I had a strange experience last Thursday. I got woken up at 5 a.m. with my front door bell ringing. It alarmed me. I decided not to go down to the door and about 15 minutes later it rang again. I still ignored it. Then about 6 a.m. it went again, so I went into my office room which is at the front of the house and looked out of the window to the door, but couldn`t see anyone there, so back to bed. A short time later it went yet again, so this time I thought I`d better go down, so I put my dressing gown on went down and looked out of the front room window. No-one there and no one anywhere in sight in the road, no cars moving, nothing.
I decided there was one way to stop this, so I took the batteries out of the bell.
After breakfast I put the batteries back, and as I put them in the bell rang, and rang and rang - that`s it I thought, it wasn`t anyone at all, its the bell gone wrong.
Later that morning I went out to get in my car and the key wouldn`t open the car when I pressed it. I tried different angles etc. but, no go. Must be to do with the battery in that key I thought, so I got the other key to the car...... and the same thing happened, it wouldn`t open the door. What to do?
So I rang my local garage, he talked me through how to take a part off of the passenger door handle, and then there was a place to put the key in. That done, I had to get in (well squeeze in as it was close against bushes in the driveway!) reach across and open the drivers door so that I could get in and then take the car over to them at the garage. I tried that, but the door wouldn`t open from inside either. It sounds like the battery he said, and told me to ring the AA or RAC. I belong to the AA so rang them.
The AA chap arrived in about 30 minutes, got in put the key in the ignition and then opened the drivers door. . Then tried it all again for me and found the same problem with opening it with the key. " Sounds as if its to do with the coding in the key to the car which will need to be reset", he said then he though and asked "Can I take it down the road and try it in the next road" he asked. I agreed. So he did, and within a few minutes was back. "It`s fine he said, there`s nothing wrong with the key or car". He tried it again with my car back on the drive..... and.... it refused to open!
He explained that car keys work on radio waves, and asked if I had anything new around here that is interferring with the signal. I couldn`t think of anything. There was a police car parked just a short distance away and he wondered if it could be to do with the signal of their radio. Then he spotted the light on on the door bell, and I said about the problem I`d had with that earlier in the morning - I think that`s the cause he said and went to examine the bell for me. He discovered that rain water had got into the bell and was causing the sensor in the bell to stay on, and that was affecting the signal to the car key! He took the bell off the door for me, and..... the car key worked fine!
So, I say - Well done to the AA man !
