Remote Car Starter Safety

I'm looking at installing a remote car starter in my car however the car has a manual transmission. I've looked at one of products readily available that has an option for a manual transmission but the process they use is absolutely awful to try to remember everytime you get out of the car. I'm thinking of using an automatic version, which is cheaper by the way, and install my own safety which will function better than the one that can be purchased. The way I do it it is almost impossible to have the car in gear and use the remote starter unless your stupid and put the car back in gear after you've shut the engine off. He's my sequence, if anyone see's anything I'm missing let me know:

1. Ensure engine is running by looking at the tachometer lead to a pulse presence.

2. Apply the parking brake is applied with the engine still running, again check to the tachometer pulse.

3. With the engine running and the parking brake on verify that the clutch switch is open, (pedal not pressed). This will verify the car has to be in neutral because the clutch is disengaged and the car is stationary, otherwise the car would be in moving.

4. If all these parameters are met then set a flag to allow the remote starter to bypass the clutch switch and start the car.

By habit I always leave my car in low gear. On a hill especially it puts less strain on the parking brake, and should it fail the car would probably not move.

Would it not be better for a manual transmission autostart if...

1. You press the Start Button
2. It checks you've the Parking Brake applied
3. Car starts when clutch is depressed within five seconds of Start Button being pressed otherwise you have to press Start again?

Hi,

Remote Car Starter = Cold weather

When parking in freezing weather, avoid using the parking brake.
When there is some amount of water in the cable housing or in the mechanism,
the parking brake may freeze.

See this link:
http://www.webasto.com/products/en/3115_3422.html.


Best regards,

Luciano

OK now that's something i know. I'd installed remote starter for more than 12 years..

Usually, there's 2 type of manual remote starter.

1. One that need a special sequence to enable the remote starter
2. one that have optical or magnetic sensor on the shifter + hand brake to enable the remote starter.

The second one is unavailable and obsolete since few years now here in Canada. This is due to the Possible cause of bad installation due to some lazy and/or stupid installer that don't care about people security because they're pay anyways. BUT, even if your the best installer in the world, if you send your car to the garage for a transmission problem, there's few/many chance that the poor mechanician can move/destroy those sensors. If you're lucky, nothing will work... worst case, even if you're in gear BUT park drive, you'll be able to start the car with your remote. Those who think that even if you apply the hand brake, the car will never move or not much... you can be surprise. I saw many times people hit by a remote started car in the past.

For those who need sequences... it's not so hard to remember depending of what model you have. Those i know ...

Type 1 : Brand ==> AutoStart, PolarStart, ArticStart(some), ProStart(canadianTire)
The sequence to enable the remote starter is:

1. While the car is running, place the shifter to Neutral, apply handBrake
2. Releas all pedal (clutch, break)
3. Press on any button of your remote. wait untill the dash light stay on
4. remove your key from the ignition switch.. the car will continue to run
5. get out of the car
6. close the door... the car is still running
7. stop the engine with you remote

if the above is not done correctly, the car will never start with the remote.

type 2 : Now more popular because easier to remember.. Brand : CompuStar, DirektStart, PowerStart....
The sequence to enable the remote starter is:

1. while the car is running, place the shifter to neutral
2. release all pedal(brake, clutch)
3. apply the handbrake, wait untill dash light stay solid
4. remove the key from the ignition switch... the engine will continue to run
5. get out of the car
6. close the door... the engine will stop
7. end

For both model, if somebody open one door or open the hood, this will disable the remote start for more safety. BUT if any of your door pinswitch work erratic, this can cause some problem if somebody open the door...

Anyways, If i can suggest a reaaaaaaalllllly good remote starter brand, have a look to CompuStar. They test all of their product in alaska. I install this brand for more than 5 years now. They are really great and trustable
more info : http://www.compustar.com/

Of course i have those installed on all my cars. I really like the 2W900FM-AS 2 way remote starter+alarm.

If you need any info on how install your remote starter on your car, let me know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Luciano

Remote Car Starter = Cold weather

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I can't really agree 100% with you. Few people i know install remote starter in California, Liban and some other places like that. We can use remote starter to heat or cool the car (if you have the A/C). Just my 2 cents. But you mostely have reason. Remote starter are more popular in place where you have winter or cold temperature.

