded a small chunk of foam, but nothing else. Doesn't feel like anything inside it either. What am I missing here? Is it directly in front on the top (of three) levels or is it off to th side somewhere or is it buried under the magical mystery foam? Btw, the razor sharp thing is an understatement. It looks like they honed it as a single-sided sword blade for some reason!

HELP HELP HELP! (the car is still apart now)

Btw, the Polk DB400's are dropping right in and fit nicely using the stock holes, even where the stock plates were. The blaujunk was completely melted on one side and cracked up on the other. Joy!

(Btw, the DB525's (5.1/4s) won't fit without serious cutting/rework and won't look right. I tried. Hoping the rear DB650's drop right in.

[Baysailor]

Originally Posted by DragonRider1

HELP!!!!! I tried doing this earlier in the week but it was getting dark. Came back today and all I have is a huge bundle of grey foam that refuses to budge...

I didn't remove the foam from mine (I think it is fairly long and wedged in pretty good). The alarm module was in a clear plastic bag below the foam, all the way to the right. I just pushed the foam back further, snipped the plastic tie holding the clear plastic bag closed (closed around the wire bundle) and then worked the antenna wire out of the wrapping. Fortunately, the antenna wire is not completely wrapped into the rest of the harness.

[wjb]

I'm borderline incompetent when it comes to fixing/fiddling w/ cars. Did this mod in an hour. A few notes. The metal edges in the hole are sharp. I had some glued foam that came with the car on the edges, but it easily moved once I started moving my hand around. Put some duct tape on the edges and was fine - no cuts. I had the big foam. Pulled hard enough that a big chunck ripped off (replaced it after the mod was done). You don't need to unplug the wires, just find the correct black wire (as indicated in the first post here), trace it, and you'll find it isn't wrapped with the other wires. So, just pull it loose from the plastic wrapping and black plastic thing bundling the other wires and run it to the windshield as indicated in an earlier post. I put a small piece of duct tape inside the cubby-hole to keep the wire in place. Now have 30 yards+ of range from the back of the car; probably more from the front.

[II-soon]

This has my vote for the BEST mod ever. I literally had to stand next to the car to arm and disarm it. Now I don't look like a dork pressing remote button numerous times just to arm/disarm the alarm.

I also had a tough time with the foam covering the Cobra unit. I tried moving it to the side with my hand but I was too much of a pansy (not strong enough). What I ended up doing was using the end of my socket wrench to push the foam to the side. Much much eaiser than the hand. Thank you OP for the mod. I love it!

[Imolas54]

okay i just tired this mod again, all i did was cut the wiretie that holds the plastic bag, pulled back the bag a bit, give a tuck to the black wire on the harness, the antenna wire just came out, added some additional wire, stuffed it around the plastic bin, works sweet now! Thanks for the great tip!

[DragonRider1]

Going to give it another try on the morrow as the driving lights should be in. As long as I'm tearing back into the car, may as well scrape some skin off in the process!

Thanks again!

[Imolas54]

put some blue painters tape around all the edges before you move your hands in! the harness wire was just behind that piece of aluminum which cuts ur hands real nice!

[ToothDoc]

Just did mine this AM. Took all of 5 minutes. Remove panel, feel for wire, gently pull out, add on some new wire to the end to make it about 27" long, feed wire back into spaces behind plastic bits of dash. Put panel back on.

[®ob]

Man, this new found range is awesome! Was able to sneak the wire out of the tape and extend it with extra wire. Of course, the car slit my thumb in the process. I guess that makes us blood brothers now

[choi0706]

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/show...ght=dash+gauge

I didn't cut myself..

baysailor, did you slide your side part of the dash back in? or did you break the airbag cover clips and replace them?

[Baysailor]

Originally Posted by choi0706

baysailor, did you slide your side part of the dash back in? or did you break the airbag cover clips and replace them?

I was able to remove and reinstall the side cover without removing the airbag cover. To remove I freed up the right side of the cover first, kind of rotated the whole piece to then release the inboard side and freeing the side panel (kind of hard to explain). Installation was in reverse, but I had to get my hand behind it to guide the left hand post on the back of the side cover into the socket on the dash.

[wcaswell]

Just did mine tonight as well. unbeleivable how welll this works. First I tested it with just the 7 inch factory antenna wire loose of the alarm harness and the remote worked at 30 or 40 feet easily. I then added 20 inches of wire using a crimp on connector and jameed the whole thing in there benind the dash below the windshield, behind the grey foam padding, etc. I tried to keep it as straight as possible, but didn't stress over it. The remote now works as 150 or 200 feet easily. Keep in mind this is out in the suburbs without much interferance.

Also, I had the same issue initially locaiting the alarm wiring as I all I saw as a big block of grey foam. After putting a peice of duck tap horizontally across the exposed aluminum edge, i pulled the foam to the left (drivers side) and then pushed it back into the dash cavity until I saw the clear bag with the black zip tie on it. I cut the zip tie, pulled the wrap tape of the the wiring loom and grabbed the loose and short black wire. So easy, I can't beleive Lotus overlooked this.

[ChrisH]

On the other hand ...

I thought about doing this, and considered the true operational advantages and disadvantages of doing it.

