Evo-One responds to commands over Fortin RF642W kit poorely.

Question

Commands given from the RF642W two way kit are unreliable. Lock and unlock commands do not work 1/4 or more of the time, even when standing within 10ft. of the antenna. The remote beeps as if it has made communication with the car but the lock/unlock commands do not register.

Improper status is also given commonly when using the status request feature. I have gotten confirmation that the car is locked on multiple occasions when the car is surely not locked.

 

This RF kit is spotty at best, what gives? Is there better firmware or something?

Antenna is mounted in the front window and has no obstructions. Lock and trunk commands are being fed over OBD. Car is a 2003 Buick Century.

Answer 1

I have no reports of any issues as you describe and I myself use the exact same RF kit with no issues, perhaps try changing the batteries in the fobs?

Comments

OK, I took a few days to play with it more...

 

It is NOT the batteries. If it were, I should not be getting the green lights on the RF FOB with the corresponding tone that confirms it made communication with the car. If it were the batteries, I should recieve the red light alerting me no communication was made. Instead, I get the green lights and the correct tone but nothing happens. The car does not even try to hit the locks. This hapens at least 1/3rd of the time...So the RF remote works the locks properly ~66% of the time. That's completely unreliable...

 

One way to induce an incorrect lock status is to use either the OEM fob, use the lock buttons within the actual car, or use one of the instances when the BCM works car's locks automatically(like when put into drive or park). When a lock command is not given through the RF kit, the EVO can not determine the correct lock status. Instead, it will tell me the status of the car is whatever the last lock command given over the RF kit was. This is annoying but I am not sure if the EVO is even capable of monitoring lock statuses outside of lock commands given by the EVO itself.

 

Now, the EVO is at fault in this next one...

-Car is off. I use Fortin RF remote to unlock car. Car unlocks.

-I now ask for a status request using the Fortin RF remote. Status request says car is off and unlocked as aspected.

-I remote start the car now with the Fortin RF remote. Car starts. A few seconds after starting the EVO locks the doors to ensure the car is indeed locked.

-I now ask for a status request with my Fortin RF remote. Status is that the car is running but UNLOCKED! This is despite the last lock command being given by the EVO!!! This situation should NOT be happening!

 

 

Final issue I've been having with the RF kit is driver door unlock priority. This simply does not work no matter if I set the bypass settings to mimick OEM remote or if I set the remote starter settings to give driver door priority. It always unlocks all the doors at once. My OEM remote does driver door then the rest of the car. This setting is no deal breaker but again, it's another non-functioning feature that is suppose to work.

 

I feel extremely ripped of with this RF kit's reliability the way it is. I can be standing next to the car and it doesn't register the lock commands yet the RF remote says it made communication with the car via the green lights and proper tone.

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Today I had to hit the unlock button on my 2way Fortin RF remote FIVE TIMES to get the car to unlock! I was standing outside within 20ft of the actual antenna. I'd hit the unlock button and get the green confirmation lights with the beep beep tone but the car would not attempt to unlock. I'd wait 3-5secs and try again, same thing. On the fifth try, the car unlocked.

 

On ALL five attempts to unlock the car, the green light would blink twice and give the double beep confirming the RF remote had communicated with the car despite the unlock command not going through to the car.

 

When it fails to unlock, as described above, this causes a wrong status request too. So I have hit unlock and the RF remote confirms communication with the car but the car is still locked. I then ask the RF remote for the status of the car and the RF remote says the car is unlocked despite the car still being locked!

 

So earlier today, the remote would only work the locks 1/5th of the time even standing within 20ft of the car with no obstructions. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE PERFORMANCE!!!

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Thank you for the tests and information Bill, I will pass it along to the engineers and see what they think.

 

In the mean time try doing a master reset of the remote starter using the valet switch and pressing 23 times and then reprogram the remotes to the evo.

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Thank you Derek.

 

I believe this is pointing to issues with the EVO-ONE itself and not the actual RF kit.

 

When the car fails to unlock/lock but I still get the confirmation on the RF remote that it communicated, the EVO's status changes via the status request. So what I mean:

-Car is locked. Status request on RF remote confirms this.

-I hit unlock via RF remote. I get the two green lights and beep beep on the RF remote confirming it made communication with the EVO.

-Car did not unlock despite getting the confirmation from the remote. I then use the RF remote to request the car's status and the RF remote tells me the car is unlocked now although it is locked because the EVO never actually gave the car the unlock command like it should have.

 

What I outlined above shows that the EVO-ONE is indeed receiving the RF remote's commands just fine. It however is not passing on the lock/unlock command to the car.

 

I had it confirm that it communicated with the car earlier while remote starting it...It never even tried to start the car though. This is the first time the RF command to start the car has failed. Up till now, I've only experienced the EVO failing to pass on lock commands from the RF remote.

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That's what I was thinking myself.

The antenna is getting it but the evo isn't relaying it onto the car.

Try the master reset using the valet switch and pressing 23 times, then from that point reprogram the remotes to see if it changes for you.

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Did you ever find anything out? Master reset did nothing(I used the flash link software offline so unit's ID info is probably incorrect if you look up my settings).

 

I just went outside and tried to unlock the car and it took three attempts to get it too unlock while standing 4-5ft from the antenna.

 

This happens randomly regardlesss of where I am(home, store, rural countryside...doesn't matter where) so I don't think its signal interference being that the issue occurs in the middle of nowhere as well as around town.

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Nothing???

 

Again, today I go out to my car and hit unlock THREE TIMES!!! just to get the EVO to send one successful unlock command while standing less than 10ft from the window mounted antenna. This is absolutely unreliable performance.
 

It's sounding like my only option is to rip the EVO-ONE and the Fortin 2way RF kit out and replace it with a Compustar or something that isn't Fortin made. Thank goodness I still have time to return the Fortin hardware.

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Next thing to try would be to lower the RS firmware then re program the remotes too see if you get a change.

Try it with 1.18 and let me know if the symptom goes away...

Also were is the antenna mounted in the car?