Turn A Nike+ Sensor Into A Keyless Car Entry System
Pressing the button on your key fob to unlock your car is so last millennium. This nifty modification will have your car unlocking itself as you walk up to it.
The modification is built by chaining together several components, all of them relatively inexpensive. The iPod dongle and Nike+ shoe sensor are the great communicators in the arrangement. The iPod dongle is attached to a special serial board that can translate the signal from the dongle. All of that in turn is hooked into an Arduino board, the tiny open-source hardware hub loved by electronics tinkerers.
Once tested and packaged up, the whole affair is hooked up to the wires controlling the locking and unlocking of your car doors. When you get close to the car with the Nike+ sensor in your pocket, your car door unlocks. Of course, you’ll still need to have the actual key for the ignition, but you get a pile of geek street cred if you turn yours into a proximity-based ignition system.
For more information and photos, as well as a dose of caution about diving into the electronic innards of your car, check out the link below. No way you’re playing a round of splice-o-matic with your electrical system? Fair enough—check out our top 10 car hacks, where the only razor you’ll be using is for getting stubborn bugs off your wind shield.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Shoes are harder to hid then keys aren't they?
Diablo1123
So, what happens as you walk AWAY from the car?
Meetloaf13
Yeah, I do a lot of things DIY but car security I'll leave to the pros.
This can be done much easier. Install remote start/keyless entry system. Remove/unplug keyswitch from dash. Bypass steering wheel/shifter lock mechanisms.
Presto! One button on remote locks/unlocks car, another button starts it, and you drive away without any keys at all.
I can see it now. "Honey, I misplaced my shoes. Have you seen them?"
I park my car right outside the buildings door. If I do this I'm going to have to relock the car each time I want to go out leaving the car (which is most of the time lately).
It's a nice idea, but not really practical.
Amarus
@gmerin: But they say you don't need car keys... maybe not to unlock the car - but to start it, you will.
@PhillySaxon:
from the actual Gizmodo article: "A few years back we posted a tutorial on how to use the Nike+iPod for active RF identification. The Nike footpod transmits a unique ID every time it is used. I would much rather have a small footpod in my pocket than my full car keys. So how can I get a Nike footpod to unlock my car? It was actually not too hard:"
gmerin
Hmmm, no tnx. I will not try this :)
didytz
I like the idea, but wouldn't it mean anybody who walks past your car wearing Nike+ shoes would accidentally unlock it?
The problem arise when you try to lock your car.
"leave the nike+ sensor far from the car, lock the door, get the sensor"
All in all, great hack, but sucks if you don't have a wireless door unlocker, since re-locking will be such a hassle.
And if you have one, you don't really need it do you? Okay, okay, I agree it's cool.
There's this neat trick you can do to get answers to a lot of your questions, called "read the actual article that this post links to."
To summarize, the guy had these questions to, and answered them by adjusting his setup to the particular car and making changes to the hardware.
It seems that more and more, Lifehacker readers expect everything to be a three step universal how-to. DIY isn't paint-by-numbers, folks. You might actually have to think. =-)
Grungydan
@undefined: I don't follow your reasoning. The Nike unit is hacked, and with your own keyfob. When you unlock your car, you don't unlock the other cars nearby do you?
@chiieddy: Yeah, maybe there will be a lock zone. Far enough away that the normal keyless entry can still lock it. Not so close that the damn Nike thing then decides to unlock the damn doors again.
citizensmith
@Meetloaf13: That'd be the better question. After a few feet away, will you hear the 'click' of the car unlocking as the sensor realizes you're only a few feet away?
If you're in the habit of locking your car as you drive through bad sections, will your shoe keep unlocking it and make you more susceptible to carjackers?
Xander
@OMG! DMAN!: "Of course, you'll still need to have the actual key for the ignition..."
Already had you covered :)
Pixelologist
How do you lock it?
@jkrell: I had the same question.
jc364
Won't the car unlock after you park and lock it, then start to walk away?
jkrell
too much work
atomicrabbit
@Jamezor: So the buttonless proximity system that you've hacked up, will only work by pressing a button when you're close enough to just use your key anyways??
@Don't take anything aaron8301 says seriously: that's not exactly "easier" to install, but it's much cooler after-the-fact!
Sean Masters
Wow, that is pretty amazing!
RT
www.online-privacy.vze.com
Spammy Jones
@Amarus:
Unless you do what infiniti does, just put a small button on the door to press when you are next to it. That way it only unlocks when you want it to.
Jamezor
@Gonzobot:
You put the button on the door handle, so when you grab the handle to open it, you hit the button.
Jamezor
Mercedes has a simular system as an option with the standard keys. It also lets you start the car by pushing a button if it detects the keys near the driver's seat...
KoFFiE
@chiieddy: Walk away and wait 28 seconds.
St.Jimmy
@Meetloaf13: 28 second after he leaves the range of his reciever,it relocks.
St.Jimmy
@Amarus: according to the sparkfun article, his car relocks after 28 secs.YMMV, of course.
St.Jimmy
@Grungydan: Snap! And I thought we were smart!
But thinking is booring!
Nice Idea but what a waiste after you've locked your car if you don't disconnect the system you unlock your car anytime you lock it...
BTW wouldn't you unlock others cars too
Is this a get rich quick sceme as well because if so tag it justly!
What a nice recession buster...
InnovativeAeroplane