Increase the range of your remote

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Shiftlock

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

I tried it today, accidently while I was testing the range of this mod. If you lock it and then unlock it and do not open the door, it appears to arm the alarm (after some time, few minutes, not sure), but does not lock the car. I found out when I opened the door later and the alarm went off, damn it is loud in the garage with the door shut.

yes, the Uni-key is awesome, I have one too, and you are right, it would be very difficult to accidently unlock the car with that thing in your pocket.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by bluejae

where do i get extra wire?

Wow, that is like asking "where do I get food?" How do you make it through life?

Yes, you can get the wire at radio shack. I used solid core wire, but I see no reason why you can't use regular stranded wire; the piece that is already on there is stranded; but then again, the stock piece does not work very well.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by 05EliseNM

I tried it today, accidentally while I was testing the range of this mod. If you lock it and then unlock it and do not open the door, it appears to arm the alarm (after some time, few minutes, not sure), but does not lock the car.

Are you sure??? If you do not arm the alarm (or disarm it) and don't insert the key and turn the ignition on, the immobilizer automatically activates (unless you have re-programmed it not to) which starts the dash light flashing. The car is disabled, but the alarm doesn't re-activate, and if you open the door, nothing happens. You just can't start the car without pressing the key fob button again to deactivate the immobilizer.

[pdemaio]

I finished the mod and I'm mostly done bleeding. In my car there was a huge piece of foam obstructing the alarm (and wires) from view. I had to remove the foam to figure out where the wires were.
I did the 27" version mostly snaked into the windshield. I'm not seeing the super long distances people are reporting here but I'm happy to be able to do without holding the fob direclty over the car.
Be careful not to unplug your speakers as well.

[bluejae]

Originally Posted by 05EliseNM

Wow, that is like asking "where do I get food?" How do you make it through life?

Yes, you can get the wire at radio shack. I used solid core wire, but I see no reason why you can't use regular stranded wire; the piece that is already on there is stranded; but then again, the stock piece does not work very well.

thanks for answering the question regarding if any kind of wire will work...

and the sarcasm was a nice touch... and i know... i have no idea how i've survived without knowing where to get that kind of wire... i've just been lucky i guess...

but my question about where to get the extra wire was because i wasn't sure if it was a certain type of wire... if so... then i would have needed to know what type and where to get it...

and your analogy would have been better if you had written... "where do i get that kind/type of food?"...

anyway... since you've done the mod... was the black antenna wire marked 13? and i'm curious if those numbers were written on your connector as well...

[R T]

... how have you gotten through life not knowing what color Pink is?
















j/k

[bluejae]

Originally Posted by R T

... how have you gotten through life not knowing what color Pink is?

j/k

i almost didn't catch the "j/k" part...

but anyway...

"It is the black wire on the same end as the pink and green wire."

from the picture on post#1... it did say 13... so i'm hoping that there will be numbers like the one in the picture... then finding number 13 and hoping that it's black won't be difficult...

but going by just the description "...same end as the pink and green wire." i'm not sure where to look at...

from the left... i see what looks like 2 pink wires... and then 2 green ones in the middle... green/white and green/red?... and then another green on the far right... and then like 3 purples in the middle along with what looks like red/white... oh... and a bunch of black wires all over the place...

i'm sorry for asking so many questions before opening up my car... but i just want to make sure i've got everything down...

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by bluejae

i almost didn't catch the "j/k" part...

but anyway...

"It is the black wire on the same end as the pink and green wire."

from the picture on post#1... it did say 13... so i'm hoping that there will be numbers like the one in the picture... then finding number 13 and hoping that it's black won't be difficult...

but going by just the description "...same end as the pink and green wire." i'm not sure where to look at...

from the left... i see what looks like 2 pink wires... and then 2 green ones in the middle... green/white and green/red?... and then another green on the far right... and then like 3 purples in the middle along with what looks like red/white... oh... and a bunch of black wires all over the place...

i'm sorry for asking so many questions before opening up my car... but i just want to make sure i've got everything down...

I couldn't even get to the pin connector, I just found the bundle of wires coming from it. You can tell the antenna wire because it is ouside of the bundle and is not taped up (or at least not taped up as much). Also, if you find this one and pull a little you should be able to free it and pull the end of it out (since it is an antenna). Then you can just connect to the end of it with a longer wire. Try that and let me know if it helps you find it.

Stephen

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

Are you sure??? If you do not arm the alarm (or disarm it) and don't insert the key and turn the ignition on, the immobilizer automatically activates (unless you have re-programmed it not to) which starts the dash light flashing. The car is disabled, but the alarm doesn't re-activate, and if you open the door, nothing happens. You just can't start the car without pressing the key fob button again to deactivate the immobilizer.

