Astrostart 2205U issues

I just had an Astrostart 2205U remote start installed in my 2003 Honda Pilot.  The installer is literally Honda's "top technician" but I was still not satisfied with his install.  When I first purchased my car (brand new in 2002) I had the dealership (not the same that did the remote starter) install a Clifford G4 alarm which would light up the car for a couple minutes when I disarmed the alarm, it would lock my car when the shifter was moved from Park, and it would unlock my doors when I put it back in Park.  I really liked all those features and before I purchased the Astrostart I asked the dealership if they would be able to program it the same way and they told me that they could.  They also told me that my G4 would not work together with the Astrostart so they said they would uninstall it and hook it up to the OEM security system so that the Astrostart fob would arm/lock and disarm/unlock the alarm/doors.  When I got my car back I noticed that the lights did not turn on when the alarm was disarmed.  Also, the doors lock by theirself when the car is remote started, the key is put in the "On" position and the brake is pressed, which I don't mind, but it does not unlock when the car is turned off or the shifter is put in Park like I asked them to do.  The worst part of all is that when I lock the doors with the Astrostart fob, the alarm is not activated, unless I lock the doors while a door is still open then I close the door.  I read through the Astrostart's owners manual and it says that it can do everything I described above just as the dealership said it would do but they failed to program.  I took the car back to them to have them correct this and I was told by the installer that there is nothing they can do since the Honda Pilot limits what can be programmed on the Astrostart.  He said that if I want to activate the alarm I need to use the OEM fob which doesn't make any sense since the owner's manual says it can do this with the Astrostart fob.  Is this installer correct on saying that it is not possible for the fob to activate the alarm?  I know that the 2205U can be programmed using the dip switches.  Does anyone have a list of commands to program the 2205U?  Lastly, the OEM alarm does not have a shock sensor and I was tooking to put in the one from my G4 alarm but I'm not quite sure which wires go where.  The shock sensor is a DEI OEM Stinger DoubleGuard impact sensor.  I believe it has 12V, ground, warn output and alarm output wires but I'm not sure where to connect the warn and alarm output wires.  Any Help out there?

For starters...the 2205 is a stand alone remote start ONLY.....no security....NONE!  All it can do is control the factory security.   no shock sensor, and factory door protection is all you get. The dealer that put this in your vehicle was uninformed, or lied to you!  This unit CAN arm and disarm your factory security......someone took a short cut, and thats sad.....All of the wires needed are in the drivers door. Theres a diagram on the astrochart that spells it out in plain old english (or french)  To lock and arm you need to pulse at the same time the blue/white and the BLACK/ white. To disarm and unlock you need to pulse the blue, and the GREEN/ red. Astro has no bypass available (yet) for operating the locks and security together.

Is this installer correct on saying that it is not possible for the fob to activate the alarm? No he is NOT...see the above!

POSSIBILITY TO TRANSFORM INTO A TWO-WAY ALARM COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The dealer that installed it needs to call tech support and get the answers. Theres a diagramin the astrochrt that shows how to integrate the factory security.

There are 2 locations to get lock/arm, unlock/disarm....I have not done one of these cars, so I do not have a suggestion as to what is the best one to use....again, the dealer needs to call tech...they DO have the answers

And I was wrong about the interface to control locks and security...   IM HONDA 2

The guy who installed it is the Honda dealership's electrician and they only install Astrostart so I'm assuming he is an Astrostart certifed installer.  Like I said before, he just won Honda's Top Technician award and according to everyone else I talked to at the dealership, this guy knows his sh!t.  I would expect him to know everything about Honda's electrical system but according to him, there is currently no way to arm the factory security system with the Astrostart fob.  I agree with you, Chris Luongo, when you say that if the car can automatically lock the doors it should be able to automatically unlock them, and according to the owner's manual the 2205U should be able to do this when the car is turned off or left running in "continuous" mode but the installer says it's not possible on the Pilot.  I think you got the parking lights situation misunderstood.  I was talking about illuminated entry with the dome lights not the parking lights.  I just rechecked that and it seems to be working fine.  Also, I just noticed that when I start the car using the remote starter, if the doors were previously unlocked, the doors will stay unlocked.  Is this supposed to happen?  The owner's manual doesn't say anything about this but most remote starter's I've researched will automatically lock your doors if the car is remote started.  The manual also says that the "Bi-directional remote control is in constant communication with the vehicle whenever the security system is enabled.  It says that even if you don't ask for a status, it will inform you on the remote's icons but that doesn't happen neither.  If I hold down the door trigger on the driver's door and arm the system with the factory fob and then let go of the trigger, the alarm will sound but I will not get anything on the 2205 remote so obviously it isn't in constant communication with my vehicle.  Also, I don't know if this is supposed to work this way but if I lock the doors with the 2205 fob and unlock them with the factory fob, the 2205's fob will still show a "locked" status.  Shouldn't it know that the doors are no longer locked?  I heard that these Astrostarts were the sh!t and that's why I had it installed but this damn installer is making me regret it.  Everyone here is telling me he's full of crap and I'm starting to believe it.  You must not have to be that good of an electrician to be Honda's top tech.

