I have a viper 790 which seemingly works fine. Starts the car, alarm works ok... has a back up battery. Alarm is nearly 3 years old.
Ever since I got the alarm installed, the car seems to have worse throttle response and worse gas mileage. Also, the headlights flicker and the voltage fluctuates. The installer blew the ignition fuse in my car installing it.
Recently found bad alternator and replaced it, but the voltage still fluctuates. Dealer is scratching their head, said battery tests good. Indeed, the car can sit for a week or two and still start.
I noticed something funny the other day when I had the bat unhooked - I set the alarm off. Instead of squealing, the siren just went CLICK...CLICK..CLICK..CLICK. Is something amiss with my alarm brain or backup battery?
Should I just clip the wires to the backup battery? Then perhaps take the fuse from the alarm.
04 Vette. Alpine, ARC, Dyn stuffs.
Last edited by MidnightCE; 01-10-2008 at 09:04 AM..
Since everything works fine with the cars battery connected, I would suspect the backup battery as your problem. I would disconnect that and leave everything else connected as a starting point.
I have a viper 790 which seemingly works fine. Starts the car, alarm works ok... has a back up battery. Alarm is nearly 3 years old.
Ever since I got the alarm installed, the car seems to have worse throttle response and worse gas mileage. Also, the headlights flicker and the voltage fluctuates. The installer blew the ignition fuse in my car installing it.
Recently found bad alternator and replaced it, but the voltage still fluctuates. Dealer is scratching their head, said battery tests good. Indeed, the car can sit for a week or two and still start.
I noticed something funny the other day when I had the bat unhooked - I set the alarm off. Instead of squealing, the siren just went CLICK...CLICK..CLICK..CLICK. Is something amiss with my alarm brain or backup battery?
Should I just clip the wires to the backup battery? Then perhaps take the fuse from the alarm.
The back up battery just supplies power to the brain when power is loss to the main harness. It shouldn't be the culprit.
Remote start installs does tap into your main ignition harness. 3 or 4 wires are normally spliced and cut. The starter wire is cut in half, then wired to a satellite relay. The accessory and ignition wires are spliced in....
Any of these wires not properly connected together will give you issues.
Also, is the new vette still use a fiberglassed frame? Be sure that the main alarm and everything else was properly grounded.
USUC World Champion - Stock System Class. Super Street Division. Special Edition Bose 26 piece speaker system with enhanced ported tweeters. 89.2 db Legal, 89.6 db Outlaw. Vestax's Install
this is in my wrx. if i pull the alarm fuse, would any alarm install related issues go away?
It wouldn't hurt to pull the fuse. You might to reprogram it for remote start if you have it installed.
USUC World Champion - Stock System Class. Super Street Division. Special Edition Bose 26 piece speaker system with enhanced ported tweeters. 89.2 db Legal, 89.6 db Outlaw. Vestax's Install
I do have remote start, but I'm not sure what you mean.
it was installed by car audio innovations here in Roseville.
When you first install a DEI remote start on a vehicle, you have to program the alarm to read tach or program it for tachless, before you remote start the vehicle. If you pull the fuse, you may have to reprogram it again.
If you can drop the bottom panel below the steering wheel column, you can check to see how they made the connection on the white/black wire (about 10awg wire) and see if they use crimps. Also check to see how they grounded the brain. It's a black wire in color. Grounding it to a welded part of a car is a poor choice of a ground.
Mr Marv had the same issue with his alarm on his El Camino. It was discovered that his alarm wasn't grounded properly and the starter wires weren't exactly connected well either.
I've done quite a few remote starts on the WRX, and never had a problem with it at all.
USUC World Champion - Stock System Class. Super Street Division. Special Edition Bose 26 piece speaker system with enhanced ported tweeters. 89.2 db Legal, 89.6 db Outlaw. Vestax's Install
i think they soldered... ill start pulling tonight.
Pull the fuse out first, see if the alarm is the culprit of your problems. Check for more blown fuses if they haven't already.
USUC World Champion - Stock System Class. Super Street Division. Special Edition Bose 26 piece speaker system with enhanced ported tweeters. 89.2 db Legal, 89.6 db Outlaw. Vestax's Install
Pull the fuse out first, see if the alarm is the culprit of your problems. Check for more blown fuses if they haven't already.
can I just safely unhook the back up battery without a problem? do you think the battery is bad since the horn just "clicks" when it goes off without the car battery?
keep in mind my car alarm experience is roughly zero.
can I just safely unhook the back up battery without a problem? do you think the battery is bad since the horn just "clicks" when it goes off without the car battery?
keep in mind my car alarm experience is roughly zero.
I appreciate your help so far.
No harm in disconnecting your back up battery.
A siren that's clicking (not fully activated nor silent) is a sign of low voltage.
USUC World Champion - Stock System Class. Super Street Division. Special Edition Bose 26 piece speaker system with enhanced ported tweeters. 89.2 db Legal, 89.6 db Outlaw. Vestax's Install
Vestax, when you installed in WRXs, did you unhook the factory security system?
if so, where is that connector? ill have to hook it back up while my alarm is out of commission.
There's never a reason to unplug the stock security system, so it's usually never disconnected. I'm not sure where the stock security module is so I wouldn't be able to tell you but in most imports, it's somewhere near the steering column. I'm 99% sure your installer didn't unplug it.
USUC World Champion - Stock System Class. Super Street Division. Special Edition Bose 26 piece speaker system with enhanced ported tweeters. 89.2 db Legal, 89.6 db Outlaw. Vestax's Install
There's never a reason to unplug the stock security system, so it's usually never disconnected. I'm not sure where the stock security module is so I wouldn't be able to tell you but in most imports, it's somewhere near the steering column. I'm 99% sure your installer didn't unplug it.
He did, he said he couldn't figure out how to disable it otherwise... because even when not locking it with the fob, after a while it would still set off the factory alarm.
I dont know, they did a great job on my Tacoma. But this one they installed with the battery plugged in. As Rod Birch put it "Sparky clause came to town!"
I got some nice free RCAs out of it for the trouble though
Car alarm problem/questions.
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