Keyless immobilizer crawlers are designed to implement the engine autostart function on cars that have a standard immobilizer. Most modern cars on the Russian market are equipped with an immobilizer that does not allow you to start the engine remotely, because. the blocking is removed only if there is an owner with a chip key in the cabin.
To solve this problem, if you need to connect autorun, the chip key is usually hidden inside the immobilizer crawler. At the moment the engine is started, the crawler remotely, at the command from the car alarm, reads the signal from the chip key and transmits it to the ignition lock (to the standard immobilizer), as a result of which the engine is allowed to start, because. the immobilizer "thinks" that the owner is nearby. The main task of any crawler is to imitate the presence of the driver inside the car when a remote start command is given.
Using a chip key has a number of disadvantages:
- The need to manufacture an additional chip key. For a number of modern cars (mainly VAG-groups), it is not possible to make a chip key in a service center, so the only option is to contact an official dealer and order a new full-fledged key. The cost of such a service ranges from 8,000 to 25,000 rubles.
- To save on making a duplicate key, you can remove the chip from the already existing second car key, but in this case you have only one key left, which is inconvenient if several people use the car; in addition, not every key can be disassembled.
- There is a theoretical possibility that the chip being used will be found by a thief and used to steal a car.
Specifically designed to solve these problems, keyless immobilizer bypassers Idatalink and Fortin. The implementation of autostart without a key allows car owners to save on installing additional. equipment and worry less about the safety of your car.
Another key advantage of keyless crawlers, when installed in conjunction with Pandora or Pandect car alarms, is that they use a digital bus when transmitting commands during operation, and the signals are transmitted in encrypted form. Thus, the keyless immobilizer walker cannot in any way be used to steal a car by an intruder.
In addition, a number of Pandora and Pandect car alarms of the latest generations have a built-in immobilizer crawler - in this case, autorun implementation becomes as simple as possible and does not cost you additional costs for crawlers! A list of compatible vehicles is available in the help section.
If you find it difficult to determine the required keyless crawler model, then you can find a list of compatible cars on the iDataLink and Fortin manufacturers website; our managers will also be happy to help you choose a keyless crawler for a particular car. Call!
There are a lot of expensive and high-quality crawlers on the market for additional equipment for working with immobilizers, which make it easier to start the engine on a vehicle. But devices of the same type can be made independently, right at home. For a person who is well versed in mechanics and electrics, this process will not be difficult. How to make a lineman at home, every motorist can find out in more detail right now.
Equipment for immobilizers - do-it-yourself crawler
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The key or keyless immobilizer crawler has the shape of a rectangle, is quite compact and is quite inexpensive. Many people buy such devices in the store precisely because they consider the independent production of this system to be an almost impossible process. In fact, not everything is so complicated, and every experienced motorist can make a regular immobilizer crawler on their own. 
To do this, you need a minimum of equipment and a little free time. Each driver will be able to get acquainted with the principle of designing crawlers for standard immobilizers and even make this device with their own hands.
What is an immobilizer crawler and how is it assembled
For each standard immobilizer, the bypasser is a device. Which has the ability to broadcast the transponder code and thereby facilitate the auto-start of the engine. The crawler's main system unit is a kind of box in which a chip is hidden to access the immobilizer system.
Everything looks like this:
- a special chip is placed in a sealed, small plastic box;
- it is securely fixed there;
- the box is completely closed and a connector for connecting wires is added to it;
- the wires in the kit come separately, and the box needs to be attached to the car interior using self-tapping screws - they are also included in the kit.
The immobilizer crawler is not something complicated and it is quite simple to design such a device yourself. To carry out this process at home, the motorist needs to stock up on all the necessary parts for installation and tools.
Making a crawler - what tools can be made from
Modern equipment for bypassing a standard immobilizer is inexpensive, because it is actually very simple. In order to create such an immobilizer crawler yourself, you need to take the following:
All these things will be needed by the motorist so that he can make a do-it-yourself immobilizer crawler and run it without any problems.
In addition, the car owner may need the following tools and devices for work:
- scissors and a knife - for stripping wires and to be able to cut adhesive tape, electrical tape;
- voltmeter - for measuring voltage while connecting wires;
- devices with which you can screw screws.
For self-production of a regular immobilizer crawler, this is quite enough. To make work more productive and fast, you can use the standard connection diagram, which can be found on the Internet, as a sample.
