Remote car starter

This is one of the further reasons in the USA & Canada that Petrol should become as expensive as it is in Europe......as quickly as possible. Letting a motor run without driving is a fining offence in Europe, because it not only burns gas unnecessarily, it also contributes to smog, greenhouse gases like CO2 etc etc.....it also allows thieves to smash a window and drive off in your car in some instances......! depending upon the safety checks built in or not built in!!

It also shows that you have little or no respect for the world's environment generally.....

If you want a warm car with no ice on the windows there is only one way to do it thats reasonably acceptable in today's environment, have a warm air blower fitted that runs off the mains voltage in your area and plug it in on a time switch or remote control switch, whichever suits you best. Let it run for 15-20 minutes only before you drive away....

Or if you are handy with electricity, then make up a board with both in parallel, so either can work independently of the other. Max 0.5 hours of work and maybe $15 of parts!! plus the warm air heater if you do not already own one!!!

You will probably find that it works out cheaper than buying and installing your remote starter in both energy cost and $$$s, let alone the amounts of greenhouse gases produced..... The only negative point being when you are not parked at home or not where you can plug the mains in easily....

.....but having a cold Tush occasionally is what we do for our children's, children's children, don't you agree?

Its attitudes like this which cause politicians to go off the deep end too soon and ban incandescent lights, when if people used their brains a little and replaced each bulb in a house with CFLs or LEDs THAT CAN BE REPLACED and let us still use incandescents for those areas that are not easily converted to "green" lighting.......

No wonder you signed on as guest, you don't want anyone to find out who you are!!!

"A lie or untruth is halfway round the world before the truth has got its trousers on" Sir Winston Churchill

It is interesting that you use this quote as it seems you have bought in to the global warming lie.

Personally, I don't like remote starting for a number of reasons. However, that wasn't the question, so:

Bulldog Security is based in my area. I will try to contact them locally to obtain the answer for you. If I can get the information you require, I will post it here.

You obviously accidentally overlooked several valid points that I made, I guess so you could answer in the way you did.

Even if your interests do not lie in the direction of reduction of global warming, surely you do realize that hydrocarbon fuels are in a limited and fixed amount on this planet, without using other energy sources to produce them. (Oil from garbage etc)

Therefore to try and keep some of this for our children, we need to economize today......using a remote starter is going against this principle....

But perhaps you are without family or progeny and this aspect leaves you cold....as you will not be around when it finally comes to the crunch......or have no feelings towards your progeny/family/friends....

I cannot say that I understand ANYONE using more energy than needed for anything.... but my blood comes from Scotland for the last 1000 or more years and we are well known for being economical....

Don't sugar-coat it, Andy - how do you REALLY feel?

Actually, while I concur with most of your comments, there are a few reasons why remote starting can be a good thing - if not overused or misused. The main one being security in less than desirable locations. You start the car on the way to it, use the keyless entry to open the door, get in and drive off before the bad guys can catch up. Women especially who are parked at the back of the lot on a dark night find this supportive.

I work with a fellow named Larry Germany - potential relative I presume?

In such a neighbourhood, that sounds like a good move, a valid reason to have it.

My problems lie only when using it to get a warm rear end!!!

Andy,

This may be a dumb question, however, from time to time I see people plug there engine into an electrical outlet. Does this not warm up the engine block, therefore doing the same as the heater would? Please let me know when you have a chance.

Thanks

Block heaters, such as you describe, do indeed warm the engine to a degree. While not getting the engine as warm as actually running the engine would, they would reduce the time required to get to operating temperature. The heaters often consist only of an heating element that is inserted in the oil dipstick opening. They can significantly reduce the load on the starter during cold weather and sometimes are the only way to get going when it is very cold. I do not know what the final temperature of the engine is when using these.

Which would be more cost effective and better for the environment. Car starter, or pluging the block into an outlet?

Outlet any day.

On the ones I have seen, you take out one of the "Block savers for frost" caps and put it in there....

When I was a grad student in Madison Wisconsin in the late 1960's, the temperature in winter often hit 30 below zero Fahrenheit. I could not afford to buy a block heater, so I ran an extension cord to the back yard where I parked my 1955 Ford with a 200 cubic inch straight 6 cylinder engine (It cost me $200, purchased just before I quit my job and went to grad school). I fitted a lamp socket (from the trash) to the extension wire, to hold a 100 watt (it cost 25 cents) incandescent light bulb beween the block and the 12 volt battery. This warmed both the battery and the block. Warming the battery is very important at 30 below zero. This enabled me to start the car in winter. Using straight 5 weight oil also helped.

