Was on email with Tim of Scotland who told me of this strange happening.

In his absence, his father has been taking care of his beloved RRS. Apparently when his father took the car out for a run the other day he could not get the remote-control locking to work. Tim has had similar experiences during this time of the year with his previous RRs.

During this festive season, many people (in the UK in particular) will hang strings of LED lights in the shapes of Santa, snowmen etc. outside their homes. Now, these lights have very little or practically nil electric sheilding and this can cause interference with the remote control.

Sometimes when you try to lock the car with the remote in the vicinity of these lights, the signal is blocked or disturbed. This in turn makes the car think there's a mislock and it will tell you by hooting the horn!!

This can be a pain as during such times the only way to lock/unlock the car will be to actually put the key in the car - and in the dark there's the risk of scratching the paintwork!

I don't remember any posts regarding this. Has anybody out there had similar experiences? Malaysia Boleh!
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I am sure there is a valid logic behind this theory, but it seems strange that some Christmas lights would interfere with the remote's signal to the point of blocking it entirely. I have parked my car next to tons of blinking Xmas led decorations recently (you should see what they do to some homes here in Southern California!) and I have not had any problem operating the remote. Perhaps the remotes in the UK use a different frequency that's more prone to interference. Still, it seems odd.

Could it be that the remote used by Tim's father just happened to be low on battery? If he had the spare key, rather than the one Tim uses regularly, it is conceivable the batteries may have drained due to non-use (don't the batteries in these remotes recharge while the key is in the ignition?) 

Many thanks Umberto.

Tim believes you may be right on the frequencies used. It seems the immobilisers fitted in some UK cars are badly affected by the ground radar used at the Air Force bases. If you're in the vicinity of these air bases and don't stop and take the key out you don't have a problem.

But if you stop, for example at a pertol station to fill up, and this happens to be near one of the radar transmitters, and if you switched off and took the key out of the ignition, then when you try to restart later the interference will not allow the immobiliser to de-activate. You may have to tow or push the car away some distance from the transmitter in order for it to restart! Crazy eh?

As you correctly mentioned, the key, once in the ignition, will recharge itself. So there is no question of flat batteries causing this trouble. Sometimes its not the immobiliser that's the problem but the powered locks simply will not activate and the horn will sound to tell you of a mislock and this sound will in turn upset the neighbours!!!

We may need to hear some feedback from our friends in the UK, who I believe may not be in a position to respond till the festivities are over!  Malaysia Boleh!
4.2SC Chawton White, Stormers
Tasmod's Sills, Wind Deflectors, LR Sills
Clear Side Repeaters, Towbar
Larini Sports Exhaust, K&N Air Filter
______________________________
WINNER - 2008 'Tech-Head Of The Year' Award
WINNER - 2009 Outstanding Contribution
WINNER - 2009 'Tech-Head Of The Year' Award