Crawler manufacturing process - everything designers need to know
Making a key or keyless crawler for a regular immobilizer is not a very complicated process and every experienced motorist can do it. For design and installation, a minimum of parts and tools is required. With the details mentioned above, the motorist must perform the following manipulations:
This is all that needs to be done to independently design the immobilizer crawler. A keyless crawler will work just as productively as a more standard version of this device.
Additional tips for beginner designers - how to create a crawler correctly
Motorists who are going to make a keyless crawler for a standard immobilizer should know what kind of protection system works on their vehicle. If on a car - this is true for most modern cars, RFID and VATS protective systems are installed, then the following components will be needed to make an immobilizer:
All processes that are carried out by a motorist must be performed as accurately and clearly as possible. It is worth following the standard plan for the manufacture of such equipment.
The immobilizer crawler, which a person designed on his own, will not have such a neat appearance as it is observed in store options, but at the same time, its productivity will not be inferior to the purchased device. One end of the crawler wire must be connected to the standard antenna wire - this is necessary to transfer data to the immobilizer. Judging by what is drawn on the installation diagram, the other end of the wire should be connected to the blocking relay.
The simplicity of the design and its productive work will interest many drivers. The design and installation scheme will be understandable to anyone who is at least a little familiar with electrical and mechanics. Such a simple device will work without problems with all standard immobilizers and provide the car owner with the opportunity to provide keyless access to the vehicle's movement system. Installation is very fast, but during the installation process, you need to clearly remember the location of the chip so as not to damage it.
A standard connection diagram will help you quickly figure out what and what. If the car owner does not yet have time to engage in an independent crawler design, he can simply attach the chip to the antenna with electrical tape and this will be the simplest version of such a device. Such a lineman can also be used, but this is not very convenient, but a full-fledged design will work with security equipment for a long time. A self-made crawler is a real opportunity to get a productive means of protection and at the same time save money.
The expression "immobilizer bypass" refers to a number of technologies, the use of which allows you to start a car using a key. All of these technologies are combined under one word "bypass".
The installation of standard immobilizers on a car abroad was stimulated by certain restrictions when applying for insurance, in our country there was no such incentive and still is not. Now, most foreign cars in the country are equipped with a system called "regular immobilizer". The meaning of this system is that you can start the car with only one (“native”) key, the code of which is registered in the car’s security system. This was done in order to prevent the hijacker from starting the car with a master key or by shorting the wires. But in some situations, an immobilizer crawler is needed.
When installing an immobilizer, a number of the following problems may occur. The first is the occurrence of a number of unpleasant difficulties when the key is lost or the device itself fails. The second is that, according to the statistics of car theft, he does not give any guarantees. The third is the incompatibility of the immobilizer system with autorun.
So I had to come up with an immobilizer crawler so that, if desired, I would not depend on it.
In order to apply this or that method of “bypassing” the immobilizer, you first need to know how it works. Regardless of the presence or absence of a key, everyone, without exception, has a small chip, which is called a transfer. It continuously emits a low power RF signal. There is an immobilizer antenna that reads this signal, which recognizes exactly “its” key, or rather the chip located on the “native” key.
Today, auto-start alarms have become very popular among owners of expensive foreign cars. But what if there is a desire to combine both autorun and immobilizer?
Naturally, the key cannot be left in the ignition, but there is a way out. To implement a remote car with an immobilizer, the above device called "immobilizer crawler" is used. For its operation, it is necessary to install a chip from the spare car key or the entire spare key into it. Sometimes it is more convenient to make a duplicate chip, the production cost of which will cost an average of one hundred dollars, or to order another key from an authorized dealer of the brand of car you drive.
The immobilizer crawler is installed in the depths of the car, in a certain way connecting it to both the alarm with auto start and to the device itself. Information is read from the chip only with the permission of the alarm and only at the time of starting the engine. Thus, the functions of the immobilizer are not violated, and it is still impossible to start the car by any improvised means. But the work is preserved, that is, the possibility of remote starting the engine is not violated. This greatly simplifies operation.
Not allowing the engine to be started by turning the ignition lock cylinder, has long become the norm. However, this automatically made autostart impossible: without “seeing” the ignition key in the lock, the injection ECU would not allow the engine to start. Therefore, it is necessary to use immobilizer crawlers - devices that imitate a key or a chip card.
An auto electrician-diagnostician, a certified StarLine specialist, works on the site. If you have questions about car alarms, ask them at the end of the article in the comments or Vkontakte.
How does the immobilizer crawler work?
Key crawler of the standard immobilizer
The most common principle for reading keys in modern immobilizers is simple: a chip is mounted in the key, which is an RFID tag with a unique code written on it. Contactless intercom keys, metro cards, and much more work in the same way. A coil antenna is installed around the ignition switch, which picks up the signal from the tag at the moment the ignition is turned on.
