dfroelicher

I have just picked up a really cool book.

It is called RFID Toys (stands for Radio Frequency Identification) and is published by Extreme Tech, they have various projects for the home tinkerer(?) one is access to your vehicle with no keys or keyfob push button.

It uses the same technology as the tags in a supermarket or deparment store, a little passive access card that has a unique ID imprinted into it. It interfaces with the automatic locks currently in your vehicle or shows you how to install an accuator system, gives a list of all the parts you will need, where to buy them from and how to put them all together.

However, I think it could do one better. Start your car and unlock your door at the same time, granted you would have to have the starter system allready installed.

My question is what is the best priced system with the least amount of hassle to install in the 928, does anyone have any experience dealing with these and what are your thoughts.

I would love to do this myself but could use the advice with purchasing the systems, or if you don't think they are needed, meaning that the device could interface into the current setup.

Also I have an 83 S US Spec with no alarm system or current keyless entry other than the central locking system.

BeerFish

I dont have the answers for you but I have to admit, Im very interested in your project!

dfroelicher

I will definetly be posting pictures

SharkSkin

I wouldn't want an auto-start mechanism on a 5 speed. Also, how unique are the tags, really? Wouldn't it be ironic for some kid to walk out of the store with a copy of "Grand Theft Auto" and have the RFID tag on the game start your car?

Anyway, is your locking system electrical or vacuum actuated? If the former, I think there is some reference to converting to electrical in the archives. Also, consider what happens if you go to work, leave your lights on, and come out to a dead battery... you may have your AAA card, but if the key is at home...

BeerFish

I built an ignition "switch" for my alarm on my 5-speed BMW to remotely start it with the third remote button. You just have to remember to only use the parking break. Although it was pretty funny scaring people with a car that was driver-less and lurching forward at them!!

Alan

I would not a do an auto start on a manual car. Ouch can you imagine! Not sure I really see the point even on an AT, lots of time I walk up to or past my car when i don't want it to start.... Auto lock/unlock also to me seems unnecessary if instead you could just do Keyless Entry which is nice.

The Cayenne board had lots of posts early on on how the Cayenne system to do this was malfunctioning (or maybe it was the owners). Problematic to debug I think too...

Alan

goldknight

Installing a Auto start in a 928 is not harder then any of the 5 to 10 other cars or trucks i do a month.

A basic auto start (no alarm) will run 75 to 100 dollars for the unit. Nicer ones with 2 way FM transmiting and recieving lcd remotes will be up in the 180 range. I get 125 to 200 dollars to install them.

For the love of ( insert your fav workd here) dont do it to a manual car.
Alos check you local laws. Here in the city of Tacoma they passed a law saying that leaving your car running while your not in it is a no no. come back to your car to find a ticket on the windshield.

hacker-pschorr

Mercedes, BMW and others already have a system where the car will unlock when you get close enough. To start the car, just push a button, as long as the key is in your pocket.

The auto start when I get close could get annoying - whoops, forgot my sunglasses, car started again. Walk out into my garage to grab something with my keys in my pocket - 928 fires up. Forgot to take it out of gear, new garage door.

Imo000

All my cars are manual and this is the only reason I don’t have remote starters in them. You can buy a kit for it, but the system will never know if you left the car in gear or not. I called the remote starter manufacturer to confirm this. Their sales pitch was “ There is a procedure you have to go through every time you shut the car off” this is when I asked them if the system ever knows what gear the car is in and the answer was NO. Automatics are different cause they have a neutral gear switch built into the transmission and the remote starter system utilizes this witch to assure the car is not in gear. Unfortunately manual transmission cars don’t have this. I’ve knows a guy that installed a starter like this on his motorcycle. He wanted to show off a little in front of others but forgot to take the bike out of gear before parking it. As soon as he pushed the start button the bike lurched forward, coming off the kick stand and what happened next is pretty obvious. Now imagine this but with a car. The car can and will drive off if started in gear. The only thing will stop it is another object. I’m pretty sure garage doors or even pedestrians are no match to a runaway car.

I like turning the ignition key in my 928 and hearing the engine roar to life. It’s a minor, but important, part of my driving enjoyment.

dfroelicher

Well there are different types of tags, the system used by stores is the simplest and most easiest to implement, therefore most widely spread, the tag has a simple on/off function and the "scanners" at the doorways look for a tag that has not been turned off to pass through their field of "vision".

The system in question for the starter acualy needs two cards on the system, one card is a master card and allows the scanner unit to be programed with new access cards, the other access cards are then registered with the reader and allowed to activate the systems relay.

These cards are extremely cheap and can actually be reprogramed with a new ID of your chosing, it could be like your PIN number for your bank card or a pass phrase like your e-mail or computer login, or any random set of jiberish. You do not have to remember it as it is stored on the card and does not reqiure you to remember anything.

As for the actuation system I am unsure and that will be part of the investigation into the plausibility of the whole project. No matter how the lock is actuated the final product is an electrical connection. The relay unit in the RFID device has the ability to power a device through itself and could just be hooked up to the physical connection on the lock motor.

If this is implimented and you do leave your lights on you still need your keys to unlock the steering column just as is with a regular remote starter system, so no wories there. There is also available a keyfob that goes onto your keychain and when you got within the required distance activate the locks and starts the car. You could in theroy leave your red valet key in the ignition and use the original key to lock the doors when you got out and access the trunk.

The good news is that this system draws less than 200mA from the car and could be powered off a 9v battery, just put the battery leads somewhere you could to get to easily. It is actually suggested from the manufactuer of the kit that a batt is all you will need. The unit itself is rellatively small and could be hidden anywhere within the car.

dfroelicher

With some of the readers you have to be within a very close proximity to the antenna that is mounted in the car. Maybe 2-3 inches at most and in some cases as close as 1/4" to the antenna unit, also according to the book the antenna has to be put in a windshield do to the ultra low frequency of the system (125 khz, sub-radio waves). I would like to see if this is still true with the aluminum doors of the 928, the book says that it will not go through metal or liquid well but could go through a composite or fiberglass easily.

DANdeMAN

I find a remote starter as useless/wastfull as watering the lan.
Well maybe @ -20c .... The manual says; (paraphrase)"start the car and go", no mention of warm-up.

dfroelicher

Unfortuneatly the system can only unlock your car, you would still be required to lock it when you got out.

DANdeMAN

Addendum : If one wants to be warm, one can get a seat warmer, its faster and warmer to...

dfroelicher

Just a toy for guys, nothing else. Would be cool though to be at a show and pretend to be a "tourist", walk up to car and look through the window as the car starts and everyone else jumps back.