Some years ago, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson was dealt a healthy dose of paranoia when he tested out a Mercedes with keyless entry. The car would lock and unlock automatically if you had the fob in your pocket. The trouble was, Clarkson never knew if the car was actually locked. If he went back to check it, the door just opened again.
Nathan Seidle of Sparkfun electronics decided he needed the same level of niggling worry in his life and rolled his own car-opener with a Nike+ dongle and receiver, an Arduino board, a Nike+iPod Serial to USB Adapter and some creative sabotage.
With a little plugging, soldering and very simple programming, Nate has himself a widget in the cart which constantly beeps out a signal, fishing for an in-range Nike+. When it hears one reply, it decodes its unique ID and if the “key” fits, the car opens. But Nate, like Clarkson, had a problem:
While testing I found the range of the transmitter (the footpod) was really pretty impressive at 50+ feet. This was cool, but I didn’t want my car to be unlocking/lock while walking around my house or office.
The answer? A Tin-Foil hat. A few wrappings of aluminum foil and the range was halved. The car itself ignores the iFob while the engine is running, so it can’t switch off on the road, and Nate has finally rid himself of his final mechanical key. We just wonder what he’s going to use to scratch up any cars that steal his parking space.
iFOBing A Mazda [Sparkfun via Lifehacker]
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