The simplest immobilizer crawler is, in fact, two antennas of the same type, open through a relay. One antenna is wound around the standard one, the chip extracted from the key or the key itself is inserted inside the second one. Since the circuit is open, the immobilizer does not see the chip in the crawler. Only at the moment when the alarm closes the crawler relay, the request pulse from the standard antenna is transmitted to the crawler antenna, reaches the chip, and the chip transmits a response signal.
This method cannot be called perfect for the following reasons:
- One of the regular keys stops working, it will no longer be possible to start the car from it. If several people use one machine, this is inconvenient. You will have to order an additional key: either from the officials (new, with a unique code that will have to be registered in the immobilizer's memory), or from the "craftsmen" to clone the original one. In addition, insurers do not like this method, by installing an alarm with auto start, the CASCO price will increase if the owner does not have two workable keys.
- Possible problems with reading the chip. The device of two additional antennas is sensitive to the location of both the chip and the standard transponder relative to the windings. On some machines, the standard crawler antenna is not enough for efficient operation - you have to wind the antenna yourself.
If standard keys use not a passive tag (activated by a signal from the reader), but an active one (with its own power source), then inconvenience and disadvantages are added. You have to use a crawler like Pandora DI-03 and regularly (although not so often) change the battery in it.
Keyless Crawlers
The principle of operation of the keyless crawler
Keyless bypass systems became the solution to the problem. In order for the standard immobilizer to give a command to allow the launch, it only needs to receive a certain signal from its antenna. To do this, it is not at all necessary to have a chip next to the antenna - if you connect a device capable of generating the desired signal to it, then recognition will be successful, and all keys will remain operational.
Keyless immobilizer crawler Fortin EVO-KEY
Perhaps the most famous immobilizer keyless bypass module works on this principle - the Canadian Fortin F1 and its newer models up to Fortin Evo-All. When installed, it is connected to the alarm and wires through which the immobilizer unit is connected to the reader. Then the training procedure is performed: first, the crawler unit, “listening” to the signal from the antenna, remembers the code of the chip located in the ignition key, and then imitates it.
Moreover, such modules successfully work not only on the simplest immobilizers with a fixed code, but also on systems with a dynamically changing code - the main thing is that the manufacturer provides support for a specific car model. Using a laptop with software provided by the developer, you can decrypt the encryption key, after which the keyless bypass unit will be able to simulate a dynamic code in the same way as a regular immobilizer chip would do.
StarLine engineers had a hand in the popularity of Fortin modules in Russia first of all. These units were not only sold complete with a number of alarms, but their software was also customized to the needs of the market. Therefore, Fortin modules (re-marked as StarLine F1) work both with premium cars and with budget cars popular in our country from Kia / Hyundai, GM, Renault and so on.
Fortin modules are designed with maximum versatility in mind. But their competitors from iDataLink chose to follow the path of creating more specialized models: for example, the START-BM1 module is designed exclusively for BMW / Mini, START-BZ1 for Mercedes-Benz, START-VW2 for VAG cars, and so on. Such systems are more convenient to install. Their wiring harness is connected to the standard “plug-to-plug” wiring (Fortin also offers this, but you will most likely have to buy a “highly specialized” harness on the same ebay), the algorithms themselves are better “sharpened” for specific applications. In addition, there is no binding to a specific brand of alarms. The same StarLine F1 with alarms from other manufacturers is far from a fact that it will work, which is indicated in the passport. Systems from iDataLink are complete autostart devices - the engine can be started with a car's standard radio key.
There are other specialized keyless crawlers on sale. For example, the BPImmo TL-1 module has become popular due to the prevalence of right-hand drive Toyotas. This is the only keyless crawler that officially supports domestic Japanese Corolla Fielder, Mark X and so on.
Interestingly, the developers of t also did not “reinvent the wheel”, like their St. Petersburg colleagues. The proposed Pandora RMD-7 autorun module itself does not have a keyless bypass function, but integrates with the iDataLink universal crawler that works via the CAN bus, realizing the so-called "smart" bypass.
"Smart" immobilizer bypass
The integration of on-board electronic units into a common network on a digital bus provides the broadest possibilities, including the "smart" bypass of the immobilizer. At the same time, additional connections are not required - it is enough to connect a bypasser or an alarm with a "smart" bypass to the bus and carry out training, if the instruction requires it.
Video: Overview of Starline immobilizer crawlers