Advantages: if your remote works when standing just outside the car, the only operational advantage you get is that you can hit a panic button from further away. Unlocking the car from 150 feet (or 60 feet, ...) away provides no operational advantage. (And I really don't think you need a long range remote to find a Lotus Elise in a parking lot. It is usually the only one.)

Disadvantage: you just increased the probability that your car will be stolen. This can occur either because someone finds (or steals) your keys at a public place like a mall, a gym locker, the beach, your work, or even from your apartment, and then goes to the parking lot to find your car. The further away the remote can be received by the car, the easier it is to find the car. The same principal applies for those thieves who use remote cloning devices. They just sit in their car in the parking lot receiving remote transmissions, and then replay them as they drive around the local area until it activates a car.

So, other than it is technically neat to have a long range, if your car can receive the signal reliably when standing next to it, I wouldn't recommend the mod. If your car has trouble receiving the signal when you are standing next to it, then I would do the mod, but only just enough to give reliable operation next to the car.

[Baysailor]

This is such a low probability that it isn't even worth considering in my book.

I can't count the number of times I would be walking away from my car and pressing the remote to arm the car only to have to walk back toward the car to get it to arm. Since the mod, I have never had to do this. Minor annoyance gone.

Besides, you could say that anyone who has a Lotus or Elise/Exige fob attached to their keys is at just as much if not more risk.

Plus the enjoyment factor of being able to set off the alarm from within my office building when one of my coworkers is near my car is not to be dismissed!
(Many of us have nice sports cars and mess with each other in this fashion)

[Shiftlock]

Another advantage is being able to disable the alarm when something like a squirrel, cat, or wind/rain set it off. I went running outside barefoot into the rainy night twice over the past week when a bad storm set off my alarm. Both times I rolled out of bed, glanced out the window at the car sitting by itself under it's tied-down cover with leaves blowing the trees around, and knew it was only the storm that was doing it, but without running outside into the rain I had no way to shut the f*&%ing thing off! Stumble back inside soaking wet and cold at 3am and it's a little hard to get back to sleep. Also doesn't create much love between wife/neighbors and Lotus. Would be much better if I could just look at the car and shut off the alarm with the remote from the window within a few seconds of it going off. Must do this mod!

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

The same principal applies for those thieves who use remote cloning devices. They just sit in their car in the parking lot receiving remote transmissions, and then replay them as they drive around the local area until it activates a car.

One nice thing about the Cobra alarm is that it does "code hopping" - it changes the code each time you press the button - to defeat this trick of the car thieves. Much less likely to happen than with older alarm systems.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

On the other hand ...

I thought about doing this, and considered the true operational advantages and disadvantages of doing it.

Advantages: if your remote works when standing just outside the car, the only operational advantage you get is that you can hit a panic button from further away. Unlocking the car from 150 feet (or 60 feet, ...) away provides no operational advantage. (And I really don't think you need a long range remote to find a Lotus Elise in a parking lot. It is usually the only one.)

Disadvantage: you just increased the probability that your car will be stolen. This can occur either because someone finds (or steals) your keys at a public place like a mall, a gym locker, the beach, your work, or even from your apartment, and then goes to the parking lot to find your car. The further away the remote can be received by the car, the easier it is to find the car. The same principal applies for those thieves who use remote cloning devices. They just sit in their car in the parking lot receiving remote transmissions, and then replay them as they drive around the local area until it activates a car.

So, other than it is technically neat to have a long range, if your car can receive the signal reliably when standing next to it, I wouldn't recommend the mod. If your car has trouble receiving the signal when you are standing next to it, then I would do the mod, but only just enough to give reliable operation next to the car.

I was also thinking about disadvantages and came up with this one: If you have such a long range, it would be easier to accidentally disarm and unlock the car if you keep your keys in your pocket with another object; if you sit down at your desk, the other object might press against the button and unlock your car unknowingly. This brings me to a question, if the car is unlocked with the remote, and you do not open one of the doors within a certain amount of time, does it automatically relock and arm the car?

Just a thought. For this reason, I would like it to have a range of maybe 20 ft, but I don't think I need 200 ft.

[bluejae]

is it the black wire on the far right?

i'd like to try this mod... where do i get extra wire? will anything from radioshack work?

[Shiftlock]

Originally Posted by 05EliseNM

If you have such a long range, it would be easier to accidentally disarm and unlock the car if you keep your keys in your pocket with another object; if you sit down at your desk, the other object might press against the button and unlock your car unknowingly. This brings me to a question, if the car is unlocked with the remote, and you do not open one of the doors within a certain amount of time, does it automatically relock and arm the car?

No, it doesn't relock the doors, but one of the neatest things I've purchased for my Elise is the Blackwatch Racing Uni-Key, which makes it much harder to accidentally hit the remote buttons, since they're recessed and you have to press just the right spot on the carbon fiber overlay. For those who don't know about the Uni-Key, you take apart your key and your alarm FOB, and assemble them into the Uni-Key so that you have a cool looking key that has the alarm remote on the top of it. Assembly is not hard to do at all, and takes just a few minutes. Well worth the $48. It's the 6th product down on this page: http://www.blackwatchracing.com/shop...cts.asp?page=1