poor keyless transmittor range

[chcknugget]

My 96's transmittor doesn't work unless you're 3 feet from the vehicle. My dad's 2000 safari keyless works from inside the house, in the neighbor's yard, across the parking lot etc. Is this common?

[Mikado14]

Have you tried a new battery?

[chcknugget]

yes, but same range

[hunter01]

On some aftermarket alarms the recieving antenna is just a single wire (black) that doesn't connect to anything on one end. Its just run along the inside of the fender.
I,ve seen people cut this wire and tape up the end thinking it didn't serve a purpose. This greatly reduces the transmitter range.

[robsieb]

Is the system factory installed? If so, you might want to try a new transmitter. I recently purchased a new unit off Ebay for $16.95 plus shipping. Just do a search using the GM number on the back of the remote.

[C5Longhorn]

Where is the cheapest place to pick up a new battery for the fob?

Thanks,

[BlazerLT]

I would have the battery tested.

Some new batteries are poor.

[chcknugget]

I have the factory remote and sensor box. I recently did some wire splicing to get my kc daylighters to flash when I push the lock/unlock button on the fob, but I've had this problem for years.

[chcknugget]

I have the factory remote and sensor box. I recently did some wire splicing to get my kc daylighters to flash when I push the lock/unlock button on the fob, but I've had this problem for years. I have two "CR2016" batteries.

[cubanlorenzo]

how does that splicing wire trick work? i want my headlights, parking lights, or my sun visor lights to flash when i hit hte lock button. just so i know that it worked. how do you do that?

[cubanlorenzo]

anyone??

[chcknugget]

I have to admit it's probably easier to do with aftermarket lights, because if you install them yourself, you'll have no surprises. I'm always scared to cut into the factory wiring, you never know what functions you may lose... This is a pretty complicated procedure, but if you're into wiring and EE stuff this may a cool project.

The "black box" that controls the locking mechanisms on my 96 is located under the steering wheel towards the driver's fender wall. It has 2 wiring harness' going to it and is held on by 2 nuts hmmm 7mm I think? You can look up wiring charts or colors on the internet and find which wires in the harness' to splice into, but I've found that wiring colors are different from vehicle to vehicle. SOOO...

I used a knife to cut a notch into the insulation of each wire I thought to be either the lock or the unlock (12v) signals. Using a digital multimeter I checked to see if there was a spike of 12v when I pushed the lock or unlock button. I found 1 wire for lock and 1 for unlock.

After I did this I used 3 inline zener diodes (INT4742A) as the switch input for an aftermarket relay.
I used 1 diode for the lock signal
1 diode for the unlock signal, and
1 diode for my light switch.
I used a normal 12v aftermarket relay for the lighting my kc lights so that the 12v lock/unlock signals from the black box wouldn't have to carry the load of the lights (and possibly blow fuses).

The lock/unlock signal is active for approximately 1 second after pushing your fob button. If you've made it this far, you probably have questions. I did this mod for about $10 and some wiring knowhow, so give it a try!

[cubanlorenzo]

sorry i asked, seems complicated. i guess i will rely on my hearing to hear the doors lock. not that important to me, and i dont feel like messing anything up under there.

[BlazerLT]

lol, you are just asking for trouble if you start messing with wiring.

BTW, not being rude to you, but you should at least thank chcknugget for putting the effort into that post to help you.

[chcknugget]

hahaha, It really isn't as hard as I made it seem. I will someday make I wiring schematic for what I did, but for right now I have to get my overhead console to work, and then make my rear lights flash when I hit the fob buttons.

If you figure out which wires are which, and how relays, diodes, and 12v works, the project is pretty obvious.