Agree but noticed during a recent trip to Samās club that they are now selling key fobs too. YMMV by location but wanted to throw this out there.
I have mostly owned GM cars the past decade but wanted to point out that some vehicles have settings buried in the vehicle settings to auto lock the doors after a short period of time. There is a setting to blink the lights or horn to confirm they locked. I have had mine set that way on a 2012, 2018, and 2021 models. Buddy has a BMW and that had the option too. I have gotten so used to not having to lock the doors I never remember to on rental vehicles.
@markbellkosel84 automated the start of his vehicle using a spare remote:
We keep our keys on the counter near the coffee pot. When I put the dogs out for the last time and make coffee for the morning, I just hit the locks on the cars from inside the house. It's just part of the routine. My fobs can both reach the car between 200' and 700' .
The other part f this is don't keep stuff in your car you wouldn't want stolen. Neighborhood I used to live in this one lady was freaking out because her husband gun was stolen out of his unlocked truck.. double whammy. Don't leave your gun in the truck in the first place.
back to the original topic though, isn't using the fobs in some way that is aggressive (involves soldering) kind of an expensive proposition? Last time I checked those weren't exactly on the cheap side. its one thing if you are tinkering with a $25 dollar sensor or switch. It's something else when you are tinkering with a $300- $500 part. Can someone enlighten me? have these things come down and I just haven't noticed? Even at half the price, that still an expensive proposition for an experiment.
The fob for my 2010 Nissan can be bought online for $54 CAD which is about the same amount i oay in Canada for a motion sensor, light switch etc so its really no different.
I don't leave anything valubale in the vehicle but there are everyday items left in there like sunglasses, digital tire pressure sensor, emergency tools and supplies that are a real inconvenience when taken and have to be replaced.
Unfortunately my fob doesn't reach from inside the house, I have to be leaning out the front door for it to work.
As you can see, all reasons why I'm working on this automation.
Also a good point! Let me try that, that could be my plan B if soldering doesnt pan out as i would prefer the reliability and soldering to a relay and one less battery to replace in the house (on a switchbot).
Oh yeah, that's definitely much more reasonable than what I was thinking. if its in the same ball park as a sensor to me that's a bit more reasonable. Strat going north of $100 that's a bit of a different story.
I used to volunteer with the police department Citizens patrol, that side of me still comes out. I didn't mean to be rude, please accept my apologies if i was. People would complain about stuff being stolen out of their cars, but leave it in the cars with the doors unlocked, then wonder why? It would be nice to be able to leave your car in the drive way and not have to worry about it, but that doesn't really seem to be an option anymore.
I would now 100% do this with a SwitchBot Bot and this fully local integration. I've programmed two D1 Mini ESP32 boards now for full local control/input from SwitchBot devices. Once you get drivers etc needed for the first Arduino sketch, additional ESP32 boards are just plug-in and flash in about 5 min. Boards are cheap. $15 CAD from Amazon for me, but I know you can get them for less.
Rock solid performance, but you do need to be running HA and an MQTT broker. But y'all know my opinions on this. If you're not running HA and these two integrations (HA -> HE & HE-> HA) to tie it to your HE hub, you're missing out on a heck of a lot more than just fully local SwitchBot devices.
For us, this is no longer a want or need. Our new car is electric and fully connected. I can start the heating or cooling before I get into the car if I want, with or without the fob. Just need the vehicle to arrive. It's probably somewhere on the Pacific ocean right now.
Nice - Congrats! Which one are you getting? I have been enjoying my Nissan Leaf for 1 year now. I donāt plan to ever buy an Internal Combustion Engin (ICE) vehicle again unless I donāt have any other choiceā¦
Yeah we're in a good place for this with BC being 93% hydro-electric. I will give the oil companies as little money as possible going forward. We've ordered a Hyundai Ioniq 5 Long Range. Left the factory on July 7, so delivery is imminent.
Nice! Iām sure you just canāt wait for it to arrive. I use to really hate driving. Since I got the Leaf, I love drivingā¦ I also really like paying 1/8th of the price for āfuelā when charging from home!!! Itās a bit more when travelling, but not as much as gas!
I installed a the ChargePoint in my garage. The price was right on Amazon.ca, shipping was quick and installation was pretty seamless.