I was very pleased with the performance of my 25 cent block heater. I later found some fiberglass insulation, which I rested on top of the battery, block, and bulb, to help retain the heat. Of course, the fiberglass bat and the light bulb had to be removed before the car was started.

Those days of difficult starting have essentially disappeared with fuel injection and electronic ignition, and warming winters. I have not seen 30 below zero since leaving Wisconsin.

We moved back to Minnesota in 1977. I used to disconnect my battery and take it up to our 3 story condominium. The next morning I would take it down and install it. The car always started.

Now I would never dream of doing that. Although I have had to put a heater under our car in our attached garage! Back before global warming kicked in!!

That is a different system, often used and sold in Europe where a sort of "kettle element" is placed in the engine cooling water, to get the water warm. I had forgotten this system completely, thanks for reminding me....they cost about €250 plus installation costs.

My system that I have used, does not need any changes to the engine at all, but does not warm up the cooling water either.....but still cleans the windows of ice and snow well.....mine costs about €50 for everything!!! And you can move it to a different car in seconds.....they are also called space heaters....

Andy . . . . . . your killing me here ! I think we need our money back on that charm school we sent you to, man!

I will respectfully challenge the idea of warming a car is bad for Mother Earth. I lived in Finland for 3 years (-35*C) and also know about laws of pre-warming a car and the 'electrical plug in farms' at my work parking lot.

Where do you think the energy from your mains comes from? The generators producing that power, if CGTs, are 30% efficient turning a 95% efficient generator at full electrical load or 80% efficient at half load, then you have tremendous transformer and line losses before the power arrives to your home so shall we say those of us using electrical power from home are using about 5% efficient energy considering heat rate of that energy after all losses. Therefore the extra tons of greenhouse gas and other smog is significantly higher. And I'll have a reply for nuclear, hydro, coal or any other type of fuel for the generators. We have huge open pit uranium mines where I live and you can't believe the tons of energy we dump in the air to dig out some rocks, and the energy to build the power plant, haul away spent fuel, keep your CR4 comments alive . . . . .

You know a lot about generators and know energy is not free so you know that if you took the time to REALLY do a total energy study you can see that warming a car directly puts the heat to the car a bit more efficient than a plug in heater cycling all night building heat and loosing it to radiation in a cold garage then building it again.

Do the math back to the fuel pipe coming into the power plant versus coming into the car's engine. Start with a 200 watt load all night plugged into your mains.

Also, in Canada and Finland we don't have mains to plug in to when you are out working. And at -35*C, you can drive (see) until the windscreen is clear, no matter how much scrapping your do. The problem is on the inside, not the outside. Even your breath ices it up.

What do you think? Don't butcher me on your reply as it will hurt my mom's feelings. She thinks I'm clever. My ex-wife, however . . . . . . . . . . . . . . talk about an energy waste !

Could have not said it better.

I think you are on to a bigger idea than most people care to think about. Any process that transforms energy from one form to another is less than 100% efficient. It seems reasonable to have to calculate all of the costs involved in a process before deeming one more efficient than another. For example, is a battery powered vehicle more eco-friendly than a liquid-fueled one? Don't we have to look at the costs and wastes involved in the manufacture, daily operation, and disposal of the battery? I don't have the answer, but I think that we may be surprised when it is properly researched. Also, the direct cost to the consumer may not be an accurate measure of what it costs to operate when the government subsidies all along the line are included. After all, increased taxes (direct or indirect) are part of the cost and it eventually comes out of our pocket.

Does anyone have a good calculation of the costs to share?

Lead acid batteries are close to 100% recyclable.....

While lead acid batteries are close to 100% recyclable, what is the cost in resources to do so? Many things can be recycled, but the result is a net loss in dollars and resources.

Also, does anyone know the raw cost per gallon to produce ethanol from corn? How do we factor in the additional cost for meat and other products because corn is being diverted from food production to fuel production? Our decisions can't always be based on 'what's good for the environment' because that, while emotionally fulfilling, may not be the wisest choice.

