car alarm woes

[rathies]

This is mainly directed at the strathfield boys but I'm open to any suggestions.

The pootrol came with a bunky old dynamco immob/alarm thingo, but there was never a siren or external sensor, it was just central locking and an immobiliser.
I purchased a glassbreak and a SIR-001 (battery backup siren), set it all up and was disappointed to find the alarm chirps were loud enough to wake the dead  Silent disarm using the second button also didn't work because the software is so old.

Soo..today I went and bought one of the new s35's with those new skinny remotes, wacked that in using the same loom plug *joy* and fired it up. Now i've got a new problem with the chirps, only on arming the first chrip is loud enough to wake the dead and the second one is nice and soft. The disarm chirp is also nice and soft. The siren wiring is definately correct I even ran the siren constant power straight off the battery, leaving the orange wire to goto the alarm output.

At first I thought it could be caused by me accidentally hooking siren power up to the indicator wire, so i chopped the orange wire, arm + disarm and no chirps at all. The wiring cant be the problemo, so it must be software. any suggestions/run into this problem fellas??

[rathies]

I should also add that I tried turning the chirps off via the software by turning the ignition key 13 times and pressing the button, as the manual says. The soft chirps cut out but I still get that loud arsed first chirp on arming 
oh and ahh silent arm using the second button on the 'mote doesn't stop the loud chirp either.

[Jono]

One of my mates has the same problem. Rather weird indeed. I haven't got around to trying to fix it yet, I'll let you know when I do.

[rathies]

mm must be software.  I shall call dynamco tomorrow.

[dave-trx]

Sorry to hijack Luke.

Jono or sticky whats good in the mongoose car alarm range these days, other brands aswell.

I want to make sure some drugo dero doesn't break into the Navara and flog my uhf etc, I cannot afford downtime with the ute. ie some asshole smashing a window or stealing the car.

Price doesn't worry me, I know a guy who can get alarms at cost price.

Cheers Dave.

[rathies]

omg omg i fixxxed it!! 

i spoke to a bloke called tim from dynamco support, its the 1800 number on the instructions. He said he's never heard of the problem before but thinks its a large volt drop from the locks going down/indicators/relays and shit all clicking at once. and its causing the battery backup siren to go, which is possible, so I asked him what voltage the backup kicks in at and he said about 6.
Tim suggested I try chopping the indicator/central locking wires one at a time and see if it fixes the problem, but i found a better/easier way.

I noticed lately that the battery that came with the car, a huge mofo has been struggling to start the car a little lately, probably cos its not shock proof from me going off road. So i just wacked the optima in and gave it a burl and no more loud chirp. The car also starts in a millisecond of cranking, very impressed. 

[Jono]

mm must be software.  I shall call dynamco tomorrow.

That's what I'm thinking atm. I might add that my mate's siren is running through a relay, so I'm almost certain it's an issue with the alarm itself.

Jono or sticky whats good in the mongoose car alarm range these days, other brands aswell.

I want to make sure some drugo dero doesn't break into the Navara and flog my uhf etc, I cannot afford downtime with the ute. ie some asshole smashing a window or stealing the car.

Alarms won't stop people from stealing or damaging your car, all they do is either make it less convenient for the thieves, or scare them off completely.

For security, and because you don't mind spending an extra few dollars I'd recommend a black wired alarm. They're a bit more time consuming to install but if they're installed well they'll confuse thieves nicely.

I'm not really up to date on Mongoose models because I don't deal with them day-to-day, but I've personally seen two that have stopped working for an unknown reason.

I'm quite familiar with Dynamco's range of products which is what Rathies is talking about now. The S35i is an excellent immobiliser, I've never had reliability issues with any of Dynamco's stuff, and we fit them to some oddball cars at work (the local council is handing out free immobiliser vouchers to car theft victims, and working in a lower class suburb there are some weird and wonderful 'things with wheels' that come in).

They also sell upgrade alarms that are useful if you've got a factory keyless entry system (being a Navara I doubt you got that as a factory option?) They hook into the factory KEM and read when the remote is used to unlock the doors, and then use this signal to arm or disarm the alarm and immobiliser.

Black Widow also sell a black wired alarm, these are a quite a good unit, but I've had a couple come back with issues, but two out of over a hundred isn't a bad failure rate. Disarming the black wire version of Black Widow alarms without a remote is a bit tricky though, there's no clear instructions on how to do it in the instruction manual.


Hmm it seems that while I was typing that you posted a reply...

MMkay, maybe the factory keybarrel wiring in the old '85 Supra isn't up to the job of running the alarm, central locking, indicators, various relays, dome light supervision AND a siren I think his battery might be a bit on the tired side too.

[rathies]

mm this problem still occurs intermittently now, freakin weird  I think it may be to do with the charge in the battery being over or under a certain level, i also think it may have something to do with the siren battery overcharging too...real weird, i'll sort it out one day. 

[Jono]

I don't think it's a problem with the siren. I'm using a BW850 (black widow) siren with a relay converting the negative signal to a positive signal. It still trips the relay and triggers the siren. At least I think it does, I'll have to check that.

[rathies]

I even disconnected the orange siren wire and tried arming/disarming the alarm to see if it was voltage drop causing this and the siren didn't bleep one bit. Its possible the central locking system has a ground fault somewhere or something. But you wouldn't think that would affect the alarm box. oh the possibilities are endless 

[rathies]

Another breakthrough jono, I've discovered it happens whenever the voltage is higher than 13.3v If I run the lights for a few secs or the stereo or something after stopping the car then arm it the chirps are fine. If i arm it straight after killing the motor i get the loud chirp. weird or what??

[Jono]

Rather weird indeed.

I'd go to Dynamco with what you've tried and what you found, and tell them I have an alarm using a relay to trigger the siren, and I have the same problem.

See what they say...

Oh, and the central locking in my mate's car is the factory system, but I've removed the factory control unit and I'm using 2 relays to drive the factory motors. So I doubt it's that.

[Sticky]

Sorry to hijack Luke.

Jono or sticky whats good in the mongoose car alarm range these days, other brands aswell.

I want to make sure some drugo dero doesn't break into the Navara and flog my uhf etc, I cannot afford downtime with the ute. ie some asshole smashing a window or stealing the car.

Price doesn't worry me, I know a guy who can get alarms at cost price.

Cheers Dave.

dude, ive had a mongoose before..came with the 180, it was nothing but fucking issues..stupid piece of crap, i would not recommend to anyone.

like jono said, an alarm wont stop people from breaking in, more so a deterant when and if they attemp to go any further.

id recommend dynamco alarms, or cyclops specifically, they are easy to fit, rarely see issues and are well priced.

[Sticky]

rathies, call dynamco...i think they are in perth anyways... their tech blokes are awesome, i have a fitter login for their website if you need it

[rathies]

yea i got a login too, i wish they had forums