I apologize for the first post, not sure what happened there....
Greets to all! New to the forums and I would like to jump right in with a question about my system.
I have a 1998 Chev Astro van that I bought in 99’. I had a local shop install an Avistart 4500 Remote Starter w/Keyless Entry. Fantastic system and I have enjoyed it immensely. In 2003 my vehicle was vandalized and my head unit (radio) was stolen while my van was parked at my workplace. I opted to have an alarm system installed afterwards.
I visited the exact same shop that installed the Avistart 4500. They indicated to me that they could install an Avital 2300 on top of the already existing system and the new remote control for the alarm system would give me access to all the Avistart features (remote start, keyless entry) and it would of course activate and deactivate the new alarm system accordingly.
They installed the alarm and it all worked as they said it would. Of course I was still working at the time, but several months later I opted to work entirely from home. My car sat for a number of days in my driveway after leaving my job. The next time I went to drive my van, the battery was dead. I immediately suspected that it had something to do with the new alarm system. Got the car running again and every three days, the battery would be dead. I called the install shop and they said that it couldn’t be the alarm system and that I should take it to an auto electric shop. I bought a new battery just incase it was indeed the problem.
Some time had passed before I could get to the auto electric shop and I had to jump start my car several times due to draining on the new battery, but the electric shop pinpointed the problem as being the alarm system and disconnected the cable from the brain. While the alarm no longer worked, I was able to grab my old remotes for the Avistart 4500 and that system continued to work fine (remote start/keyless entry). With the alarm now disconnected, the draining battery was no longer a problem; it could sit for a week and still start right up.
I then brought the van to the install shop and told them that the auto electric guys determined the alarm to be the source of the problem. They decided to throw a DMM on the battery and determined that when the alarm was armed, it was drawing too much from the battery. Thinking it was a faulty alarm brain they charged me $130 to replace it with a new unit. This was mid Jan 2005. I bought a new battery again for obvious reasons.
I have been driving my vehicle a great deal more so if there was still a drain on the battery, the problem was not noticeable. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the vehicle sat for two days and when I went in to start it, I could tell the battery was very weak but it did start. I’m thinking, here we go again!
So rather than spending money on having the auto electric people tell me the same thing, I decided to test. I left the alarm connected and let the car sit for 3 days. At the end, the battery was nearly dead. I discoed the alarm and drove an hour to charge the batt. Let it sit for 3 days and she fired right up. Reconnected the alarm and let it sit for 3 more days. Batt was nearly dead again. Discoed the alarm and let it sit for another 3, she started right up. The problem is obvious.
My thinking is that the two systems together are drawing too much power when the car is armed and not running. I contacted the install shop yesterday and talked with the owner and he cited everything from bad battery to something else causing the problem. I explained to him my testing of connecting and disconnecting the alarm system and the clear evidence of what the problem is but he was very evasive and just wants me to bring it in so he can throw a DMM on it to check it out; but to what end I wonder?
In the end, what leverage do I have here?
Should the installer have opted to install a single system with alarm, keyless entry, remote start all in one?
Is it normal to throw a complete second Avital alarm system on top of an existing Avistart system?
If so, should two different systems such as these create a condition of excessive drain?
Any insight as to why this is happening, possible solutions and or recourse I may have with the installer would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your time!
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The Big Dog Bites [H]ard!
I have performed some testing using my DMM.... here are the results:
Avistart 4500 Connected : .10 milliamps
Avistart 4500 + Avital 2200 Connected / 2200 Disarmed : .20 milliamps
Avistart 4500 + Avital 2200 Connected / 2200 Armed: .130 ~ .140 milliamps (way too much)
All results are based on vehicle either armed or disarmed for a period of 30 mins.
Any thoughts on what might be causing such a large draw when the 2200 is armed?
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The Big Dog Bites [H]ard!