Now if you plan to do your own safety 'switch' you can use the Type 1 or 2. If you want the type 2, your remote starter must have a trigger input to let the car running when you apply the handbrake.

For all my cars (not my customer), i did, and still do, use a magnetice (but good quality) magnetic switch. I stick 1 or 2 (depending) magnet safely on the shifter(or moving part attach to). After that i place the switch(s) correctly to sense the neutral position. If you have a Nissan... you don't need anything because there's already a factory neutral switch you can connect to...

Anyways... Your neutral switch will be connected in serie with the handbrake signal. When you're on neutral and handbrake is apply, this will provide a negative signal wich can be used in different way. Depending of your car, some clutch switch need a negative signal (some honda, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota...) You take this wire and connect directly to the clutch switch. That's one way.

Another way, use this signal, send it to a Bosch relay on one side of a normal open contact, the other side on the clutch switch. The relay coil will be supply by the Ignition signal (Or Starter) and the "Ground out when running" of your remote starter. So when you'll start the car, the relay will send your negative signal to the clutch switch and start your car.

many different ways...

HTH

P.S.: Keep in mind that this is not approve by any insurance company. If there's any problem/injury caused by your car starter, your insurance can check what it is install. If they see that your remote starter is a Automatic' one, you'll be in big trouble EVEN if you show/say you install a 'Home made neutral safety.

Assuming your neutral switch is short but you applied the handbrake... you'll be amazed how the start will move anyway. I already test/show it before. Be Reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaallllly carefull. A good quality magnetic contact will be much than 20$ CAN... about the same price difference between a manual and a automatic remote starter. The beauty of those Compustar i suggested before is that they do both... manual /automatic on the same model. You just need to cut a jumper in the module for a automatic transmission.

Hi,

(About Car Starter in general).

My car has a "car immobilizer". (Factory default).
Embedded in the car key there is a transponder.
When I insert the car key in the ignition (just insert)
a microswitch activates the control circuit of
the car immobilizer. Very close to the ingition key
(on the dashboard) there is a coil. When you insert the key
the control circuit will supply this coil with AC so that
the coil will produce a magnetic field. Embedded in the plastic
of the car key there is a second coil. This second coil
picks up the magnetic energy of the first coil and produces
a current that is first rectified and then used to supply
the electronic of the transponder also embedded in the key.
When there is enough energy stored in the key, the transponder
sends its unique code (each key as a different code). The
code is received by the immobilizer control circuit and stored.
When you turn the ignition key, the code stored in immobilizer
control circuit is sent to the engine control unit of the car.
Inside the ECU, the received code is compared with the codes of
all the keys of the car. If there is a match, the engine starts.


Luciano

Yup, most car have this 'anti-theft' system now. In canada, those i know and remember

1. Kia : some model like Sorrento truck
2. Hyundai : some model like Santa Fe truck
3. Honda : all
4. Volkswagen : all
5. Volvo : all
6. Ford : many
7. Mercedes : of course
8. GM : many model and many diferent anti-theft model/term (Passlock I, Passlock II, Paskey, passkey III, .. ,... )
9. Toyots : some model
10. Nissan
11. chrysler: most
12. and some other i forget.

For almost car model, you can find now some bypass module. Some need a key to be left in the module, some other are directly connected to the ignition transponder module. some need to be stick close to the ignition.. there's so many different way and model... could be long if i say evrything here... many many pages can be written about that....

In addition with the transponder key, many car will have some factory alarm to bypass prior to start the car.

BTW, tell us the car model and year and i'll probably able to provide some pointers.

The car is a 93 Acura Integra. I've already installed it and it works fine other than I want to have a rock solid safety check on it. I was also thinking about monitoring the VSS line for a pulse and shut the unit down if one is detected meaning the car moved.

Hi,
Just a note that under UK Law (construction and use regulations), it is illegal to have the engine of a car running if the driver is not in the car. The only exception to this is were the engine must run to power some auxillary work device such as a compressor on a recovery truck.
This law also affects the engine stop timers that some people fit to turbocharged cars to let the engine cool at idle. As has deen pointed out, by others, your insurance company may take a very dim view of such a device. And we all know that they will use any excuse not to pay out!

Robert G8RPI.