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The DIY $10 Prepaid Cellphone Remote Car Starter
An anonymous reader writes "Wish you could start your car via your cell phone, but don't feel like ponying up the $40k for a Chevrolet Volt or $499 (plus $29 a year) for an aftermarket system from Viper? This hack relies on a cheap prepaid cellphone that has had its vibration motor surgically removed, replaced by a couple of leads triggering the car's starter. Whenever the phone receives a call it starts up the car — a somewhat dodgy proposition if a telemarketer ever gets hold of your number, but an interesting solution nonetheless. Total cost of the project: $71.03."
On many phones you can group contacts and assign different ringing profiles. You could just program in allowed numbers and set all other calls to "silent".
I personally leave my car in gear (with the reverse locked in if I leave it for extended periods of time), so this would not be very practical. :)
Wish you could start your car via your cell phone
No, not even remotely.
Heh heh... remotely...
Unfortunately, an AT&T Go Phone costs minimum $100/year. Net10 appears to cost $200/year. Virgin Mobile costs $80, and TracFone costs $100. So it isn't cheaper per year.
of your standard cell phone triggered terrorist bomb. Nothing new here.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
In my opinion this is far too cheap of a hack. You need more control. I've personally built a very elaborate text message based system that incorporates anti-theft features/GPS/door lock/un-lock and other features. Costs $11/month in a prepaid sim card. Was great fun to construct using a microcontroller and various other parts. I was planning on building a website documenting it - but I'm horrible at putting webpages together. Other than the GPS, the cost wasn't that much more - but the unit does far more for me. Working out the bugs however took a long time, so if you're in a hurry to get remote cell based car warm-up, this project is a start.
A DTMF decoder, PIC microcontroller, and a couple dozen lines of assembly code and you could secure the system by requiring a code be entered on the calling phone.
Better known as 318230.
According to Consumer Reports AND The Tappet Brothers (Tom and Ray Magliozzi) it's bad for the engine to "warm up" your car by letting it run idle in park. It's also a waste of time and gasoline.
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
The DIY $10 Prepaid Cellphone Remote Car Starter
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The possibilities are endless!
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Can't speak for other people, but I warm up my car so that the engine is running smoothly before I head out into the 10-degree winter weather up here in the northern U.S. It's for the engine's sake, not mine.
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You should come and experience the stop and go "driving", that constitutes Los Angeles. I dearly love manuals, and have often thought of switching to automatic. I have a performance type car, and replacing a worn clutch disc after 35k miles was not pleasant. And Yes I do know how to drive, and have taken two other manuals over 100k w/o wearing the clutch, until I came to LA. The dealer said I was doing averag in clutch wear for these cars, here in LA.
So an automatic would be cheaper in heavy stop and go commutes
..........FULL STOP.
Ok, so they did this for $71, not $10. Why even put that $10 price tag in the title? Because one component costs $10?
That makes about as much sense as quoting the price of a whole car that can remote start out of the box.
In modern cars, I keep hearing that warming up your car isn't needed, and can actually be bad for it. Note it still recommends 30-60s to let the fluids warm up, which makes sense.
What happen's if someone finds out your phone number? Can they steal your car?
No.
This is just using a cell phone to trigger the auxiliary trigger input on a remote starter system installed in the car. Basically this input just simulates pressing the Start button on the remote starter's remote.
Installed correctly, most remote starter systems will stop the engine if the brake pedal is pressed. Additionally, since the ignition key is not in, the steering is locked. Also, if the engine speed goes over a certain limit, the remote starter will stop the engine. Most cars with automatic transmissions require you to press the brake pedal to shift out of Park these days, so there's no chance of stealing the car that way.
I suppose if the car had a manual transmission, it would be possible to make it move forwards or backwards in whatever direction the steering wheel is pointed, but only at slightly over idle speed. You might be able to drive it up onto a trailer.
The problem that might come up is that most of these systems come with a pin switch that disables the system if the car's hood is opened (so you don't get your hands torn off when the engine starts unexpectedly, while changing a belt for example). Many people do not bother to install the hood pin switch. You would want to make sure it is in place and working, because a telemarketer's call could be deadly.
If the phone rings while you're driving or the car is already running, nothing happens other than the remote start will keep the engine running after you remove the key (if you don't touch the brake pedal.