there is currently no way to arm the factory security system with the Astrostart fob. 

the way to do this is to fro the p-3 connector split the brown wire and diode isolate (line towards the R/S) pulse the arm wire BLUE/WHITE and the lock wire BLACK/ WHITE at the same time this locks and arms factory security. To dis arm and unlock. The blue wire in the door is disarm, this gets hooked to a programmed output, PULSE BEFORE . This will disarm the security before remote start AND unlock. The unlock wire GREEN/ RED gets the blue unlock wire form the P-3. All of these wires are INSIDE the drivers door

And I was wrong about the interface to control locks and security...   IM HONDA 2

Heres an even easier way to do the locks and security

I heard that these Astrostarts were the sh!t and that's why I had it installed but this damn installer is making me regret it.  Everyone here is telling me he's full of crap and I'm starting to believe it.  You must not have to be that good of an electrician to be Honda's top tech.

He is full of it.....once you get your problems solved you won't need to carry 2 remotes. I would try and reach someone at Astrflex yourself, to let them know what this idiot is doin with their product....he needs some training. The guys on the tech line would not tell you, that you can't do this or do that....I'm looking at it in the astrochart rite here  in front of me.....the answers to most of your questions. If you can't get satisfaction....tell them you want it removed and you want your cash back....

KarTuneMan,

I've got good news and bad news.  The bad might me a bit overwhelming for you.  It was for me.  First the good.  I visited another AstroStart installer in town and they also confirmed that the 2205 can arm the security system if it pulses both the arm and lock at the same time and that the auto unlock was just a programmable feature that simply was not programmed by the installer.  I went back to my orignal installer and told them that I had contacted other installers and that they all said it was possible to do what I wanted done.  They called the other installer in town and he gladly told them how to do it.  The original installer told me to come in on Friday so he can redo it but he said that they would usually charge an additional $50 but this time they're gonna do it for free just to make me happy and keep me from going back and making a big deal about it.   Of course they didn't tell me they were gonna do it for free until I told them that I was waiting for Astroflex to call me back.  He was really pissed off because he said he'd have to do everything all over again. I told him he should have done it right the first time and he responded by saying that most people are happy with the normal installation and don't make a big deal about it when some features are left out.  I'll report back on Friday to let you know if they did what I wanted them to do. 

Now the bad.  Brace yourself.  I called Astrostart Tuesday morning, told them what was going on and they told me that they can't say whether my vehicle can have all the features because they don't know how my R/S was installed.  They told me that there were several ways to install it and installing it one way might make some features impossible to program.  I told them that they should give their installers one set of instructions so that all features will be available and they told me that they do but that they can't control the way their installers install their units.  They said that the arming of the security system with the 2205 fob and the auto unlock are all features that should be possible in my vehicle but it's up to the installer if he wants to set it up that way during installation.  I told Astroflex that the installer is going to do it for free this time but that he wanted to charge me $50 and they told me that the installer can charge whatever he wants for programming additional features and that I'm lucky he's doing it for free.  They also told me that normal installation of the remote start only has to include the actual act of being able to remote start and being able to activate the climate control.  Any other additional features specified as being available on the owner's manual are all subject to additional fees for programming of those features.  In my opinion that's a bunch of BS.  What do you think?  By the way, I called and asked for Roger but they would not let me speak to him unless I was a dealer. 

I've got one more question for you.  The remote has two programmable buttons (Utility1/ Utility2).  I was wondering if I can have one of those programmed to turn on my rear defroster.  My rear defroster does not reactivate if it was previously left on before the vehicle was turned off so I cannot just leave it on and expect it to be on when I get in the car after a remote start.  To make things short, I must manually activate the rear defroster everytime I want it on.  Hopefully the installer will do it during his "goodwill" installation but I don't want to bring it up if it's not possible.  Also, if my car was left unlocked and I do a remote start, the doors will stay unlocked.  Is this supposed to happen or is it possible to pulse the lock during a remote start.  I think it should be possible but I'm not sure since after Friday my "lock" and "arm" will both be pulsed at the same time and I don't think my security system can arm if the vehicle is on without sounding the alarm.  Unless its possible to pulse "lock" and "arm" at the same time when the "lock" button on the fob is pressed and only pulse the "lock" during a remote start.  If this is possible please tell me how so I can let the installer know how to do it, that way I can avoid another trip to him in the future.

Thanks,

Pablo