I am the happiest guy on earth now. I finally got my DBALL3 and Viper SmartStart kit installed that I purchased from Toby Broadfield. SmartStart has a yearly fee of $69 dollars and works via your cell phone. When it is renewal time Viper is supposed to have a promo code to lower the price so I only signed up for one year. I think this price is lower than the annual fee Lexus charges for remote start via the Enform application.

Because of the DBALL3

• I can start and stop the engine with three clicks from my Lexus Smartkey
• I can open the trunk when the car is remote started
• Engine does cut off when the door is opened

From the IOS SmarStart app I can:

• Start the car (and receive confirmation of success or failure)
• Start the stop the care (and receive confirmation of success or failure)
• I can lock the car (and receive confirmation of success or failure)
• I can unlock the car (and receive confirmation of success or failure)
• I can engage the panic mode (and receive confirmation of success or failure)
• I can open the trunk (and receive confirmation of success or failure)
• With the SmartPark feature I can see on a map where my car was parked
• It takes about 10 seconds for the car to start once you use the app. It is not as immediate as the three click method but the range is basically limitless as long as a 3G signal can reach your car.

Here is where it becomes the year 3018 for me:

From my AppleWatch

• I can start the car
• I can stop the car
• I can lock/unlock
• I can engage the panic
• I can open the trunk
• I can pull up on a tiny map where I parked.
• I can impress my three children

I tried to install it twice myself but it didn't work out for various reasons. It is hot in Houston and you have your limits of how much time you can spend in the garage. I eventually paid 99 bucks to the installer at BestBuy.

I wanted to give Toby Broadfield, a member on ClubLexus (Toby@BroadfieldCustoms.com) a big shout out for the reasonably priced parts, incredibly fast shipping, the customized and dummy proofed instruction manual, as well as the countless support emails and texts he sent. When I didn't have luck with my install the first time, Toby shipped out a second DBALL3 unit without hesitation. Now that I got my LS squared away it is time to send him back the extra unit he sent me and get working on my wife's Odyssey through him.

If you need remote start for your Lexus, don't hesitate for a second to contact Toby.

 

Congrats, bigsherv. I might take the plunge on this too for our '13 LS. I read through this entire thread to make sure my question wasn't already answered. I know the car will stay on for 5-15 minutes with remote start and that there is not "takeover" option. The lack of tackover is a disappointment considering a buddy's 2017 Accord allows takeover. His Accord will turn off after remote start IF he presses the brake pedal. However, the Accord factory remote start doesn't turn on all accessory power. The AC will run but not the radio, so if he enters the car after remote start and presses the Start button then the rest of his dash comes alive and he is then free to shift into gear and drive off -- the engine will not turn off even if the brake pedal is pressed, so long as he pushed the car's Start button first.

One question I still have is whether or not anyone is concerned with the additional stress on components when having to restart your car immediately after you open the door. For the home, it is recommended not to restart your AC immediately after it has stopped. Is there any concern for a car's starter, condenser, or water pump stopping and starting after quick succession? Thanks to OP and Shibumi for the wealth of knowledge (and warnings) to make sure each install was successful for others.

 

 

Bringing back this thread because it's getting cold out and I'm trying to figure out if adding a viper, compustar, python etc.. will give me more range and is a simple plug and play to the Dball?

 

 

Don't really care about having an extra remote but I don't want to pay for a subscription like you have. That's overkill for my situation. I just need to add something that's not line of sight like the factory remote. So I can potentially start the car from 2 blocks away. I know you can do this with the app but I also see viper has a 1 way remote with 1/4 mile range. Is it as simple as buying that remote or an RF kit and plugging it into the Dball?

 

Any idea how much that Viper unit costs for the LS?

My wife's got an older vehicle with Viper and while it can work 2 blocks away, it's very dependent on any obstacles & prefers a line-of-sight.

 

​​​​​​https://viper.com/

 

Viper doesn't provide any pricing, and does not include the cost of install.

 

All you have to do is see what they suggest then go to bestbuy,com or pcrichard .com and price it out. I just checked for the GS and the 1 way is about $300 and 2 way $400 installed.