Putting moderation advice in your
the do it yourself Homeland Security visit kit.
According to me it is bad to drive with near zero visibility due to condensation or frost on the interior of the windshield. My life trumps the life of the engine.
Anyways a bock heater or garage is the way to go, at least if parked at home.
Ever start your car in temperatures below -40? And that's not counting wind chill. Your engine will not like it if you jump in, start and go with zero warm up time. That being said, 30 seconds to 2 minutes is all the time needed to get the juices flowing.
I agree. I just scrape the ice off and drive off right away. Of course, then my windscreen fogs up on the inside due to chilling from the airflow over it, but fuck you or your kids if you happen to walk in front of me: better you die than I "waste time or gasoline", right?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Outside temperature 20 below zero, think about it. Some areas of the US have very harsh winters, remotely starting
a car 10 minutes early remotely allows time to warm the interior to something more comfortable say 40 deg. Not
to mention it is better for the engine to be at least slightly warmed up before placing it under a load.
Got Code?
Those guys can eat my ass if they think I'm driving around in a cold car I can't see out of. They are also welcome to scrape my windshield for me.
See how your Aveo, Caravan, and Outback handle it when it's a 17 year old car. I know my heater doesn't warm up that quickly.
"Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
SNOW is not generally a problem when it comes to defrosting windows... it's ICE. Keep in mind, some of us live where much of the frozen perciptiation we get is not like the nice fluffy and powdery snow you may get. It's a totally different ball-game when there's a layer of ice on your windshield twice as thick as the glass itself. Sometimes you have to let the engine warm up enough to melt the undersurface before it can be scraped off.
My 22-year-old Citroen CX usually cleared the windows within 30 seconds or so, even in the -20C mornings we had over our fairly brief winter just there. In the cold weather it took longer for hydraulic system to bring the thick, cold, gooey oil up to pressure.
Mod this up. I live in the US Midwest and snow is not a problem, but we tend to get ice at least once a year. Even if the ice is only a quarter inch thick, you can't scrape it off (at least not without breaking your scraper) until you warm up the car a little to loosen up the ice. Snow is very easy to deal with and my car has my window defogged in 30 seconds but getting rid of the ice takes time.
Parts of this country get very, very cold in winter. It can take a long time for a car to warm up to the point that ice on the windows will melt. Weather conditions vary but I've personally given up on scraping very thick ice off of the windows a few times. Warming up the car can be the only way to get the windows clear.
I have had remote start systems in the past, but this year I installed a parking heater, which is basically a tankless water heater with a circulating pump. It runs on gasoline and warms the car's coolant up before I get in and start it. It can be operated by a remote or by a timer on the dashboard. It seems pretty efficient, as what's coming out of its exhaust pipe is barely lukewarm. Once the coolant is warm it turns on the car's heater blower and will defrost the windows and warm the interior.
It's a lot better than a remote start - uses less fuel, and there is never a cold start of the engine.
Downsides - the cost. I bought mine on eBay, brand new for about $275 from a car dealer who was going out of business. Normally these heaters are not sold directly to end users, you have to get it installed (usually at a heavy truck parts supplier), and the cost for one including installation ranges up to $1800. It took me 9.5 hours to install (at no cost other than a full day's time). Supposedly the factory installers take about the same time to do it.
Electric engine block heaters are a lot cheaper (can be under $50) - you just plug them into an extension cord, but most people can't do that in their work parking lot.
With the remote I can start my heater from up to 450 feet away (and I have). The heater I have is German made and conforms to their stringent safety standards, plus it sounds like a tiny jet engine. Similar heaters are used on big diesel trucks to provide heat when parked, in areas that do not allow the trucks to idle their engines.
Putting moderation advice in your
Yeah, of course it depends on HOW cold. It never hits -40F where I live. If it did, I'd use a block heater. If your car stalls when you try to back up out of the driveway, it's still too cold. Otherwise, just drive it slow for a few miles. Of course for many Americans, slow drivers are just another kind of terrorist.