Same idea for 'global warming'. The science is not there that humans are responsible for any temperature increase. What about the changes in solar activity? My personal view is that 'global warming' is just a means to control who produces and who can consume. While I don't condone waste or lack of concern about pollution, it can not be left to an emotional response.

Basically I answered your question with regard to the poster before you. Please read that....

Electrical energy from a power station is always cheaper that making it with a petrol engine in a car....

Driving always warms up a car quicker.

In Finland, you also have parking meters with a mains connection as well as underground garages, works parking places with power connectors....etc etc

Also, it is not that cold all the year round.....I have visited Finland in january and february several times.....Helsinki. Only in the north does it get REALLY cold I was told (-50 or so).....we only had -35°C at night when I was there, it warmed up to a piping hot -20°C every day even......!!

I saw brass monkeys looking for welders every day......

Who says this Guy comes from the north pole anyway?, he didn't....

Andy,

You cannot drive even out of the parking lot 20 m with ice on the inside of the windscreen. You MUST warm up the car. I'd even stall the torque converter at 2000 RPM full fuel, throttle pegged to the floor (ohhh crap . . . . now you really hate me) to shave 10 minutes off the warm up time.

I lived in Vaasa for 3 years. Helsinki doesn't count; that's like Cancun compared to the weather in Vaasa. Ice on the sea (Gulf of Bothnia) is more than a meter thick 10 minutes from my apartment. I know as I cut it every Saturday to retrieve my fishing nets strung under the ice in 30 m sections. (Ohhh crap . . . here we go on on another tangent about fishing this way). You can drive to Sweden. (Ohhhhh crap . . . here we go on another tangent for ice roads . . . 10 cm can support a car, 15-20 cm a lorry)

Ohhhh crap . . . .

[now waiting for someone to ask how I strung my nets, 3 x 30 m each, UNDER the ice. Old timers from above 63* latitude will know ]

do you have suggestions as to where to purchase and how to set up such a blower arrangement as you reference? in my area, boulder, colorado, the prime problem getting going in the morning is that of getting a heavy accumulation of ice and sometimes snow complicating that off the windshield, and also the side windows. The rear window has an electric heater so it is less a problem. comfort inside the vehicle is a secondary issue.

thanks, jhw

This is one of the further reasons in the USA & Canada that Petrol should become as expensive as it is in Europe......as quickly as possible

Its attitudes like this which cause politicians to go off the deep end too soon and ban incandescent lights, when if people used their brains a little and replaced each bulb in a house with CFLs or LEDs THAT CAN BE REPLACED and let us still use incandescents for those areas that are not easily converted to "green" lighting.......

Friggin great. Just what AmeriKa needs; another bullshot law. Now some jackhole is gonna tell me it is illegal to warm up my car unless I am sitting in it. Probably will not pass as the oil biz is still strangling the life out of us over here.

As for the insurance companies. Do they really have such a problem with thieves that this is an issue. Screw 'em.

It's attitudes like this that make want to build an island out of plastic bottles so not to deal with a country where I get all bent up about crap that is so disproportionately publicized in plain sight of more serious social ails. Of course I would probably be in violation of some law against hoarding recyclables or such nonsense.

Don't mean to give you the slap personally Andy , I just get so tired of laws, laws, and more laws! For ficks sake when will people just act responsibly without inviting the damn govt to take away liberty after liberty?

most foul monkey indeed!

cr3

btw I conceal my profanity as in above, yet when I spell check it offers up the proper profanity. Hmmmm.

How much energy is saved when compact flourscent lighting is used in the winter?

To compensate for the loss of heat, I guess the kooks and politicians that are worried about green house gasses would rather have us burn more carbon fuel than electricity.

Draw the line wherever you want, but I just want a "warm tush." I suppose that you could argue that only riding a bike is appropriate, but as long as Europe is producing high powered sports cars, who are you kidding?

Try Advance audio in Winnipeg.

As for the comment about Euro gas prices etc.I somewhat agree about a no idle rule.However the winter climate that I currently live in requires 12-15 minuite warm up time so that one can visiably navigate our white out conditions and snow/ice packed roads.

You wrote:-

12-15 minute warm up time so that one can visibly navigate our white out conditions and snow/ice packed roads.

Please explain how the warm up helps, I cannot see the link between a hot engine and your vision, especially if you mean ice on the screen, the warm air heater I described earlier would take care of that!!.....

