troubleshooting alarm, remote start

Hi all,

I’m new here and new to installing remote starter/alarms. I bought an Air Wolf #20099 made by DesignTech  (I think) back in 2004 and just now got around to installing it for various reasons.DesignTech doesn’t show up in my searches on the internet so asking them for tech support doesn’t seem to be an option. Did they get bought out?Anyways, I am a novice with a background in circuit board layout so that was a big help in planning out my installation.I planned it out to the tee for my wife’s 2002 Durango with a 4.7L engine. 3 weeks of planning followed by 3 days of installation, of which I felt really confident about has left me totally confused as to what went wrong as was evident when I tried to program the remotes.There’s a 2 way remote and a one way transmitter.  When I programmed the 2 way remote by opening the door, turning the key to run and holding 2 buttons down until the remote played a melody, all seemed to go well but then when I went to do the one way transmitter, which stated that it would chirp 3 times if successful, it only chirped twice which supposedly means that it thinks the door is closed and it needs to be opened to program.I then tried to program the tach but when I pressed the valet key button, nothing happened. I am assuming/hoping that is because the remote programming was unsuccessful.I tried starting it with the 2 way remote and all it does is play a melody. The car has a transponder in the key and I installed a bypass which is keyless. I don’t think this is the problem because I believe if it was then it would crank but not start.I have a few questions that hopefully you all would be so kind has to help me with.  1. There are 2 door pin trigger wires. They make ground when the door is opened which completes the circuit for the dome light which has power constant to the other side. I cut the drivers side wire which goes into the CTM (central timer module) where it connects somehow to the dome light. I wired those cut wires to a relay per the instructions.  Pin 85 to (-) Dome light output from remote starter, Pin 86 to +12V, Pin 30 to CTM side of cut wire (dome light), Pin 87A to pin switch side of cut wire and Pin 87 to gnd. I then soldered the cathode of a IN4001 diode to the Pin 87A connection (to the door pin switch). The anode was soldered to the (-) door input of the  remote starter and to the anode of another diode which went to the passenger side door pin switch.My question is should the diodes have been reversed and the connection to the remote starter door input have been to the one for a (+) input? The instructions are conflicting and show it both ways. The switch completes ground when the door is opened so I assume it is a negative trigger and I assume that the door input connection is also negative. Hopefully I am wrong.If that is OK, my next thought is that there is a wire for  both factory arm and disarm in the vehicle but it doesn’t seem to have a factory alarm option installed. It has a transponder but as far as I can tell, no alarm so I did not do anything with this. If it had had one then I would have connected to it instead of the door locks using different resistors. This wire also unlocks the doors. I don’t think this is relevant to my problem but I mention it because it has been a struggle to know for sure if I have a factory alarm. All testing says that I do not.I don’t know what to do next and this is because I took such extensive measures to make sure that I did everything right and that I understood what I was doing first.  I have already checked and doubled checked everything so I figure that I am completely ignorant to what the problem could be other than possibly what I mentioned above.I cannot find any troubleshooting procedures anywhere which would have been helpful.Sorry for the long post and thank you in advance for your help.Jim

I would say chuck it and get something like Viper, Compustart, Code Alarm, but...in order to get an understanding of what was/how it was installed could you list what wires you have conected from the Air Wolf to what wires on the car.  List by harness/ color, ect. It gives someone a picture of what to look at or what you have done. 

Did you test all of the wires on the car?  Did you solder them or use some type of quick connector?  ScotchLock?? T-Taps??

Also, what type of bypass is being used?  Brand/ Model.  Is it loaded with the correct firmware?

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Hi smokeman1,

Chuck it? lol

 I paid $225.00 for this thing in 2004. Has it been proven to be a piece of junk since then? Like I said, I cannot find DesignTech on the internet or the remote starter itself so maybe it is a piece of junk. I did however, test and solder all the connections as far as I know but as I said, this is a first for me.

I will list the wires, colors and connections later tonight. Hopefully that will show my error.

The bypass is another mystery and it was bought in 2004 as well. I cannt find much on it either. It is a PKU-CH. The instructions do not mention firmware. Do I need to download firmware?

Is it true that if the bypass was a problem that the car would crank with the remote starter but just not start? That is what I read anyways online and why I am not consentrating my efforts there for now.

Thanks for responding. I'll post more tonight.

