Irratic Remote Alarm

[voyager t180]

Hi guys.
As title..once or twice a week the keyless entry and locking on mine and the wifes Rav4 will not work.
This only happens on our driveway..you then have to mess around with the tiny key they provide and as soon as you open the door the alarm sounds until you start the car by holding the fob near the start button (its smart start) but not so smart as this happens at 7am and doesnt impress the nieghbours..
Wev'e had four Ravs and this happened with them all.
Mr T has investigated the issue three times now, always saying they have reprogrammed the alarm,but it never solves the problem..What is confusing is this only happens randomly..
Anyone shed any light on this please,its seriously disturbing the wifes state of mind ;~)

[Davrav]

My money would be on some kind of transmitting device in the vicinity.

In my case it proved to be the remote sender for a wireless weather station where the Battery was going flat and the frequency was shifting. DTI investigation team found it...............

[Merseyshark]

have you tried new batteries in the key / keyfob ??

[voyager t180]

My money would be on some kind of transmitting device in the vicinity.

In my case it proved to be the remote sender for a wireless weather station where the battery was going flat and the frequency was shifting. DTI investigation team found it...............

Thanks mate.

We live within sight of winter hill TV mast,but cant see it being that..as so do millions of other ppl

A long shot,but I thought of someone with one of those CB style radios,

And whats DTI ?

[voyager t180]

have you tried new batteries in the key / keyfob ??

The wifes is a brand new Rav.and yes Mr T changed them foc.

[IanXT4]

The typical things that can possibly effect wireless alarms are:

Wireless weather gauges (Rain meters, temp sensors etc etc)

Wireless internet hubs

Wireless baby alarms

Wireless TV senders

Wireless fixed line phones

Wireless hospital equipment. (My local hospital screws up key fobs in some areas of the car park)

As others have said its also not unknown for some wireless equipment to go wrong and start to broadcast at high power all the time. A friends local wireless internet box did this and took out all the wireless connectivity for a whole street. I believe the "government boys" found it when a number of people complained.

The best fix I have found is to get the transmitter as close as possible to the receiving aerial in the car.

[three5]

My money would be on some kind of transmitting device in the vicinity.

In my case it proved to be the remote sender for a wireless weather station where the battery was going flat and the frequency was shifting. DTI investigation team found it...............

Thanks mate.

We live within sight of winter hill TV mast,but cant see it being that..as so do millions of other ppl

A long shot,but I thought of someone with one of those CB style radios,

And whats DTI ?

Another one to add to Ian's list is radio operated burglar alarms. A few years ago one of these completely disabled my keyless XT5. It was not switched on when I parked up but was when I came to leave. A Saab parked next to me with the same problem had to be left overnight. Needless to say, when the owner went back in the morning the alarm was switched off and the car was fine. These sorts of systems are often used on garden sheds and remote garages.

Maybe keep a diary of when the problem occurs as it could give some clues as to what is causing the problem. First thing in the morning sounds as though it could be an alarm. Just a random thought - are any vans or lorries parked nearby when the problem occurs and absent when it isn't? Just thinking of the randomness of the problem.

DTI is Department of Trade and Industry. I think that Dave's point is that they are responsible for sorting out problems with television and radio interference so have some pretty sophisticated instrumentation. It would probably be difficult to get them to respond to a single complainant as they like to direct their efforts to dealing with mass complaints.

[Parts-King]

There was a case a year or two ago in Cumbria, all the cars in one street could not lock / unlock their cars, or they came back to find it unlocked. The TV made out it was some sort of UFO /Alien thing for a bit of a laugh, turned out to be a lot less fun................A cafe had installed a wireless ordering system where waitressess would take your order on a palm type tablet, the order is transmitted to the kitchen wirelessly, anyway, that was the cause of it causing cars not to lock

Kingo

[voyager t180]

Thanks for the replies guys,plenty of food for thought..

I'll try the DTI as a first port of call.

We have wireless TV reception(freeview) and wireless PC's in the home?

But then so does everybody I thought.

Cheers.

[Davrav]

Thanks for the replies guys,plenty of food for thought..

I'll try the DTI as a first port of call.

We have wireless TV reception(freeview) and wireless PC's in the home?

But then so does everybody I thought.

Cheers.

Word of warning with the DTI - if there is a problem, they are likely to find it. HOWEVER, if you call them and the problem is coming from your property, they will charge you about £200 ish from memory.

In my case, a helpful neighbour called them as his car was also being affected. Therefore I avoided the charge.

[shcm]

Davrav is living in a time warp. It hasn't been DTI for quite a few years. It's Ofcom now.

It's very very unlikely that wifi is the cause. That's up @ 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

Remote locking is usually 434MHz (433.92MHz) or 868MHz.

Historically, in the UK, the cause has been other devices using the same low power license free allocation around the same frequency @ 434MHz, or comparibly MUCH higher power, completely legal amateur radio repeaters which also share the same band (nearby frequencies). Amateur was there long before remote locking came along.

Early trafficmate systems also transmitted on 434MHz (and still do I believe). The MOD also had a system in the same band.

Blame the EU for the license free allocation mess.

I've also seen problems where the receiver gets blocked by transmissions @ the receivers intermediate frequency, but now I've completely lost you.

The anecdotal evidence and speculation is a lot of the time pointless. The most sensible way is to go in with a spectrum analyser and look. Ofcom will probably do this.

Sorry, but I speak from LOT of professsional experience with this in the past, trying to but a sticking plaster over other people's engineered mess.

[Davrav]

Davrav is living in a time warp. It hasn't been DTI for quite a few years. It's Ofcom now.

True, we don't now have enough trade or industry to warrant a Government department..............

[voyager t180]

Thanks for the replies guys,plenty of food for thought..

I'll try the DTI as a first port of call.

We have wireless TV reception(freeview) and wireless PC's in the home?

But then so does everybody I thought.

Cheers.

Word of warning with the DTI - if there is a problem, they are likely to find it. HOWEVER, if you call them and the problem is coming from your property, they will charge you about £200 ish from memory.

In my case, a helpful neighbour called them as his car was also being affected. Therefore I avoided the charge.

Thanks for the warning..wouldnt have known that.

Just noticed shcm' post its now ofcom..ok.

Tecnical stuff there, my brain went funny about halfway through..but I'll get my neighbour to call ofcom..do they do lobotomys?

cheers.