Increase the range of your remote

[RichS]

I just did this mod.

Before mod the remote range was 21 feet from the back of the car and 24 feet from the front of the car.

After mod the remote range was 53 feet from the back of the car and 73 feet from the front of the car.

Rear distance gained: 32 feet, new range is 152% of original range
Front distance gained: 49 feet, new range is 204% of original range

Moderate cutting of self, nothing to write home about.

Color me satisfied.

[Keith Hughes]

Thank you all for the excellent info. I performed this mod yesterday...what an incredible improvement.

You folks Rock!

[CHRISN]

Great mod just finished and it works great!

Chris

[bluejae]

i'm not getting that much improvement after testing for about a week... i'm wondering if i should add more wire... i have just enough wire on it right now to go along the edge of the panel from the inside... about where the sticky foam is on the inside border... anyway... would lengthening it do anything?

[CALtd]

I did the mod yesterday and now I can't get used to being able to unlock without being an arms length away. My subjective test was 28 paces to the rear while the car is in the garage. The side range was not as good in the shopping center parking lot. I did not add extra wire just pulled it clear of the bundle and routed behind the plastic, instead of being shielded on 4 sides by aluminum.

to all that have gone down this path before me. To avoid cuts on my hand, I laid split drip irrigation hose over the bottom edge. I worked so well I just left it there.

[Shiftlock]

I finally got around to doing this mod. Added a length of wire and ran it up inside the weatherstripping to the top of the windsheild. Range increased from 5 feet to 90 feet. This mod works so well and is so simple that I think it should be done by all dealers before new cars leave the lot. Lotus screwed up with the OEM alarm antenna configuration.

Anyway, always looking for more, I also opened my Blackwatch Racing Uni-Key and attached a small wire from the trace that runs around the top of the circuit board to the metal key itself so that the key acts as an antenna. This added a good 30 to 40 additional feet to the range. Oh, and these range measurements were taken in pouring rain with a remote battery that is probably in need of replacing. I'm very impressed, and I can finally arm and disarm my alarm from the house.

[JWA]

Wow, I wish I had done this sooner. After seeing this thread pop up again I just decided to go down and do it. I removed the two screws, used a regular screwdriver to loosen the bottom of the panel, reached in fairly blind due to a dark garage and the plastic bag was right there. I was goign to go grab a flashlight, but the wire wrapped loosely next to the others was so obvious that I gave it a light tug and it pulled loose. I just pulled it forward so that it's behind the panel. Replaced the panel and tested it out. I probably have a good 40-50 feet now, which is plenty. Total time: 3-4 minutes. I didn't feel any sharp edges either, but I barely had to put two fingers in and hit right on the wire.

Thanks again to everyone who helped figure this out.

[tesprit]

I (like JWA) had been putting this mod off for some time, but I did it in about 10 minutes last night after work. The panel is a snap to remove and the wire is really easy to find in the bundle coming out of the plastic bag. The only problem was that the access point to the bundle with the wire in it was just below the razor sharp aluminum extrusion. I taped the extrusion with anti-rub tape used for rubber fuel bladder installation in airplane wings (basically really sticky heavy duty duct tape) to keep my hand from getting cut and lifted the bundle over the now taped extrusion. A quick pull on the little black wire and it was free. My wire was really short (maybe 3 inches length sticking out of the bundle/bag) but the immediate result was an increase in fob range to at least 10 ft from the car in all directions. I added a length of thin black wire (actually part of the ground loop for the instrument lights from an old MBG wiring harness!) and the range jumped to 40-50 ft. and this was with the car in my garage with the door shut and me standing in the driveway. Just imagine the range if I hadn't used old British Lucas wiring that has been leaking electrons for years! I just fed the extra wire up past the air duct and speaker to keep it away from the extrusion and let it go wherever it wanted, replaced the panel and screws, and I was done. Incredibly cheap, simple, fast and effective--this has to be the best mod. yet!!!

[ChrisB]

I just did the quick-n-easy version of this mod...just pulled the antenna wire out of the bundle...no extra length wire added. Before, I had to have the remote right on the driver's window to activate it. Now, it will work from at least 35' away. That was more than enough for me, so I didn't bother finding the limit.

Interestingly, I didn't have a foam block in mine that gave a few people some problems. Maybe that is the mysterious "sound deadening" in the Touring Package? I also did not have the razor sharp exposed edges. There was very thin (~1/8") adhesive-backed foam sheet material covering the area and wrapped over the edges of all the aluminum.

Joking aside, my guess is that the earlier cars just had the controller tossed in there on the thin foam sheeting and, due to the controller rattling around in there, they made a running change to stuff the foam block in in place of the foam sheeting.

This was a very quick and easy mod that should have been done at the factory. Anybody with a #2 Philips screwdriver can do it in a few minutes.

[Jim Itin]

Joking aside, my guess is that the earlier cars just had the controller tossed in there on the thin foam sheeting and, due to the controller rattling around in there, they made a running change to stuff the foam block in in place of the foam sheeting.

ChrisB,
I wonder if it was the other way around My car is fairly early, and was pretty well stuffed with the big block of foam. Could be part of the Touring option, but Tim M. hasn't mentioned it yet.
Jim

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by Jim Itin

Could be part of the Touring option, but Tim M. hasn't mentioned it yet.

