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Cannot lock FOB inside car

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by prius04, Sep 3, 2004.

  1. prius04

    prius04 New Member

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    I found out by accident that you can't leave the FOB anywhere in the car even if you want to.

    This is for the SE/SS.

    If you try to, you get the same alarm as when you try to lock the car with a door open.



    So far I have 221 miles on my very first tank of gas and my average MPG is 54. Today is my 5th day of ownership.
     
    #1 prius04, Sep 3, 2004
  2. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    If, for some reason, you WANT to lock the fob in the car put it in an Altoid's can or wrap it in Aluminum foil. It will block the signal so that you can leave it in the car.

    Somebody here knows a fancy name to call that box, but I can't remember.
     
    #2 efusco, Sep 3, 2004
  3. prius04

    prius04 New Member

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    Thanks.
     
    #3 prius04, Sep 3, 2004
  4. gwilliams

    gwilliams New Member

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    In RF-speak, I think you're describing a "Faraday cage", a device to shield electromagnetic radiation (e.g. RF)...

    G.
     
    #4 gwilliams, Sep 3, 2004
  5. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

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    Faraday cage? You car is a Faraday cage too that is why you don't die when lightning strikes nearby :) So, theoretically, if you put your fob in another car parked very close by, you still won't be able to unlock the door with SE. Would be a fun experiment.
     
    #5 bruceha_2000, Sep 3, 2004
  6. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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    Yup, that's it...but b/c I don't know anything about Faraday I'll never be able to remember that....But thanks! :?
     
    #6 efusco, Sep 3, 2004
  7. gwilliams

    gwilliams New Member

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    True, but it is kinda hard to get your car inside a Prius. :lol: :lolup: :lol: :lolup: :lol:
     
    #7 gwilliams, Sep 3, 2004
  8. canuckican

    canuckican New Member

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    Actually, no...

    Your car is NOT a Faraday cage. If it were, you would not be able to call out of it from a cell phone or listen to a portable walkman-type radio while within it. A Faraday cage stops all forms of electromagnetic radiation (which the cell phone signals and radio waves are). Your car is more like the Altoids box with the lid left off... the metal body acts like a cage, but the big oil' windows let the EM right through. A Faraday cage must COMPLETELY surround the object to be shielded with a conductor. A solid metal wall will work or a mesh with a mesh size smaller than the wavelength of radiation you're trying to block. Screen window type mesh works fine for radio waves.

    The reason you are (more or less) safe in your car during lightning activity is that the rubber tires act as an insulator under the metal body and deny the lightning a path to ground. I would note though, that I would not bet my life on this fact as 1) personally I believe that lightning packs enough voltage to burn/melt right though your tires or 2) if the lightning has just arced several kilometers down from a thunderhead, through the sky to your car, do you think it couldn't arc the remaining 6 inches to the ground after passing through your car?

    Something to think about...
     
    #8 canuckican, Sep 3, 2004
  9. daniel

    daniel Cat Lovers Against the Bomb

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    Evan - If you can remember the Latin names for all those body parts and illnesses and stuff, you could remember Faraday, if you wanted to.

    If worse came to worse, maybe you could just forget the name of some obscure bone somewhere to make room for the extra word. :D
     
    #9 daniel, Sep 3, 2004
  10. prius04

    prius04 New Member

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    Actually, the rubber tires have NOTHING to do with safety in being inside a car during a thunderstorm.

    Electricity takes the route of least resistance and that least resistance is along the outside of your car to the ground. Lightning simply has no reason nor desire to go THROUGH the car. And THAT is the principle of the Faraday cage when it comes to lightning.

    So don't have your hand on the outside of the car during a T storm because electricity kind of likes the conduction of human tissue.

    The amount of electricity in lightning is not going to be slowed down by pittling rubber tires. So once the bolt reaches the car, it is going to the ground along the path of least resistance and when it reaches the rubber tires, it is not going to say oops and turn around.

    Plus, in almost every instance of lightning it is raining and we all know what a good conducter of electricity water is.

    Again, a car does offer some protection during a T storm, but attributing it to the rubber tires is a myth that just seems to never go away. It's the metal cage that you are in.

    The Museum of Science in Boston has a giant Faraday cage on a stage where the guy does experiments from inside it as edutainment.
     
    #10 prius04, Sep 3, 2004
  11. HTMLSpinnr

    HTMLSpinnr Super Moderator
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    FYI - if you *do* want to lock your FOB in the car, use the valet disable, then close the door. It *does* work (I locked Jennifer's fob into her car that way when I borrowed hers, then left the car on the street for her to pickup a week before I got my car - wow, 11 months ago!).
     
    #11 HTMLSpinnr, Sep 3, 2004
  12. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    C'mon, Evan, the Faraday device traps signals inside a volume in much the same way that the Foramen Spinosum allows the branches of the Superficial Temperal Artery into the skull. See? It's just a simple mnemonic. :)
     
    #12 TonyPSchaefer, Sep 4, 2004
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