03 Dodge Caravan Remote Start Troubles...

Please tell us what wires you have going to what on the relay for the secnd starter.Jeff

Velocity Custom Home Theater

Mobile Audio/Video Specialist

Morden, Manitoba CANADA

85 needs to go to a ground out when running wire from your RS. I assume you mean that pin 30 is going to the 2nd starter wire on the vehicle?J Rilla

Owner/Installer

You need to use a SPDT relay otherwise the wire is still activated witht he GROUND that you have on pin 85. Jeff

Velocity Custom Home Theater

Mobile Audio/Video Specialist

Morden, Manitoba CANADA

Yes, you are correct----when the user starts his car with the key, this also energizes the relay you installed----meaning the car sees 180-ohms-to-ground from your resistor, AND whatever the ignition switch does, at the same time---this is not good. There are basically three ways to take care of this. 1. What remote starter are you installing? Does it happen to have its own second starter output, be it negative or positive? If so, use this to drive your relay. 2. You need two relays. -Tie the output of the remote starter to the 86 terminals of TWO relays. -85 on both relays goes to ground. -87 on Relay #1 goes to constant positive; 87 on Relay #2 goes to constant ground. -30 from Relay #1 goes to the van's yellow + starter wire. -30 from Relay #2 goes through the 180-ohm resistor, and then to the van's PURPLE / brown - starter wire. 3. Use diodes instead. Most of the time, diodes are only used for low-current applications, and relays are used for high-current jobs. But, did you notice how tiny the ignition wires on that van are? And the blue/red constant wire at the ignition switch is only rated for 10 amps.....so therefore, the yellow starter wire can't possibly draw much current at all! In my opinion, you can get away with using large-size diodes, eliminating the need for one of the relays. Plus, since it's only a starter wire, it just runs for one second at a time---it doesn't stay on long enough to put much stress on the diodes. -Take the starter output of your remote starter, and attach two diodes to it. One of the diodes will go to the van's yellow starter wire, and the other diode will go to terminal 86 of the one relay that you have already correctly set up. -If you wire the diodes backward by mistake, you won't break anything---it simply won't work at all. Instead of worrying all day about which way to face the diode, just make a temporary connection at first---if it works, you put them the right way. -Diodes come in different amp ratings, and the bigger ones cost slightly more, but diodes are dirt cheap anyway. I'd recommend a 6-amp diode going out to the yellow starter wire, just to be on the safe side---or if you only have small ones on hand, put two or three of them in parallel. For the diode that goes to activate your relay, use any size you'd like.

Thanks for the help guys, i just wired up a diode on my starter wire and it works great thanks again.........Eric.