Key fob interference????

[ForkliftFranky12]

Just today I was at my girlfriends apartment and something was interfering with my key fob. Ive been there many times before with no issue. My truck would barely lock the doors on the fob or even on the button on the handle. It eventually did lock. Went to leave and the truck would not unlock. By fob, sensor behind the handle or even the uconnect app. I did finally get the thing to unlock but once I got inside the truck it said key fob not detected when I tried to start it. I finally got the truck started and raced home to get my spare key thinking my battery was dying. Now we were out before this and I had zero issues with it. We stopped a couple places before hand and it was perfectly fine acting like normal. I got home and the thing is fine now. Has anyone experienced anyting like this? Its not sitting very well with me. There had to be some kind of interference going on. Thanks.

Also to note Im located in Iowa and we are experiencing that Artic Vortex thing thats got our temperatures well below zero but the truck was at operating temperature and we had been driving around for well over an hour and everything was fine.

 

[bonebro]

Just today I was at my girlfriends apartment and something was interfering with my key fob. Ive been there many times before with no issue. My truck would barely lock the doors on the fob or even on the button on the handle. It eventually did lock. Went to leave and the truck would not unlock. By fob, sensor behind the handle or even the uconnect app. I did finally get the thing to unlock but once I got inside the truck it said key fob not detected when I tried to start it. I finally got the truck started and raced home to get my spare key thinking my battery was dying. Now we were out before this and I had zero issues with it. We stopped a couple places before hand and it was perfectly fine acting like normal. I got home and the thing is fine now. Has anyone experienced anyting like this? Its not sitting very well with me. There had to be some kind of interference going on. Thanks.

Also to note Im located in Iowa and we are experiencing that Artic Vortex thing thats got our temperatures well below zero but the truck was at operating temperature and we had been driving around for well over an hour and everything was fine.

There are few threads about this random issue. No solution has been found yet. Hopefully @RamCares is listening and will advance this issue to their technical team to explore what is going on. My dealership could not replicate the issue (of course), but they changed my battery!... with no help. Just yesterday I parked at the mailbox (truck still idling) to let the wife out, the truck dings and says “no key fob”. I pulled it out of my pocket and had time to take a picture before it recognized the key again. The second key was at home, not anywhere near the truck.

 

[Edwards]

If someone knows better, please correct me.

I think something that confuses this issue is that there are two different radios or frequencies used by the fob. One is long distance for activity like lock/unlock, remote start, lower, & tailgate. Things you can do across the parking lot. The other is near field and is the key detection for start (with interior button), open tailgate by hand when locked, and passive entry/lock.

I've had near field interference outside of our favorite Mexican restaurant but I've never had long range interference. When the outside button to lock did not work, I used the fob lock and it did it right away.

 

[Lize]

Theres another thread about this, in this post it seems it could be some sort of security feature to lock out the key if left too near for long periods of time:
https://5thgenrams.com/community/threads/key-fob-not-detected-but-its-in-my-pocket.4315/#post-61850

 

[bonebro]

Mine is all near field, or in other words, not touching any buttons on the remote. The only pattern I have noticed is when I close the driver door and press the passive lock button, if the wife hadn’t closed her door yet, it will not lock. As soon as her door closes, it will lock. (Might be an intended feature?) Also, the fob not detected inside the cab also has occurred twice as soon as she opened her door to get out and I stayed in the truck with it running (she does not carry the second key). Otherwise, if the truck won’t passive unlock/lock or won’t start because “fob not detected”, I move the fob closer to the door if outside the truck or nudge the fob in my pocket when inside the truck and then it’ll usually work.

 

[RamCares]

Just today I was at my girlfriends apartment and something was interfering with my key fob. Ive been there many times before with no issue. My truck would barely lock the doors on the fob or even on the button on the handle. It eventually did lock. Went to leave and the truck would not unlock. By fob, sensor behind the handle or even the uconnect app. I did finally get the thing to unlock but once I got inside the truck it said key fob not detected when I tried to start it. I finally got the truck started and raced home to get my spare key thinking my battery was dying. Now we were out before this and I had zero issues with it. We stopped a couple places before hand and it was perfectly fine acting like normal. I got home and the thing is fine now. Has anyone experienced anyting like this? Its not sitting very well with me. There had to be some kind of interference going on. Thanks.

Also to note Im located in Iowa and we are experiencing that Artic Vortex thing thats got our temperatures well below zero but the truck was at operating temperature and we had been driving around for well over an hour and everything was fine.

There are few threads about this random issue. No solution has been found yet. Hopefully @RamCares is listening and will advance this issue to their technical team to explore what is going on. My dealership could not replicate the issue (of course), but they changed my battery!... with no help. Just yesterday I parked at the mailbox (truck still idling) to let the wife out, the truck dings and says “no key fob”. I pulled it out of my pocket and had time to take a picture before it recognized the key again. The second key was at home, not anywhere near the truck.
View attachment 14908

Hey ForkliftFranky12 and bonebro,

Thanks for looping us in on this concern. I wasn't able to locate any TSBs, but if this continues to happen, I'd recommend visiting your dealer to ensure there aren't any concerns with modules in the vehicle or the fob itself.

On another note - I hope any Midwesterners here are staying safe & warm in the "Polar Vortex" happening outside!

Regards,
Jennifer
Ram Social Care Specialist

 

[Electrical]

The fact that this is intermittent (sometimes no work, other times works perfect) and fresh batteries don't help makes me believe there's a hiccup in the truck's firmware. I'd explain the issue to the dealer and have them make sure you have the latest loaded.

Apart from this, it'd have to be a hardware problem like the fob detection antennae not right. Your dealer should very well be able to test the antennae, but that costs time and money; you may have to be persistent in convincing them a real problem exists.