I have the immobilizer deactivated. Here is what I did: I armed it and then disarmed (a few times actually to test the range of the remote). I NEVER OPENED the door during this time. Then I went into the house to pee and grab another beer, play with my cats a little and came back out to the garage. The car is unlocked (as expected), but I noticed the immobilizer was flashing (which was unexpected since I deactivated it). I then went to open the door, and the alarm went off and scared the remaining piss out of me!

I think that if you arm/lock the car and then unlock/disarm the car WITHOUT opening a door, after a few minutes it rearms the car, but does not relock it. So if you or someone else walks up to open the door the alarm goes off. I think this is done for the reason I mentioned earlier. If you accidently hit the button and are close enough to unlock/disarm it unknowingly, then it assumes you made a mistake and rearms the car if you do not open the door (not sure what opening the trunk will do). This way at least the car is protected, even though someone can still open the door and steal something inside the car. I will test this later today and report back; there might also be something in the manual about this.

[wrh3]

Originally Posted by 05EliseNM

I have the immobilizer deactivated. Here is what I did: I armed it and then disarmed (a few times actually to test the range of the remote). I NEVER OPENED the door during this time. Then I went into the house to pee and grab another beer, play with my cats a little and came back out to the garage. The car is unlocked (as expected), but I noticed the immobilizer was flashing (which was unexpected since I deactivated it). I then went to open the door, and the alarm went off and scared the remaining piss out of me!

I think that if you arm/lock the car and then unlock/disarm the car WITHOUT opening a door, after a few minutes it rearms the car, but does not relock it. So if you or someone else walks up to open the door the alarm goes off. I think this is done for the reason I mentioned earlier. If you accidently hit the button and are close enough to unlock/disarm it unknowingly, then it assumes you made a mistake and rearms the car if you do not open the door (not sure what opening the trunk will do). This way at least the car is protected, even though someone can still open the door and steal something inside the car. I will test this later today and report back; there might also be something in the manual about this.

This is the way my car works as well. If I disarm the car and do not open the door within a certain time frame, the alarm re-arms without locking the doors. If the door is opened then the alarm goes off. I actually like this feature (my car requires active arming as well, configured by the PO which I also prefer to the passive arming default).

[TimMullen]

Hmmmmmm..... Veeerrrryyyyy interestinggggg.....

Now I'm going to have to investigate. Maybe I never hit the right conditions (I guess I've always opened the door after disarming the alarm).

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by pdemaio

I'm not seeing the super long distances people are reporting here but I'm happy to be able to do without holding the fob direclty over the car.

When is the last time you replaced your battery? If you never have, I bet replacing it will help, you just might get that highly desirable 200 ft. range.

[darkSol]

I just did this mod -it took a whopping 10 minutes.

I couldn't manage to get my fingers around the Cobra unit to release the connector so I just spliced into the existing black antenna wire.

I previously had an effective circular range of around 20 feet... after adding a single 20" CAT-5 strand (I picked blue) and pushing it as straight / far forward / behind the Cobra unit as possible... my new range is around 60 feet from the front /rear and 40 feet from the sides.

Keep in mind this is with a year-long-used remote with no so hot batteries... still... Perfecto!

Nice mod... with no added weight... well 0.002 lbs. maybe...

[dma550]

Just done myself, I located the black wire easily, gave it a tug, it's only about 4" long! 20" of single strand wire, in a lazy loop (and aluminum taped down) inside the cavity, and I've got 50' range with 2+ year old batteries. This is a must do mod. I can add, be sure to center the clip type fasteners that hold the panel on to keep annoyances down when trying to get the screws back in during reassembly.

[Imolas54]

Just did this mod again on my new exige, and DAMN cut myself AGAIN!!!!!!!

[darkSol]

Originally Posted by Imolas54

Just did this mod again on my new exige, and DAMN cut myself AGAIN!!!!!!!

Note to self: Don't let Imolas54 in a kitchen with knives around

[turbo2nr]

Holding your fob in your mouth and tilting your head back will triple or more, the range of a fob. The back of your head acts as a great parabolic dish. Try it! I can go for over 50-75 feet with the stock arrangment. Try it right now, from inside your house! Save your blood for another project. The fob works fine as is.

[Ian]

O.K. I just tried this. I couldn't get the damn foam out of the way to see anything. Are you guys just ripping it out and then stuffing it back in later. (I would actually have to rip mine apart I think).

I did manage to cut my hand in three different places, even after taping the bottom edge.

[Imolas54]

Originally Posted by darkSol

Note to self: Don't let Imolas54 in a kitchen with knives around

da kitchen is a woman's room

[Imolas54]

Originally Posted by SAElise

O.K. I just tried this. I couldn't get the damn foam out of the way to see anything. Are you guys just ripping it out and then stuffing it back in later. (I would actually have to rip mine apart I think).

I did manage to cut my hand in three different places, even after taping the bottom edge.

you just need to pull up the harness and pull the black wire out, the black wire is very obvious, give it a tuck and it will come out for you to work with.