Jim

if you want an easy test to help you troubleshoot the keypad progaming problem, just take the doorpin wire from the alarm, disconnect it from whatever relay circuit you have built, and connect it straight to ground. this will simulate what the alarm wants to see to program the keypad. if it still doesnt program then either another criteria is missing or the alarm itself is at fault. different cars work differently when talking about the antitheft bypass. some cars wont do anything at all and others will start and run for a few seconds before it dies. try remote starting the car with the key resting in the key cylinder and see if it starts and runs. if it does then you know your problem is with the bypass. id it still does not start and run then you will be looking at a wiring problem, possibly a missed ignition wire.

Thank you soundand security for your response. I will try groundind the door trigger wire coming from the remote starter tonight. I was wondering though, instead of disconnecting the wire, if I connect my multimeter red test lead to +12V and the other to the door trigger wire while it is connected and the door opened, if all is well, I should see +12V on my meter and know that that isn't the problem? Do you agree?

Good info on the bypass behaving differently for different cars....thanks. I did try what you mentioned already about the key. I left the key in the ignition (all the way in, not resting though), and it still did nothing. I wasn't sure if that was a good way to test so you suggesting it confirms that it is.

The car has 2 ignition wires but the second one is powered by a (-) output (while running) from a relay in the remote starter. It powers one side of a coil in a relay I installed for the second ignition. I also used it to power a couple of other coils. It is a -300mA output. I assume that it only works when the car is already started though since it is a ground while running output. Does anything sound wrong with how I did it? It is how the manual said to. Could I have picked the wrong ignition wire as ignition 1, I wonder. How would I know? I have the wiring diagrams. Which ignition wire is the correct one to directly remote start to? Do you know?

Thanks again for your response.

Jim

my info shows there are two ignition wires which are blue and GREEN/ red. it has a note on the GREEN/ red wire saying it should be a smaller gauge wire. normally when they note the wire size it is because there are more wires that are the same color. so yes it is possible that you have the wrong second ignition wire. also i dont know if having all those relays powered from the ground when running wire is a good choice because those (-)negative outputs are low current, if you exceed their current output then your relays wont activate properly. the ground when running wire should come on as soon as you activate remote start and stay on for as long as the remote starter is active. that alarm doesnt have a dedicated + 2nd ignition output? thats very strange. also the info sheet is showing that you have two accessory wires in that car. they are BLACK/ orange and green. accessory wires may or may not be needed for the car to start and run but usually they are necessary so the computer doesnt throw a trouble code. accessory wires usually power things like the radio and A/C

I double checked and yes I wired correctly to ign 1 wire which is blue. The second ign wire is connected to that ground while running output and it is called IGN3 output. I used it to power the relay for the 2nd acc wire and for the transponder bypass. It is 300mA. Do you think that I exceeded that? I don't know what the transponder draws but it said to connect it to the "ground while running" output which as far as I can tell is this IGN3 output. I think the relay coils draw about 100mA each.

The system has a dedicated output for the ACC1 so I connected to it directly and to ACC 2 thru the IG3 output to my relay circuit..

I am confused by something though. When you say "as soon as you activate the remote start", what does that mean exactly? See I cannot program the remote, as far as I can tell anyways, so how do I activate the remote start? Does providing power to it activate it?

When they say "ground while running", do they mean while the car is started by the remote? I think so but since I cannot get it started, my ACC2 and IGN2 have no power until the car starts via the remote. How can I tell if not having the ACC2 powered during start is causing a double code?

Thanks,

Jim

I was thinking at lunch:

If I turn the key to "run", I will be powering the IGN1 wire, which connects to the remote, which should power the relay in the remote that puts out the "ground while running" 300mA output.

Right? Or does "ground while running" only apply to when the car has been started by the remote starter?

Jim

airwolf_durango wrote: I was thinking at lunch: If I turn the key to "run", I will be powering the IGN1 wire, which connects to the remote, which should power the relay in the remote that puts out the "ground while running" 300mA output. Right? Or does "ground while running" only apply to when the car has been started by the remote starter? Jim

only with remote start

Thanks.............

So the sequence is that the remote starts your car and then once started, the unit powers the IGN2 and ACC2 wires. This means when I turn the key to run, i should not see ground at the IGN3 output (ground while running pin)?

Jim