Help with wiring alarm

[old_GH]

I have fitted an alarm that will trigger when any of the doors are opened, once armed. The one wire needs to connect into the interior lights circuit so when any of them come on the alarm sounds, so I connected this wire into Fuse No1 via the white wire of the Willington kit, that is inserted into Fuse No1 holder. Obviously this is wrong as that wire must be a permanent live feed, and the alarm doesn't go off. Could someone please tell me where the wire needs to go in that fuse block. I don't have a meter so cannot check myself.

[jaylee]

Is your alarm triggered by a voltage drop caused when the interior lights come on?? (Or the battery drain when starting?)
If so...? You may also find should you need to leave the vehicle armed & locked with the hazards on it will trigger it too! You will also need to make sure the dome light is on for when he door opens for this to work...

Some Sparkrites work this way...

Try removing the dome light in the cab to get an idea of the wire colour code for the live feed... Cuz from memory i'm not going to guess the wire colour if you don't have a meter to double check, but i know it goes down the drivers A pillar..!

[old_GH]

All the interior lights are set to come on when any of the doors are opened so I assume that once the circuit is made, that is what sounds the alarm, rather than sensing a battery voltage drop. It's not a sophisticated alarm, just a cheap and cheerful one until I can afford an all-in-one that immobilies, senses intrusion and has a built in tracker etc.

This is the actual alarm

Code: Select all

http://www.maplin.co.uk/easy-fit-car-alarm-347077

Perhaps the fitting instructions will shed more light on it

Code: Select all

http://www.maplin.co.uk/media/pdfs/A78JQ%20instruction%20manual%20V2.pdf

[jaylee]

OK, i'm reading the destructions... Back soon! Odd, looks like no earth wire for the actual alarm unit!?

Get yerself a meter....

[jaylee]

Right, looks like a similar set up i had on a Vauxhall Combo van i had years ago...

Try the red live straight on the alarm to the positive battery terminal... Should sense the voltage when the door opens..?


... Still can't work out how it earths to chassis though...? Unless it's through the bracket!!???? That cant be right!???

[Simon Jones]

Looks like there should be another wire shown on the diagram:

"NB: When both the black and red wires are connected the alarm will”chirp”. This
is normal and shows the circuit is completed"

It does appear to be current sensing, which as you recently pointed out, will only work if the interior light bulb is working & set to 'door' . I bet we've all turned the light to 'off' to save the battery when we've been tinkering in the van.

[jaylee]

I must admit, the PDF instructions don't really make sense to me!! (& as Simon knows i achieved some pretty complicated stuff with my installation, learning as i went from American car alarm sites.)

Looking again at the Maplin link to where you got the alarm...
This picture makes it a little clearer.



I'm gonna stick my neck out & say (fused) red to positive battery terminal, black wire to earth/ground, or even the negative terminal on the battery! It should click or chirp when connected?!!




Ah ruddy ha!!

I have fitted an alarm that will trigger when any of the doors are opened, once armed. The one wire needs to connect into the interior lights circuit so when any of them come on the alarm sounds, so I connected this wire into Fuse No1 via the white wire of the Willington kit, that is inserted into Fuse No1 holder. Obviously this is wrong as that wire must be a permanent live feed, and the alarm doesn't go off. Could someone please tell me where the wire needs to go in that fuse block. I don't have a meter so cannot check myself.

LB's are out of my zone, (different power distribution?) but my guess is try the alarm connections above straight to the LB... The alarm should then register a power drain..? Though, i am uncertain if it would sense it straight away due to the nature of the leisure battery...???



Where's Geoff..?

[old_GH]

Thanks both. The bracket gives the earth connection and now the only black wire is the twin core to the led. Reading the questions on the Maplin site, the older units did have a black wire for the earth, but this seems to have been superceded in preference to earthing via the bracket. I assumed (probably wrongly) that if you connected the red wire straight to the battery you would only have shock sensing, and that connecting that wire to the interior light circuit you would have both shock and intrusion.

As it stands, with the red wire connected to fuse 1, the led does flash and you get the "chirp" when arming/disarming, so I do have a complete circuit, plus the interior lights are all set to light when any of the doors are opened. Maybe the LB voltage is down a bit and this is stopping the alarm sensing the voltage drop correctly??? Unfortunately, it's hammering with rain at the moment so I can't play with the alarm any further. If/when it stops raining, I will attach the red wire straight to the LB live terminal and see if that gets it to work and report back.

Damned annoying when such a simple alarm doesn't go off when it should

[jaylee]

Just a thought..?!! Do you have led's fitted in yer courtesy lights...?

[old_GH]

No, standard festoons. Rain still stopping play.

[old_GH]

Wired direct to LB and still no joy... shock sensor works on maximum sensitivity, but looks like it would need an express train hitting the van to sound the alarm. Seems I have 20 quids worth of flashing LED on dashboard and nothing else

[g8dhe]

The signal to trip the alarm for door opening is best obtained from the Door light on the dashboard;

Its the Red wire on the 3C connector. However it doesn't cover the rear door / tailgate, so you never know if your driving down the road with the tailgate open ! Unless you look in the rear mirror!

[jaylee]

Geoff, does that circuit not only work with the ignition on???

Mine tells me if the rear doors are opened.... Had an intermittent red light (mainly over bumps & sharp turns.) on the panel coming up through Cheddar the other week... Thought i may have had an oil problem?? ....Turned out i hadn't closed the tailgate properly!!

[g8dhe]

That connection will have an earth applied to it via one of a couple of diodes (I3-06), even if the ignition is off the signal comes from here, diagram connector 86;

It will depend on how they sense the signal in the particular alarm, I've no info on that - ahh I see there is a link and .. yes it seems to rely on a change in battery voltage, ugh rather unreliable but there we go
The tailgate is on the far left, the passenger area is in the centre and the cabin is on the right, according to the diagram there is no connection from the tailgate switch to the light, and on our vehicle there isn't. Its the same on pre-1997 version as well.

[jaylee]

That connection will have an earth applied to it via one of a couple of diodes (I3-06), even if the ignition is off the signal comes from here, diagram connector 86;

It will depend on how they sense the signal in the particular alarm, I've no info on that - ahh I see there is a link and .. yes it seems to rely on a change in battery voltage, ugh rather unreliable but there we go
The tailgate is on the far left, the passenger area is in the centre and the cabin is on the right, according to the diagram there is no connection from the tailgate switch to the light, and on our vehicle there isn't. Its the same on pre-1997 version as well.

Yer right Geoff! Sorry dude... It's down to the way i wired the negative trigger on my alarm system...

I now have a "you didn't shut the tailgate properly" warning lamp as a by product.. Both my rear interior lights come on too when i open the tailgate.. Great for loading at gigs!!

By pure fluke; When the rear courtesy lights go out, the blue led's flash once when i close the back doors too! But i like that...



No way i would mess with the master...



I actually initially tried rigging my alarm up to this circuit & only succeeded in blowing the door warning bulb!!