[jay]

Has this happened to any one?

At my local seven eleven I can't lock my car! It's happened once before at a different location. Very weird.

[rustynutz]

I've had the same issue, see: Hyundai i30 1.6 CRDI Bluedrive active Central locking remote not working 

[jay]

Interesting!
It's happened years ago to at Dandenong Station. Now at Ferntree Gully Seven Eleven twice. I asked the guy working, he hasn't seen it before.

[Phil №❶]

We  believe mobile phone tower interference. 

[Lorian]

I think you'll find its interference on 435Mhz unless the keys in .au use a different frequency to here.

Plenty of things use the 435Mhz frequency to cause interference.

All my weather station sensors run on 435Mhz, and once one had a particular failure where it was transmitting all the time and I could not lock my car at home with the remote until I replaced the faulty transmitter.

[Berber]

This is common to all cars and, as stated, relates to interference. I have had a single black spot in my village that effected all 3 cars I owned. Move the car 3 meters away and no black spot.

[The Gonz]

433MHz to be pedantic. 315MHz is also popular. I've built remote systems using both frequencies. The integral 64 bit rolling code does something for noise immunity as a byproduct of encryption but enough interfering power will always win.

[Lorian]

433MHz to be pedantic.

yeah, LPD433 433.075Mhz-434.775Mhz  but I doubt my weather station is as precise.

[constipated]

Yes, I've had this issue:

Check my thread. Remote / Keyless entry intermittently not working

Dealer even went so far to replace the Body Control module in case it was the culprit but eventually through more investigation I've figured out it is interference but god knows from what.

Obviously affects both keys at the same time.

It only happens at my house under my carport. Drive the car 50m down the road and everything works fine. Drive back to my carport and the key is not working again.

Check out youtube video in my thread.

[Phil №❶]

Yes, I've had this issue:

Check my thread. Remote / Keyless entry intermittently not working

Dealer even went so far to replace the Body Control module in case it was the culprit but eventually through more investigation I've figured out it is interference but god knows from what.

Obviously affects both keys at the same time.

It only happens at my house under my carport. Drive the car 50m down the road and everything works fine. Drive back to my carport and the key is not working again.

Check out youtube video in my thread.

Do you have a modern electric smart meter near the car. Modern meters are fitted with rf comms and the meters in your street actually talk to each other, to pass info back to the electric company. They are considered dangerous, too.

[Mike SX]

Modern meters are fitted with rf comms and the meters in your street actually talk to each other, to pass info back to the electric company. They are considered dangerous, too.

Excellent information.
Also, it doesn't help (in the UK) that most meters are either fitted in the garage or on a wall adjacent to the driveway 

[Lorian]

The packets from my Meter to the smart console are just one tiny packet once a minute, not so likely to cause the remote an issue, but is in the same band. Not sure why a smart Meter would be considered dangerous unless you subscribe to some of the I'll founded information theft issues spouted

[jay]

Or remote garage door? Probably not, I don't know too much about how they work.

So thief's could set up weather stations at shop car parks I guess.

[Phil №❶]

The packets from my Meter to the smart console are just one tiny packet once a minute, not so likely to cause the remote an issue, but is in the same band. Not sure why a smart Meter would be considered dangerous unless you subscribe to some of the I'll founded information theft issues spouted

My understanding is that these meters use mobile frequency bands to send their packets. Now this is not so bad, except that they don't use mobile towers. To enable transmission of data over distance, a meter talks to the next meter in range, so although your meter only produces packets of it's own info. It can and will transmit continuously if required, to get the neighbours info and others into the electric system. Some of this info is time scheduled rate changes for peak times , automated meter readings etc. Just depending where you are relevant to the receiver, will determine how much your meter emits radiation, similar to traffic driving on a freeway compared to a back street.

It so happens, that where I sit, on the outside wall is the electricity meter, separated only by a sheet of Gyprock and fibreglass insulation. No wonder I'm a  Of course, the jury's out on whether this radiation is dangerous or not, I'm no expert, so I don't know, however no radiation is better than radiaation IMO.

