One of the issues that I have with my home made auto start is range. Obviously, Bluetooth Low Energy is only supposed to travel about 35 feet, when it is unobstructed, of course. The problem that I have here is that the BLE antenna was inside of a metal box, inside of a metal cab (the truck). Even placing the box up on the dash for “best results”, I could only be about 15 feet away from the truck to connect and transmit.
However, I decided to change that today. I decided to un-solder the antenna from the feather and put it on the end of some wire. Unfortunately, when I un-soldered the antenna, I broke it. But, Praise God, it still works after I wired in a makeshift antenna using about 6 feet of twisted, insulated, 20 gauge wire!
A few short tests, but I could now stand about 35 feet from the truck. Not only that, but I was able to successfully connect and start the truck from INSIDE the building, transmitting THROUGH a closed door!
Here are a few pics of the event:
I even took a few videos that you can check out on my GitLab!
Linux – keep it simple.