If someone knows better, please correct me.

I think something that confuses this issue is that there are two different radios or frequencies used by the fob. One is long distance for activity like lock/unlock, remote start, lower, & tailgate. Things you can do across the parking lot. The other is near field and is the key detection for start (with interior button), open tailgate by hand when locked, and passive entry/lock.

I've had near field interference outside of our favorite Mexican restaurant but I've never had long range interference. When the outside button to lock did not work, I used the fob lock and it did it right away.

I think you're right. 325 MHz for long range operation. 125 kHz for close range detection.

 

[Jasonml24]

I had this issue happen to me once while I was driving down the road. I had my cellphone laying in the console and my fob was laying on top of my phone. I moved my fob of the phone and it was fine. I thought maybe the phone was interfering with the signal, but I’m not that technical so not sure. Never been an issue ever since and that was over 5 months ago.

 

[Rich]

The fact that this is intermittent (sometimes no work, other times works perfect) and fresh batteries don't help makes me believe there's a hiccup in the truck's firmware. I'd explain the issue to the dealer and have them make sure you have the latest loaded.

Apart from this, it'd have to be a hardware problem like the fob detection antennae not right. Your dealer should very well be able to test the antennae, but that costs time and money; you may have to be persistent in convincing them a real problem exists.




I think you're right. 325 MHz for long range operation. 125 kHz for close range detection.

Where did you find the 325 MHz frequency info? If we know it's true, I could try some tests with a spectrum analyzer, but my truck is working ok so I may not see anything to indicate a problem.

 

[Electrical]

Where did you find the 325 MHz frequency info? If we know it's true, I could try some tests with a spectrum analyzer, but my truck is working ok so I may not see anything to indicate a problem.

I made a homemade TPMS system for a motorcycle once and all the pressure monitoring IC's were at 325 or 434 MHz. I stumbled across the link to key fob systems during research for that project.

This is on the low side within the ISM band and I suspect was chosen somewhat arbitrarily for separation to other common applications like cordless phones at 900 MHz or Bluetooth/Wifi at 2.4 GHz.

However it came about, 325 and 434 are the de-facto standards worldwide.

 

[Rich]

I made a homemade TPMS system for a motorcycle once and all the pressure monitoring IC's were at 325 or 434 MHz. I stumbled across the link to key fob systems during research for that project.

This is on the low side within the ISM band and I suspect was chosen somewhat arbitrarily for separation to other common applications like cordless phones at 900 MHz or Bluetooth/Wifi at 2.4 GHz.

However it came about, 325 and 434 are the de-facto standards worldwide.

Thanks for the info. I did some googling and confirmed that my key fob is near 433 MHz.

It seems to have about the same output power no matter if I press unlock, lock or remote start.

Considering how much 'crap' could be on the RF band, I'm surprised it works at all. LOL But this band was pretty quiet in my driveway at the time I tried this.

 

[Electrical]

Awesome Rich. Is that an actual capture of your Ram key fob?

Any chance you could get a low frequency antenna and poke around at 125 kHz (kiloHertz)? This is where the in-cab and proximity detection would be. The antenna to do this might have to be some sort of inductive pickup.

 

[Rich]

Awesome Rich. Is that an actual capture of your Ram key fob?

Any chance you could get a low frequency antenna and poke around at 125 kHz (kiloHertz)? This is where the in-cab and proximity detection would be. The antenna to do this might have to be some sort of inductive pickup.

Yes, this is from my key fob.

Unfortunately my analyzer doesn't cover 125 kHz.

 

[Edwards]

Well here is news of a new source of interference. Charging your iPad pencil can prevent you from using your fob:
https://mashable.com/article/charging-new-apple-pencil-may-mess-with-car-key-fob/

 

[myram2019]

Weird thing happens when I have the FOB in my pocket and I’m washing the truck with a garden hose. From 10’ away if I spray the door handles all the lights flash. Is it thinking I’m grabbing the handle thru the waters conductivity??

 

[SpeedyV]

Well here is news of a new source of interference. Charging your iPad pencil can prevent you from using your fob:
https://mashable.com/article/charging-new-apple-pencil-may-mess-with-car-key-fob/

I believe that. I do a lot of presentations, and my Logitech presenter remote has a range of maybe 300’. When I plug in another USB 3.0 device near the Logitech dongle, my range goes down to about 2’. This is a known issue with any USB 3.0 device.

 

[Edwards]

Weird thing happens when I have the FOB in my pocket and I’m washing the truck with a garden hose. From 10’ away if I spray the door handles all the lights flash. Is it thinking I’m grabbing the handle thru the waters conductivity??

Yes, known effect. The door handles are looking for two things: fob in range and conductivity. Most learn to leave the fob inside while washing to prevent this.

 

[BeauxXL1200]

Found this thread and thought I’d relay my fob issue that happened Friday.

Here’s a link to the thread I posted.

Fob Didn’t Work

Three month old truck. Went to start it this afternoon and the fob was dead. Let myself in with the manual key and Googled how to start the truck with a dead fob. You just push the start button with the bottom of the fob, and it should start right up. What’s funny is when I got home, the fob...

5thgenrams.com

 

[Joel]

So I am having an issue with this i have a 2019 ram rebel when I went to my truck after work it would not unlock by the the handle or the key fob so I used the key to unlock it and get in which set off the alarm.once in the trk it would not start or anything had to have it towed to the dealership it has been there almost a week and they can't seem to find out what is wrong with it they keep telling me they are running different test but don't know what's wrong also the uconnect app won't work in it either thinking it's something electrical in the truck itself

 

[myram2019]

I had the same issue. They gave me a new truck. They did get it working after a month. They ended up changing lots of modules and programming. They never told me exactly what caused it.