intelligent key fob range

sp911 · 04-19-2018, 10:16 AM

is your phone also on you? that may reduce the distance.

vtec to vvel · 04-22-2018, 02:24 PM

Download the app and lock/unlock from your phone

OhioYJ · 05-17-2018, 09:39 PM

OK so first thing I tried was replacing the battery in my key. Note my car is a 2016. Then I tried the other key that has never been used and has never left my safe, same issue. So then I did some testing and found my car has a range of 5-6 feet from both doors, but is almost completely blind from the rear. Which led me to believe it was the rear antenna. The only other problem with my car is the outside door unlock button on the passenger door has not worked for some time. That button has not worked for some time, but its the passenger door so I've let it go. The rear antenna is cheap and easy to replace but if its not that its pretty much the BCM, so much to my dismay I scheduled an appointment for the dealer to look at it since its under warranty.

Dealer claims they put a new battery in the remote and (I only took one key to them) and all the problems went away. When I went to pick it up (two hours after dropping it off) I brought up the other key and sure enough even it worked. So either there is some truth in their batteries are fresher than Walmarts or they wouldn't come clean on what actually fixed it. I think its the latter... But at least it works.

vtec to vvel · 05-20-2018, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OhioYJ

OK so first thing I tried was replacing the battery in my key. Note my car is a 2016. Then I tried the other key that has never been used and has never left my safe, same issue. So then I did some testing and found my car has a range of 5-6 feet from both doors, but is almost completely blind from the rear. Which led me to believe it was the rear antenna. The only other problem with my car is the outside door unlock button on the passenger door has not worked for some time. That button has not worked for some time, but its the passenger door so I've let it go. The rear antenna is cheap and easy to replace but if its not that its pretty much the BCM, so much to my dismay I scheduled an appointment for the dealer to look at it since its under warranty.

Dealer claims they put a new battery in the remote and (I only took one key to them) and all the problems went away. When I went to pick it up (two hours after dropping it off) I brought up the other key and sure enough even it worked. So either there is some truth in their batteries are fresher than Walmarts or they wouldn't come clean on what actually fixed it. I think its the latter... But at least it works.

You really went to the dealer to have a fob battery replaced?

It may be your car/keys, as I’ve used key fob batteries from Walmart to gas stations and usually have about a 25-feet range. In fact, I can park my car inside the garage on the 1st floor and my bedroom is on the 3rd floor and can hear the beep when I lock from my bedroom. Also, batteries do have a long lifespan for storage (ie new inside the package and not being used).

Ventruck · 05-20-2018, 05:39 PM

I've seen my range go from "across the street" (2-lane), to like 3 feet, accidentally washed the fob, and now it's back to "across the street".

OhioYJ · 05-27-2018, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vtec to vvel

You really went to the dealer to have a fob battery replaced?

It may be your car/keys, as I’ve used key fob batteries from Walmart to gas stations and usually have about a 25-feet range. In fact, I can park my car inside the garage on the 1st floor and my bedroom is on the 3rd floor and can hear the beep when I lock from my bedroom. Also, batteries do have a long lifespan for storage (ie new inside the package and not being used).

No....

So I believe I may have sorted out my problem. I have a ECUTek Bluetooth dongle in my car. This was not in the car when I took it to the dealer. Yesterday, repeatability every time I put that back in the car, it goes blind from the rear, and range sucks. Remove the BT dongle and it works fine. So I'm assuming the BT dongle is causing interference of some sort. I'm going to give it a few more days and see if it continues to work without that dongle.

Thundar · 06-17-2018, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OhioYJ

No....

So I believe I may have sorted out my problem. I have a ECUTek Bluetooth dongle in my car. This was not in the car when I took it to the dealer. Yesterday, repeatability every time I put that back in the car, it goes blind from the rear, and range sucks. Remove the BT dongle and it works fine. So I'm assuming the BT dongle is causing interference of some sort. I'm going to give it a few more days and see if it continues to work without that dongle.

I had the same issue, the ECUTek bluetooth cut my fob range down to a couple feet. Unplugged the module and the range is back to 75 feet

OhioYJ · 06-17-2018, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thundar

I had the same issue, the ECUTek bluetooth cut my fob range down to a couple feet. Unplugged the module and the range is back to 75 feet

I had this discussion with ECUTek's support and they at first claimed they had never heard of it and should not be possible since they operated on different frequencies. I shipped my dongle back to Dynosty for testing on their shop cars. Who also replicated the issue, although not quite to the same drastic degree as my car, but the range was drastically reduced. The same was true for all the other bluetooth dongles they had in stock.

