Comment by myself248

Comment by myself248 3 months ago

34 replies

For the time being, I just store my keys in a little cast iron dutch oven, sitting on top of the fridge.

It's extremely effective as a shield for the 125kHz LF wake-up signal, and I've been unable to elicit a response when they're in there, even with a relay setup that reliably wakes them up from several feet away otherwise.

gambiting 3 months ago

I just don't understand why manufacturers don't follow Volvo on this - their keyless keys just go to sleep if they aren't moved for a few seconds, and they won't respond to any signal while sitting on a table for example.

  • roelschroeven 3 months ago

    That solves part of the problem, but doesn't help when you're in a supermarket or any other event where you're moving around.

    My previous cars had keys that I could manually switch off and on, which is also not a full solution because it only works for people who take the effort to always do that, but at least it gives people to opportunity to complete prevent relay attacks.

    All in all I'm not a big fan of key-less entry. Having to press a button on a key to gain entry can maybe be a bit of an annoyance, but in my opinion it's not a big deal compared to the advantage of completely preventing relay attacks.

    • gambiting 3 months ago

      My previous car(a Mercedes) had a very very simple solution to this - you clicked on the lock button twice and it just disabled the keyless entry entirely until you pressed any other button.

      >>the advantage of completely preventing relay attacks.

      From my understanding ToF sensors are good enough now to completely prevent relay attacks, the added time for the relay just adds too much of a delay and it gets rejected. I believe the newest range rovers use that, they went from being extremely susceptible to relay attacks to relay attacks against them being impossible.

      • deskamess 3 months ago

        I think the Toyota has it too. Press and hold lock and click unlock twice on the FOB. This disables the signalling that enables a lot of 'quick actions' - like double tapping the door latch to open it.

      • emeril 3 months ago

        that's a nice solution too but re: mercedes it requires the user to actively use that feature which I suspect most won't remember to do

    • mint2 3 months ago

      For anyone interested, with all keyless entry Subarus in the US it’s easy to put the fob to sleep.

      If you’re car camping and doing a lot of stuff around your car and opening the doors a bunch for a couple hours, you probably want to put your fob to sleep. Found out the hard way, but my battery was also a bit iffy to start with that year.

    • emeril 3 months ago

      maybe so, but this would seemingly solve most of the problem with easy to implement tech

      the real test is to find out if this effectively eliminated all fob hacks for volvo since they may not be faster than the tiger, they just need to be faster than everyone else...

  • ethagnawl 3 months ago

    Related: I've found that replacing/programming Volvo keys is extraordinarily expensive and I've yet to find a third-party locksmith who will touch them. (The latter applies to both fobs and a basic key.)

    • gambiting 3 months ago

      Yep - which is why I always add key insurance to my car insurance, it's a very cheap add on annually but saves a lot of money if you need a new key.

      • ethagnawl 3 months ago

        Wow. I had no idea this was an option. It kind of breaks my brain a bit because, based on the majority of my experience with car ownership (91, 98 and 2K models), it's an absurd notion.

  • myself248 3 months ago

    Likewise, I wish my phone had a setting to mute Amber Alerts while the phone's been motionless for a long time. It's sleeping, I'm sleeping, blasting me with an emergency tone at 4:45am is not going to help anyone. But yes if I'm actually out and about, by all means, I'd be happy to help, I don't want to turn them off entirely.

    Such common sense, yet so uncommon.

  • Hamuko 3 months ago

    I've heard BMW does it too. Hoping that it's true and I can preserve battery by just keeping my key on the table, since it burns through a charge.

stavros 3 months ago

Unrelatedly, I didn't realize "Dutch oven" had a non-fart-related meaning, thanks for the new word.

  • onionisafruit 3 months ago

    I learn something new here every day.

    - I ain’t cut out to be Jessie James -You don’t go writing hot checks down in Mississippi - Dutch oven has a non fart meaning

    • karmajunkie 3 months ago

      My father used to be a prosecutor in MS, and one of my earliest going-to-work-with-dad memories is watching him sign off on warrants for people writing hot checks. I asked him once if he thought that was a bit heavy-handed and he gave me a very stern lecture about people who write hot checks.

      So yeah, don't do that in Mississippi.

      • onionisafruit 3 months ago

        My mother told me I would end up in massive unrecoverable debt if I didn’t keep my check book balanced, and if I kept it up for too long I would be arrested for fraud. She was from MS, so that tracks.

        My prev comment was just quoting Johnny Cash. Had I thought about it, I probably would have assumed that “writing hot checks” was in the song because it’s sort of an amateur crime that landed him in the prison where he learned his lessons. Of course it has to be Mississippi for the chain gang reference.

  • baud147258 3 months ago

    Funnily enough, I think that's the first time I heard that Dutch oven has another meaning, beyond the cooking apparatus.

  • xeromal 3 months ago

    haha, I think the fart connotation is just that you're trapped with the lid (blanket) on.

abirch 3 months ago

I purchased some cheap key fob faraday bags on Amazon.

The bags work while I'm in the car.

chiph 3 months ago

You know those Danish butter cookie tins that everyone's mom uses for sewing supplies? They also make good Faraday cages.

  • myself248 3 months ago

    Not in my experience. Did a lot of Bluetooth testing in a former role, and those were the first thing we tried and the first thing we gave up.

    • IIsi50MHz 3 months ago

      ESD-shielded multilayer metalised polybag? Fold shut, keep until crinkled or until it has any holes?

brk 3 months ago

Your microwave oven also makes a good Faraday cage.

  • asciimov 3 months ago

    That's an expensive mistake waiting to happen.

    • potato3732842 3 months ago

      Why would you ever turn on your microwave without opening it to put something in it? It's not like an oven that has to preheat.

      • Figs 3 months ago

        Mistakes when setting a timer.

        My current microwave will complain if the door hasn't been opened recently, but my old one would just turn on if I fucked up the time entry and tried to set a timer while I already had a timer going...