Key Sense. What Does It Mean?

This term is used on remote starter installation manual, but what does it mean? What exactly does it do? Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

it knows when the key is in the ignition or not.  i think passkey 3 might use it.  i know a lot of 555u setups need to ground the key sense on RS activation, so they car thinks the key is in.

Key sense if for when you have a transponder key and you use a coffin with another key. It shuts the coffin down and lets the key in the ignition work so that the car does not see 2 keys  and shut down due to seeing 2 of them"Big" Mike

Double Take

Fremont, Ne

remember to check all your wires with a dmm not a test light!!

i take no responsibilty whatsoever for the vailidty of the info nor consequences thereof

As you see there are two common uses of the key sense wire. It would really depend if your unit has a key sense INPUT or a key sense OUTPUT. If it's an input, as mentioned that usually means when the units see a key in the cylinder, it will shut down the bypass. Some units also use the input to make the quick stop feature work. Finally, some alarm systems will use the key sense as a trigger as well. If it's an output, it's going to be sending a signal to the factory key sense wire to make the car think the key is in the ignition during remote start. Usually not necessary in most cases, but some cars are picky. Hope that helps, Mike