bmw remote door locks

Why not leave the ignition switched on whilst you charge the battery overnight in your garage?

How old is the car/key?

I doubt if BMW use induction charging so there must be a way of changing the batteries or even charging from outside the car. If this is the oblong thing that goes in a slot and you have to press the START/STOP button I'll have a look when I get my new car on Wednesday.

This is interesting for me as my wife, who never drives it, will have the same problem. And what if I am the only person to use the car and I keep the spare key in a drawer in the kitchen? Will that become unusable?

I think BMW have thought of this and the dealer is fobbing you of with a load of crap.....................

You probably have a dodgy unit - how old is the car? If still under warranty the key is still part of the car so tell them to get it sorted.

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Sorry - forgot to mention.

The radio waves associated with wireless networking do interfere with the switching signals from many car keys and alarm systems. My E38 had the alarm going off at odd intervals and I asked my neighbour if he had wi-Fi and when it was confirmed I asked him to move the router/switch and since then no problems. When they installed Wi-Fi at work a similar thing happened to several of the cars so the company re-routed the aerials - little problems now and then.

There is also a thing going around here in the UK with remote controlled door bell transmitters. Wireless door bells where the button is simply stuck to the door frame and the bell unit is inside somewhere where its easy to hear. Central locking signals can be interrupted if one of these buttons is operated at the same time you are locking and/or unlocking your car.

Why --------- You think you locked it and walk away --- thief jumps in and ransacks the stuff you left or releases the brakes and its towed or lifted away... Bye Bye $1000 wheels etc.

Caution!

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Am I completely clueless or what? The car has a lock on the outside that the key fits into. Simply insert the key and give it a twist, then remove the key and insert it into the ignition and go for a drive. What's the big deal?

Not as easy as that on the new cars I'm afraid Jeff.

Next time you are near a BMW dealer or see one on a sales pitch have a look.

The "KEY" is an electronic transmitter coded to the car and nothing on it looks anything like a KEY in the usual sense of the word or usage.

This is pushed into a slot - similar to a Compact Flash card - the unit has 3 buttons as the older keys did - LOCK, UNLOCK & OPEN TRUNK/BOOT.

Inside it there is an emergency key to unlock the door (people forget about this). There is also a similar unit - non electronic - that holds the plastic REAL emergency key that has the transponder embedded in it. This is real emergency stuff.

The usual thing that folk do is to put the plastic key in their wallet or hide it somewhere and put the holder in the glove box etc. Emergency happens and your wife/girlfriend goes off with the key. you take the plastic key from your person (hiding place) and open the door. Grovel around in all the crap you forgot to clear out the glove box and find the carrier. Insert the plastic key in the holder - put the complete holder in slot put foot on brake pedal and press "engine start/stop" button.

See simple as skydiving without a parachute!

Hugh

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

Not sure of what you mean by a "carrier" for the plastic emergency keys as I have 3 of them (E46, Z4 and R1200RT) but no carriers. They remain in my wallet and work all their respective locks with no problems. Is this "carrier" a UK thing?

Tom K.

The manual says to use the "other" key occasionally on a long trip to keep it charged.

I had to laugh. (sorry). I've found that response is BMW's standard answer for just about anything that goes wrong with their cars when they don't know how to fix it.

"It's meant to be driven", they say. LOL

RCE

Might be different on the 7 series but no KEY. Imagine the KEY without the blade, An oblong unit with 3 buttons on. It fits in a slot about 1 1/8" x 1/4" where it is charged and initilizes the car's computers. To start or stop the engine you have to put your foot on the brake and pres a very large button about

I can email you a picture or better still go to the BMW site and look at the 7 series E65.

I think the 5 series still has the "key"

Sir Hugh of Bognor

The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!

Hugh Gundersen snipped-for-privacy@h-gee.co.uk Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK

As interesting as that is, the OP asked about an E46, 330 convertible. The E46 has a traditional key with a lock set built into the door.

Persackly. I switch my daily use key with the spare key every six months or so, and I've never had a problem.

My point exactly.

Tom K.

If you look on the back of the key, the frequency that it uses is listed. mine says 315MHz.

Wireless networking uses 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. Wireless networking frequencies are so far removed from the frequency the key uses that there should be no interference.

However, you mention interference with your alarm. That's an entirely different situation. The alarms work by setting up a radio field in and around the car, and then listen to see if that radio field is disturbed. The frequency for the radio field is "microwave" or to be more precise, right smack in the middle of the wireless networking frequencies.

So what am I saying here? The alarm is likely to have issues with a wireless network in the area. However, the remote key uses an entirely different part of the radio spectrum, and should not have issues with wireless networking.

What you mention about the wireless doorbell trnasmitters can happen. It is quite possible for one of those transmitters to "drown out" the signal your key is sending to the car. That is one reason why I always listen for the sound of the doors locking when I press the lock button. (btw, I strongly dislike cars that beep the horn when locked remotely, that is way too loud).

Doesn't the, um, business part of the key fold out of the fob, like a pocket knife blade? I saw that on my friend's BMW fob (2006 3-series).

I have a wireless network at my house which operates in the 2.4 GHZ band. It has never bothered the operation of my wireless remote for my E46 sedan. It is certainly possible for a very strong signal to overpower almost any receiver, but none of these devices send such a signal. Jim

...and unsubscribe from this group?

ahahahahahaha!

No way he'd leave now - this group is too entertaining ;-)

/daytripper '00 s4 6spd

Besides, we talk about all the old bimmers way more than the new ones. Maybe we should change the newsgroup name to a.a.o.b to be more specific?

Why spoil a good joke for the sake of the truth?