mad-as wrote:
Hi Chasman, just for interest i have heard off this RF interference issues being caused by other electronic gadgets , eg weather stations and wireless security window locks etc. the problem seems to be when the battery's go flat and the units send out a low battery signal , it's these signals that interfere with cars
From many years of experience of tracing these sources, you are absolutely correct. Most things just stop working when a battery goes flat but Murphy's Law says that a device that has been designed to operate every 15 or 30 minutes, or only on a change of state, operate all the time. Ones that I found over the years were window sensors on burglar alarms (which also get offended when a spider takes up residence inside), oil tank level gauges and weather stations. Then there are inadvertent sources, remote controls jammed down the side of a sofa with a button pressed in, kids toys left switched on, wireless doorbells with the button stuck in and so on.
Wi-Fi and radio transmitter sites can cause a problem but not a battery drain, just a fob that won't work. When a radio receiver, no matter what type, is near to a high powered RF source, it suffers desensitisation so can no longer detect the wanted signal. Think of it like trying to listen to someone talking to you when you've got a lot of loud noise around you. This is when you get the situation where you park somewhere and can't lock or unlock the car with the remote. Putting the remote next to the receive aerial on the window will usually work as it is the R|F equivalent to shouting in someone's ear.
Peterborough, Cambs
- '93 Range Rover Classic 4.2 LSE, sold
- '97 Range Rover 4.0SE, in Oxford Blue with a sort of grey/blue leather interior sold as two is plenty.....
- '96 4.6HSE Ascot - now sold
- '98 4.0SE in Rioja Red
'98 Ex-Greater Manchester Police motorway patrol car, Range Rover P38 4.0, in Chawton white - the everyday car
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