I have corrected your several spelling mistakes as well in that short sentence, you need to use the spell checker so that non English speakers have a better chance to understand us all.....

Ya sorry bout the spelling.If you do not have electric power available.Ie. rural of work site how would you de-ice the windows?

There are scrapers that use only muscle energy and if the motor is running while you are doing that with all lights and heaters on, the motor will warm up the quickest....that is not the same as a remote start and leaving it running for 20 minutes....!

Do something for the world as a whole, try thinking for your self how to reduce fuel usage....why do you need to ask me, its all common sense really, or am I asking too much of most humans......

I get the impression that some people WANT to increase glass house gases, WANT to damage the environment, want to increase world oil usage, want to increase their fuel costs.....do not care about their children's future.....just want to have a warm backside when sitting in their gas guzzler....

If that is you, I cannot do any more than I have to change your attitude....you are on your own.

The part you requested can be ordered direct from https://www.directwholesale.net/secure/

The price listed is about 25 USD.

I bought mine from fadfusion.com. Very interesting because I'm gonna hook mine up tonight! Good luck...did u get the pre-fab harness specific for your vehicle too?

If one were to use power from the mains as you suggest to warm the vehicle, can I assume that the power needed to do this was generated from wind, solar, or other "green" power source? If it's a coal plant, you're simply moving the location of the pollution from his driveway to the power plant.

Dear Guest, do you understand the word "efficiency"?

How efficient is a petrol engine? (forgetting the costs of distilling the petrol for the moment and moving the oil around the world in big expensive ships and pipelines!), at best 30%...after you calculate in the whole cost, experts reckon that a petrol engine is probably not better than 5% efficient!!!!! then you are converting that petrol energy back into heat, whereby most of it goes out the exhaust pipe and into the environment!!!

A power station has a much better efficiency than that and also the power can come from renewable sources like, wind, tide and water/Hydroelectric energy as well.

Petrol always comes from crude oil at this time.....only!!!!

Understood?

Thanks, guys I found the 791P module in the local store in Canada at Walmart. My car is 1998 sunfire, I do not know if there is a pre-fab harness for it. Since I am installing mine in the weekend, please let me know if your is working and what kind of challenge you have during installation, since this installation is my first one, I want some tip.

Thanks

dunno where ur from but u can get the factory wiring diagrams down at ur local library. Some other manuals will have general diagrams but they're usually not good for specific wire colors etc. I have 3 books now as i'm also putting a comp stereo in my steed.

You can try to call dealer and ask for wire diagram. Or go to Sunfire online forum and ask for one.

To go with the other green comments, I never warm the car up. I just drive away gently and keep it below 4000 rpm until engine fully warm up. Usually it takes about 5 min. Also remember, idling ONLY warm up the engine but not the tranny. You maybe wasting gas to save the engine but killing the tranny instead by idling.

Pineapple

Ah yes! Remote starters, the so-called Youngstown Starters of yesteryear. To those not from the Youngstown OH area, years ago it was an area ensconced in organized crime with many car bombs set to detonate when the engine was started. Many mobsters had remote starters installed to verify the cars were safe, not for cold weather starts.

One wonders about the line of work our other Guest is in.

Does burning mobsters in huge fire balls cause greenhouse gasses?

Actually I don't know anything about the remote starter or module you are seeking so perhaps I shouldn't even respond except that it seems this post took off in a totally different direction. With that said, I used to own a 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. It hasn't been that long ago. And when I lived in Kentucky, in the winter, at times the heater just wouldn't keep up with the degree of cold that one would incur during the morning commute. However, I placed a space heater (small one on low setting) on the dash board facing the windshield. I would turn on the heater by flipping a wall switch on my back porch about 15 minutes before leaving the house. The space heater not only took care of the defrost problem but allowed the car heater (practically non-existent) which took it's heat from the air cooled engine to catch up to some extent by the time I got on the highway. I never had to start the engine until I was ready to drive away. I won't say this was the perfect solution but it sure made my life a bit more tolerable in the morning. Now that I live in south Georgia (about ten minutes from the Florida border) I never have to worry about this. Maybe you should consider moving south?

This will get ya, I also used my car starter in the summer to COOL-off the car before entering. What a nice feature summer & winter use. Enjoy