DIY remote car starter uses pre-paid phone, less than $75 worth of materials

DIY

A man named Dave has cobbled together a remote car starter that uses a pre-paid phone to start the car’s engine. The launch sequence is initiated when the phone gets a call or when a particular event in the phone’s calendar comes up (he uses the calendar to start the car at specific times in the morning and at the end of the day so as not to waste minutes.

Dave, I like the cut of your jib.

Dave works at an airport and his car is miles and miles away from his office. He’d seen the Viper iPhone remote starter but, perhaps like many of us, balked at the $500 price tag. Using a little over $70 worth of parts (including the phone and $20 worth of air time), he managed to cobble together his own version of a phone-based remote starter.

You can read the entire three-part project here, but don’t try this at home unless you know what you’re doing.

Remote Start using Cell Phone [Dave Hacks via Slashdot]