After this confirmation, I have reached out again to ECUTek asking if a firmware update that shuts this thing down when the car is off is possible. They are supposed to be getting with development to find out.

Alstann · 06-25-2018, 08:54 AM

This is an awesome find. I recently got tuned with ECUTek and I also have a range issue with my remote - bluetooth dongle as well. Feel free to mention that I confirmed that removing mine from the OBD has improved my range again. I actually have my dongle mounted deep inside the dash with an OBD-to-OBD extension cable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OhioYJ

I had this discussion with ECUTek's support and they at first claimed they had never heard of it and should not be possible since they operated on different frequencies. I shipped my dongle back to Dynosty for testing on their shop cars. Who also replicated the issue, although not quite to the same drastic degree as my car, but the range was drastically reduced. The same was true for all the other bluetooth dongles they had in stock.

After this confirmation, I have reached out again to ECUTek asking if a firmware update that shuts this thing down when the car is off is possible. They are supposed to be getting with development to find out.

OhioYJ · 06-25-2018, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thundar

I had the same issue, the ECUTek bluetooth cut my fob range down to a couple feet. Unplugged the module and the range is back to 75 feet

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alstann

This is an awesome find. I recently got tuned with ECUTek and I also have a range issue with my remote - bluetooth dongle as well. Feel free to mention that I confirmed that removing mine from the OBD has improved my range again. I actually have my dongle mounted deep inside the dash with an OBD-to-OBD extension cable.

I'm still working with ECUTek on this. I've created a separate thread for this issue.

Horizon · 12-07-2021, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chops

nope. ive tried 4 different duracell's from the supermarket, target, amazon

could be..no idea what frequency these use

possibly. i do sit on it quite often. hmm this is probably the most likely

well, the doors also auto-lock once we hit 15mph. if you have navigation you can manually set the car to honk and/or beep when locking...etc. if you dont have navi, you can go to the dealer and ask them to modify the behavior using a consult III. its basically a fancy ODB reader. my dealership will do it for free for me since its a minor change that takes 10 sec

Sorry to reply to this after so long, but are you saying that you are able to have your car do the little "beep beep" noise when you click the lock button on the key itself? That's what I attempted to have done yesterday when I had my secondary key programmed, but the master tech wasn't able to find any way to do it without creating some type of new program.

04-22-2018, 02:24 PM	#32 (permalink)
vtec to vvel A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: 813 Posts: 3,915 Drives: 13 Z Rep Power: 502909	Download the app and lock/unlock from your phone __________________ Don't like what I post? Too bad. I really don't give a sh!t

05-20-2018, 05:39 PM	#35 (permalink)
Ventruck Track Member Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: California Posts: 785 Drives: '13 Sport+Touring M6 Rep Power: 22898	I've seen my range go from "across the street" (2-lane), to like 3 feet, accidentally washed the fob, and now it's back to "across the street". envisous likes this.

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04-19-2018, 10:16 AM	#31 (permalink)
sp911 Enthusiast Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: central connecticut Posts: 259 Drives: 2012 370z gun metal Rep Power: 11	is your phone also on you? that may reduce the distance.

05-17-2018, 09:39 PM	#33 (permalink)
OhioYJ Enthusiast Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: Ohio Posts: 261 Drives: 2016 370Z Rep Power: 953	OK so first thing I tried was replacing the battery in my key. Note my car is a 2016. Then I tried the other key that has never been used and has never left my safe, same issue. So then I did some testing and found my car has a range of 5-6 feet from both doors, but is almost completely blind from the rear. Which led me to believe it was the rear antenna. The only other problem with my car is the outside door unlock button on the passenger door has not worked for some time. That button has not worked for some time, but its the passenger door so I've let it go. The rear antenna is cheap and easy to replace but if its not that its pretty much the BCM, so much to my dismay I scheduled an appointment for the dealer to look at it since its under warranty. Dealer claims they put a new battery in the remote and (I only took one key to them) and all the problems went away. When I went to pick it up (two hours after dropping it off) I brought up the other key and sure enough even it worked. So either there is some truth in their batteries are fresher than Walmarts or they wouldn't come clean on what actually fixed it. I think its the latter... But at least it works.