Could be... I haven't bothered to open this up to check on mine (I guess I'll have to now, just to check, since I don't have Touring). Still debating if I want longer range on the remote or not...

[ChrisB]

Originally Posted by Jim Itin

ChrisB,
I wonder if it was the other way around My car is fairly early, and was pretty well stuffed with the big block of foam. Could be part of the Touring option, but Tim M. hasn't mentioned it yet.
Jim

Well, #0294 is a lot earlier than mine, so... So, Tim, Keeper of Touring Semantics, I guess it's up to you now to make an official ruling on whether this foam block is an official "Touring" component, or not. All you need is a #2 Philips and 5 minutes.

[Jim Itin]

Still debating if I want longer range on the remote or not...[/quote]

Tim,
While over in NJ for a drive this Saturday, a guy with an '06 had the shortest range I've heard of yet for his remote. With his key in the ignition, he was not able to disarm the immobilizer I showed him where to point the fob to get it to work (six inches away from the unit in the dash) and all was well. He's thinking harder about extending the range now So, there are some upsides to "longer range" after all.
Jim

[Shiftlock]

[/quote]
a guy with an '06 had the shortest range I've heard of yet for his remote. With his key in the ignition, he was not able to disarm the immobilizer [/quote]

That doesn't sound right. Maybe the battery in his remote is weak.

The increased range came in handy again over the weekend while I ran into a friend's house and left my car parked for a minute without the top on. Leaves falling into the car set off the alarm. I instinctively made a few quick steps for the door, and then remembered that I had done the extended range mod. I was able to shut it off from his living room ~70 feet away and two stories up. Loving the extended range.

[TimMullen]

The increased range came in handy again over the weekend while I ran into a friend's house and left my car parked for a minute without the top on. Leaves falling into the car set off the alarm. I instinctively made a few quick steps for the door, and then remembered that I had done the extended range mod. I was able to shut it off from his living room ~70 feet away and two stories up. Loving the extended range.

I'll freely admit that it could be handy. It's just that I've never had this problem (I actually need to increase the sensitivity of my motion sensor). I usually just walk up to the car, getting my keys out as I approach it, push the button, and open the door. If I did that from farther away, I'd probably time out and have to reset the immobilizer by the time I was ready to start it. I also like the fact that someone that might find my keys wouldn't be able to just walk around the parking lot an push the button and easily figure out which car it belonged to - it's a little harder to do with a short range. Then again, I have lost any keys in over 30 years...

I guess I'll have to open it up and check when I get home this evening...

[TimMullen]

Okay... You all forced me into it...

My car is a very early '05 Base (as in no Touring) - serial number in the low 100s. I took off the "cubby" cover on the passenger side (hint don't be clever and use a stubby Phillips - it works better to use a regular longer length Phillips driver). The two screws are located on the bottom rear of the cover at approximately a 45 degree angle from vertical (which is why the stubby was not useful). Note: Upon re-assembly, I noticed that the screws are not Phillips, but number 2 Pozi (PZ-2) - that explains why it kept feeling like the screw driver was "slipping". I you don't have Pozi bits, you should probably get some - a lot of the screws on the Elise are Pozi and not Phillips.

There was no foam block - maybe it's a Touring thing, or a later car thing.

The edges of the aluminum are covered in "foam tape", and I had no danger of cutting myself.

The first photo below shows the "cubby" with the cover off. The alarm is apparently in the plastic bag, and the harness is located just below/behind the upper edge of the aluminum on the bottom with the foam tape on it.

The second photo shows the antenna wire pulled up a bit from the harness (it's the bundle of wire wrapped with tape - you can see a bit of the unwrapped wires where there is a gap in the tape). A small section or the black antenna wire is exposed, and the end is taped up in the harness to the left.

I pulled out the wire (stuck my finger between the wire and the rest of the harness, and pulled it to the right. It didn't want to come loose at first, and then popped out. I "bent" the wire to stick up in the cubby, and went into the house from the garage and about 6 feet laterally from the door. The alarm remote worked from there with no problem. As I backed farther from the opening, it didn't want to work anymore, but then again, it then had a tall roll around tool chest (stuffed with tools) and an air compressor between me and the car. I'll check again in the morning with the car parked in the parking lot at work. It used to only work when I was a couple of feet from the doors or the rear of the car (never tried it from the front).

The last photo shows the antenna wire sticking straight up (more or less). The ware is only about 3-4 inches long at that point. I'll put some tape on the end of the wire - you can see bare strands of wire, so it's probably good to prevent it from shorting to ground.

[ChrisB]

So, it appears we have found the Touring Pack extra sound deadening! It doesn't appear to be an early/late thing. Jim's car is not much newer than yours while mine is in the 1500-1600 range (I forgot the exact number). Jim's is Touring and ours are not.

Well, I'll be damned. I was joking about the foam being the extra Touring sound deadening they advertise and now it looks like the joke is on me. Or, it's just Lotus random assembly at work.

[darkSol]

Originally Posted by ChrisB

So, it appears we have found the Touring Pack extra sound deadening! It doesn't appear to be an early/late thing. Jim's car is not much newer than yours while mine is in the 1500-1600 range (I forgot the exact number). Jim's is Touring and ours are not.

I concur. My non-touring car was made in May 2005 and looks exactly like Tim's on the inside...

[RichS]

My Exige with Touring did have the big foam block.

[Icedog_16]

Foam block equipped here. Touring pack in the house.