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
The problem is that most people crank their defroster to maximum fan speed and that makes the engine take forever to warm up . The secret is to put the fan on a low speed (even 1) and don't be in the car for a minute or so (while you clear the windows), then ease it up to 2 and start going. Notch the fan up as you notice your temp gauge going up. Don't use maximum speed unless your engine is at full operating temperature. Even then, very small engines in very cold weather will lose heat at maximum fan speed unless they're actually driving (i.e. the engine is under load); idling at full fan speed may still result in the engine cooling off.
I start my engine, leave the fan on low, turn on my seat warmer, clear the windows, and by the time the windows are scraped, I drive. Drive gently and easily until the engine is warmer. That way I get heat quickly and I am friendlier to the environment.
If the interior of your car is really humid and you're getting frost inside on the windows, turn on the air conditioning. This will help to sublimate the ice faster. (Keep the heat turned to the warmest temperature, of course. It'll still warm up your car - but with air with less humidity in it, which helps to remove the frost and ice.)
I'm from Boston, and so are Tom and Ray. I have lived in Boston most of my life.
Tom and Ray are automotive mechanics and have been working on cars since the NINETEEN SEVENTIES. Tom has an engineering degree from MIT. I trust them not to spew disinformation.
Damping absorbs vibrations. Dampening is caused by moisture.
I think I 'd rather use a cell phone like this to remotely STOP my car in the event of theft.
Washington, D.C. is only barely behind http://m.wusa9.com/news.jsp?key=196541) L.A. butI still commute here with my manual transmission. At 75K mi my clutch disc still grabs like an acrophobe on top of a bungy platform.
Knowing how to operate a manual transmission mechanism is only one part of knowing how to drive. To properly drive a manual transmission vehicle in heavy stop-and-go traffic you cannot tailgate and you will spend a lot of time in Neutral. Yes, this means that more than once per-commute someone will cut in front of you because there was more than 5 feet between you and the vehicle in front of you even though your "performance type car" could have avoided that by hanging 6 inches off the rear bumper instead.
Yup - I have a remote starter on my car - aftermarket.
These sorts of devices aren't all that expensive. I'd have no issues with hacking an alternative receiver (phone or whatever) into the INPUT on the unit, but not directly into the starter.
A typical remote starter does stuff like:
1. Have a sensor on the spark plug wires so that it can detect the engine RPM and figure out when the engine has turned over. It runs the starter "just enough."
2. Refuses to start the engine if it is already running.
3. Has a timer so that it won't run the starter all day if something goes wrong.
4. Has a safety interlock on the hood, so that your mechanic doesn't lose his hands when the engine cranks without warning (granted, whoever installs it might not bother to wire this up).
5. Have some kind of mechanism built in so that somebody can't just drive off with your car.
6. Has some kind of way to transition to normal operation when you insert the keys.
7. Often they have extra features like a mode that will periodically run the car for 15 minutes to keep the engine warm - for cold climates I guess (though I suspect an electrical heater would be safer).
I would never wire something like this to my car without some basic safety/control functionality. By the time you do all that you could have just bought one - they aren't actually that expensive if you install them yourself.
How about a citation? "Every" automotive expert? I have lived in a cold climate several times in my life, and currently live in a moderate climate where temps are usually below freezing all winter but not below 0 degrees F. In addition to that, several family members are certified mechanics or mechanical (automotive) engineers. With a properly chosen motor oil, there is no reason that a modern automobile cannot be started and driven away within seconds of turning the engine on. In addition, I have experience with the 2-cycle and 4-cycle snowmobile industry and the factory recommendations on those high performance motors is that they can be driven away immediately upon starting a cold engine.
Tappet Bros. and Consumer Reports are correct.
You are correct that startup from cold is the most damaging time for a motor. However it is not less damaging to let it warm up before driving it, as long as a) the oil is the correct viscosity for the temperatures and b) the driver does not accelerate too rapidly.
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I'd just like to thank you for specifying your units there.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Not if they used the remote start circuitry in the car, which it looks like this author did. The remote start circuit already has all the safety features built into the regular ignition key starter, plus probably a few extras.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=41668
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=8795
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=46193
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=131289
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=203750
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=100750
I've heard them a few times give quite a bit of misinformation. They haven't the slightest clue about the differences between WVO, SVO, BioDiesel. Say that 10,000 mile oil changes are 'stupid' (It's VW recommended, they go up to 30,000 km in Europe).
