T.I.L

TIL

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TIL that when my phone is on charge in my car the keyless fob won't work if it's placed next to the phone.

I usually charge at home on a wireless charger to save knackering the socket in the handset, but on one occasion I forgot and found my phone was near dead just as I was about to set off to drive somewhere, so I plugged it into the car and left the phone on the passenger seat. All was fine.

I set off again the other day with a nearly flat phone so I plugged it into the car's USB socket but this time, knowing I would be stopping en route and not wanting the charging phone to be visible while I was away from the car, I chucked it into the cubby hole in the central console and bunged the key fob in next to it, which is where I usually put it. Pushed the start button and it said "Key not detected. Please refer to your user manual".
No warning on the dash about a low battery in the fob. Odd. I picked up the fob, turned off the ignition, locked the doors then opened them again, held the key up to the dash and tried the start button. No problem. Fired up as normal. Drove off and when I stopped and parked up later on, I left the phone out of sight in the cubby hole still on charge and when I got back in the car the same thing happened again. Key not detected, please refer to user's manual.

Then it clicked. It's the bloody phone. I shut the ignition down again and moved the plugged in phone onto the passenger seat, away from the key fob. Woke the car up again and the car started as normal. Then I unplugged the phone so it wasn't charging and placed both key and phone into the cubby hole next to each other. Again, car started no problem.

I assume the phone's wireless charging signal operates at the same frequency as the cars keyless system (if that's how they work) and disables the key when it's within the phone's range. The phone is paired with the on-board hands-free system so it isn't the physical connection or the bluetooth interferring, it's the phone when in charge mode looking for a wireless charger and latching on to the key fob instead.

So if your phone's on charge and you car won't start, before you spend money replacing the fob's battery, try moving the phone away from the fob.

Has anyone else noticed this?
 
Last edited:
Gimlet said:
TIL that when my phone is on charge in my car the keyless fob won't work if it's placed next to the phone.

I usually charge at home on a wireless charger to save knackering the socket in the handset, but on one occasion I forgot and found my phone was near dead just as I was about to set off to drive somewhere, so I plugged it into the car and left the phone on the passenger seat. All was fine.

I set off again the other day with a nearly flat phone so I plugged it into the car's USB socket but this time, knowing I would be stopping en route and not wanting the charging phone to be visible while I was away from the car, I chucked it into the cubby hole in the central console and bunged the key fob in next to it, which is where I usually put it. Pushed the start button and it said "Key not detected. Please refer to your user manual".
No warning on the dash about a low battery in the fob. Odd. I picked up the fob, turned off the ignition, locked the doors then opened them again, held the key up to the dash and tried the start button. No problem. Fired up as normal. Drove off and when I stopped and parked up later on, I left the phone out of sight in the cubby hole still on charge and when I got back in the car the same thing happened again. Key not detected, please refer to user's manual.

Then it clicked. It's the bloody phone. I shut the ignition down again and moved the plugged in phone onto the passenger seat, away from the key fob. Woke the car up again and the car started as normal. Then I unplugged the phone so it wasn't charging and placed both key and phone into the cubby hole next to each other. Again, car started no problem.

I assume the phone's wireless charging signal operates at the same frequency as the cars keyless system (if that's how they work) and disables the key when it's within the phone's range. The phone is paired with the on-board hands-free system so it isn't the physical connection or the bluetooth interferring, it's the phone when in charge mode looking for a wireless charger and latching on to the key fob instead.

So if your phone's on charge and you car won't start, before you spend money replacing the fob's battery, try moving the phone away from the fob.

Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...
I'm sure that could have been condensed into 1 sentence 👀 great story though, I wonder how it ended :sleep:
 
TIL the origin of the saying "on tenterhooks"

A Tenter Tower

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By the mid-18th century, the phrase on tenterhooks came to mean being in a state of tension, uneasiness, anxiety, or suspense, i.e., figuratively stretched like the cloth on the tenter.

Cloth being stretched on a wooden tenter with the tenterhooks visible. An undyed cloth suspended on a wooden frame by small hooks.

This listed structure, known as a Tentering or Drying Tower, was once used to stretch cloth on wooden frames—called tenters—to ensure it kept its shape while drying.

The tower was part of a mill complex located further down the hill in Stubbins, built in 1877 by the Porritt family, prominent figures in the local textile industry.

In the days of its operation, freshly woven cloth would be carried up from the valley mills to this elevated position, where the passing wind helped speed the drying process as it flowed through the open tower. Stubbins, Lancashire, England
 
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