Scary situation when I have to ask this question...

[Thomby]

I look inside the bag with a flashlight and see nothing amiss, the stitching and 'gold' material look nice and tight, brand new actually, the entire workmanship of these bags appears to be tops, it's just frustrating that they quit blocking for no known reason. I will hypothesize that the 'gold' material of the faraday liner includes a coating, which is what wears off, so keeping the cost down. I'd of course rather have a bag that never wears out as long as there are no holes, rips or failed seams.

Oh that makes sense if it's a thin coating that peels. I figured it would be a mesh because that's usually what Faraday cages are -- an approximation of a full sphere that works for any wavelength bigger than the openings in the mesh (like what lets you see through your microwave door, or what they put in the walls of high security rooms).

But if it's just a spray on conductive film, especially on a flexible material, I'm sure it's just wearing through enough to let the RF signal pass.

 

[Devin]

I was always partial to Magnavolt from Robocop 2:

It won't even run down your battery!

Does it come with a Black Ice Little Tree air freshener? If so, sold!

 

[rpoffen]

That doesn't really make sense, unless you tear a hole in the thing. A Faraday cage is just a net of conductive material whose holes are small enough relative to the wavelength of the signal you want to block that it acts the same as a solid sphere (e.g. wrapping in tin foil).

Exactly, that is how you can see through the window on the door of a microwave oven, notice that it is a mesh of small holes, the holes are too small for the wavelength of the microwaves inside.

 

[rpoffen]

Stingers have immobilizers, if the key is not detected literally inside the vehicle when the brake is depressed and then the thief try to put it in gear the engine will shut off and he will be sad panda. They could in theory man in the middle your rfid code from ur fob and then use a secondary device to send the signal, that is getting pretty time consuming and premeditated for your friendly neighborhood chitown gang banger. If u want extra protection, Faraday bag ur fobs when not in use so they aren't constantly broadcasting the happy code around ur house.

I am pretty sure the fob is not constantly transmitting. It only transmits when it receives a signal from the car in close proximity, or when you press any of the buttons, otherwise it is silent. If it were always transmitting, the battery would last a few days or weeks at best.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I am pretty sure the fob is not constantly transmitting. It only transmits when it receives a signal from the car in close proximity, or when you press any of the buttons, otherwise it is silent. If it were always transmitting, the battery would last a few days or weeks at best.

my question above is, how much protection against a transmitted signal is a compromised faraday bag? when the bag allows you to walk up to the car and open it, this doesn't mean that you can reach inside the bag from say twenty feet away and push the lock button and it will work; I've tried this and the bag, even with the flap opened for access, still blocks the signal, you have to remove the fob at least partially in order for the car to receive the signal and lock the doors. so, I am wondering how limited the 'painting' range is for a scanner when the bag doesn't work right beside the car door anymore.