Here's a better solution. This design connects to the cell phone audio output (so you don't have to open the phone) and has a DTMF decoder chip, so you send it tones to make things happen. That at least gives you some protection against random phone calls.
I live in New England (Maine, specifically), and I personally see little use for a remote starter. But I purchased a car that was meant to be used in this climate (glow plugs for the Diesel engine, heated seats, heated side mirrors, and a small electric coil in the windshield defroster to clear the windows quickly). But a lot of cars simply aren't equipped that way. Volvo, Saab, VW, and maybe a handful of other brands really know what cold weather means, and give you the tools to compensate for it. With a lot of other cars, warmup is as much a safety issue as it is a comfort issue.
Heaven help you if you get salt or something else on the windshield and try to wash it off, only to discover that your windshield is cold enough to frost up your wiper fluid when spread thinly enough. Instant, near-total blindness.
It's unfortunate that more auto manufacturers don't offer cold weather packages, but even when they do they can get expensive (more so than a remote starter). It's probably cheaper to just run the thing for 10 minutes the 20-30 times a year you might need defrost. It's not like it consumes gallons and gallons of fuel.
Having said all that, remote starters can and do get "abused". If you're remote starting your car when it's well above the freezing temperature of your washer fluid, you really need to rethink how much that is costing you (in my opinion). But, hey, it's great living in a free country where people can legally do things I consider stupid. :)
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Like the other poster, you obviously have not owned a car where the temperatures drop REALLY low.
Where I live, when it reaches minus 40, it will take 15 minutes of my car sitting in Idle for it to become DRIVEABLE - let alone the 20 to 30 before it would actually become a comfortable temperature. If I don't let it idle for that amount of time, it will stall about as soon as I try to put it into any gear. The gas line needs time to get the gasline antifreeze flowing - the oil needs time to warm up and get inside the cylinders (this is were plugging in your car is helpful).
You run the risk of harming your engine by driving before the oil has time to warm up and flow around. Nothing like a Seized engine because you didn't let your car warm up 10 minutes every morning.
Here in Canada - and some Northern States, a lot of countries in Europe, and probably Russia - Remote Car starters are a BIG thing.
However, its only like $120 dollars to get one done here for an automatic, and about $150 for a standard.
The Volt comes with an iPhone app that allows you to start it remotely over the mobile phone network.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Might want to get your car looked at, tuned up, or replaced.
This winter, I've driven three different vehicles several times in -30C and below. All of them required a minute tops to be driveable. During that time I'm generally clearing snow off the vehicles (including the roof and hood). In 20 years of driving in Saskatchewan, I've had very few cars that acted any differently. The ones that did were old beaters that probably shouldn't have been on the road.
If you feel the need to wait until your interior is toasty before driving, then by a timer and an interior car warmer. Way more efficient and easier on your car. That or learn to dress for the season. I can get in a cold (-30C) vehicle with my jacket, insulated shoes, toque and gloves and be very comfortable in the car. In about minutes of driving the car is pumping out enough heat that I have to turn it down.
If you're gas line is freezing up, keep more gas in the tank, more gas = less room for humid air.
Use a proper viscosity oil for the season. No reason the oil shouldn't be at a reasonably temperature within a minute, even if the ambient temperature is -35C.
el-Woosho!
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
I've owned and/or driven in a LOT of cars, and the problem of "the inside fogs over" clears up in about 30 seconds of running the defroster. So: hop in the car, start, turn on defroster. Put on seat belt. Turn on radio. Inside of the windshield is already defogged. Give me a freakin' break.
Dude, it's not that hard. 1) start car, turn on defroster. 2) Scrape windshield. 3) by the time you're done, the inside of the windshield is already defogged, even if the defrost hasn't gotten up to temperature yet. It doesn't need to be warm to get the fog off the inside of the windshield, it just needs a few seconds of relatively dry air blowing over it... which you get from the first few seconds of defroster. It only needs to get warm at all to get the frost off the outside of the window, which, you know, you already scraped off.
I can't even believe we're having this discussion. The idea that not preheating your windshield inevitably means that it's impossible to see is mind-boggling.
But someone could have confused it with Kelvin or Rankine.
Sorry, I don't speak Spanish.