[Surferdude]

The packets from my Meter to the smart console are just one tiny packet once a minute, not so likely to cause the remote an issue, but is in the same band. Not sure why a smart Meter would be considered dangerous unless you subscribe to some of the I'll founded information theft issues spouted

My understanding is that these meters use mobile frequency bands to send their packets. Now this is not so bad, except that they don't use mobile towers. To enable transmission of data over distance, a meter talks to the next meter in range, so although your meter only produces packets of it's own info. It can and will transmit continuously if required, to get the neighbours info and others into the electric system. Some of this info is time scheduled rate changes for peak times , automated meter readings etc. Just depending where you are relevant to the receiver, will determine how much your meter emits radiation, similar to traffic driving on a freeway compared to a back street.

It so happens, that where I sit, on the outside wall is the electricity meter, separated only by a sheet of Gyprock and fibreglass insulation. No wonder I'm a  Of course, the jury's out on whether this radiation is dangerous or not, I'm no expert, so I don't know, however no radiation is better than radiaation IMO.

It's obviously affecting you Phil. It's created a bit of a stutter. 

[Phil №❶]

  

[Lorian]

My understanding is that these meters use mobile frequency bands to send their packets. Now this is not so bad, except that they don't use mobile towers. To enable transmission of data over distance, a meter talks to the next meter in range, so although your meter only produces packets of it's own info. It can and will transmit continuously if required, to get the neighbours info and others into the electric system. Some of this info is time scheduled rate changes for peak times , automated meter readings etc. Just depending where you are relevant to the receiver, will determine how much your meter emits radiation, similar to traffic driving on a freeway compared to a back street.

It so happens, that where I sit, on the outside wall is the electricity meter, separated only by a sheet of Gyprock and fibreglass insulation. No wonder I'm a  Of course, the jury's out on whether this radiation is dangerous or not, I'm no expert, so I don't know, however no radiation is better than radiaation IMO.

That's not how it works, in the UK anyway.

The Electric meter has a 433Mhz transmitter to talk to the indoor display. It sends one tiny packet each minute.
The Electric meter also has a standard mobile phone SIM and makes a GPRS data call once a month (via a cell tower) to tell the utility company the readings. This could be once a day, but currently just on the 1st of every month for me.
The Gas meter has a cable to the electric meter to send data via the same link.

Mine was installed in the first round of smart meter testing (I opted for it), so have had it for some years now. Technology I'd recommend.
To install the first test they do is to make sure the meter position can see a local cell transmitter, otherwise you don't get one. For me it's quite a long way away, but works fine.

<sorry for being off topic>
 

[Phil №❶]

Well, they didn't test anything here when mine was installed. Just rolled up and whamo done. There is a lot on the net about this, so maybe were both correct. 

[Dazzler]

Still  Sorry..

Our smart meter is still read electronically by a guy from Aurora who comes around every 3 months... 

[Lorian]

Still  Sorry..

Our smart meter is still read electronically by a guy from Aurora who comes around every 3 months... 

LOL not so smart.

[Lorian]

I wonder If you created a 433Mhz transmitter (really cheap to do) the transmitted constantly, and stood in a car park near some empty spaces, how long it would take for a driver walking away from their car to not realise it had not locked......

I always look for the indicator flash, but then I'm sure lots of people probably don't.....

[Surferdude]

Still  Sorry..

Our smart meter is still read electronically by a guy from Aurora who comes around every 3 months... 

LOL not so smart.

They just have to be smart enough to measure both what we use and what we generate so the company can pay us a rebate for our solar power.   

[eye30]

I always look for the indicator flash, but then I'm sure lots of people probably don't.....

In addition to lights flashing my door locks make a thud noise when doors locking so i hear as well as see.....

[Surferdude]

I always look for the indicator flash, but then I'm sure lots of people probably don't.....

In addition to lights flashing my door locks make a thud noise when doors locking so i hear as well as see.....

Exactly.

[The Gonz]

Back to exploring sources of interference, with the popularity and abundance of WIFI, it's worth downloading an app such as WIGLE to use on your mobile phone as a scanner and gather a picture both in spectrum and geography of the location in question.

http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.wigle.wigleandroid&hl=en
WiFi-Where | Three Jacks Software

[Lorian]

Really to track down this issue you need something like this

Cheap-N-Easy 433MHz Sniffer - January 2011 - Silicon Chip Online

probably find something pre-built if you hunt hard enough

[The Gonz]

I love thumbing through Silicon Chip. I used to build a lot of the kits in Electronics Today International and Electronics Australia, its predecessors.