Hey guys!
First off let me apologize for the long first/second post.
Just a bit of background here before I begin. As you can tell by my post count, I'm new here. :D My truck, (a 1990 Ford Bronco II Eddie Bauer Edition) was broken into on Christmas morning in my church parking lot after the candle light service. The thief smashed my window using a broken ceramic spark plug insulator, and then got in and stole $400 worth of hand tools I had in the back, and then proceeded to use my very own tools to steal my headunit, which I had only installed a week earlier. (I got it for my 19th birthday on Dec 10th) My dad actually caught the guy in the act, scared him off, and then got his license number as he drove away. The cops were called, but due to the relatively minor severity of the crime, nothing has ever come of it.
Soo anyway, now I'm looking to install an alarm system! Due to the theft and the fact that I'm out of pocket for the damage to my car, and the loss of my tools and headunit, my funds are rather limited. For this reason, I'm resorting to the "buy the alarm online, and install it yourself" method. I've done several car audio installs, two different engine swaps, and I'm pretty big into little electrical projects like building crystal radios and designing flasher circuits for a motorcycle tailight - that kinda stuff, but I'm a total newb to car security. I'm pretty confident I can do it, and I've got the tools for the job (soldering iron, solder, heat shrink, rubber grommets, etc)I just need to do my research and reading beforehand!
I've narrowed my alarm choices down, and preferably want either a Viper or Python alarm system. I know they're all from the same company, (DEI) but those are the two brands I've really been looking at.
I don't need anything too terribly fancy, just something with a dual stage shock sensor, dome light monitoring, and I'd like it to be compatible with one of those sound/motion sensor units. (Since my car was broken into in a "silent" manner the first time round')
I'd also like to add remote keyless entry to the car, since it doesn't come with it from the factory, but I do already have factory power locks. My car has a manual tranny, and I have no interest/need for remote start, so the unit doesn't have to include that.
It also doesn't have to be the newest, latest greatest alarm - an out of production model would be fine as long as it does the job and is still widely supported.
The biggest thing that's worrying me at this point is wiring up the keyless entry. I can do the "splice the + with the + wire and the - with a solid ground" stuff, but wiring my doors is scaring me! :P
I'm looking to pay between $80-150 for a "refurbished/new" unit on eBay or the like.
So with that in mind so far, I've been looking at a couple different alarm models.
The Python 680xp
A Viper 771xv
And I also got a quote today on an install for a Viper 350hv, but it seems a bit more basic than I'd like. Or could a motion/sound sensor similar to this
here be installed on one of these?
In the spirit of not being lazy, I've tried to do as much research/reading as I can for my application. So far, I've found on this site the wiring colors necessary for an install on my truck, which can be found
here.
I also read over this thread
here which was a good starting point, and gave me a bit of background info.
I read through all of the info under the "Car Security" tab at the top.
According to the bulldog site, I THINK my electric locks are wired in a "type three" manner. I'm not really sure what that means, but there ya go! From other research, and talking to an installer, I THINK (don't take my word for it) my locks operated on a 5 wire system, which is apparently kinda difficult to wire an alarm into.
I know my car does NOT have a factory immobilizer or alarm system (haha) and that’s about as far as my research has gotten me.
Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction as far as a good alarm for my truck and my needs, as well as some advice on the electric lock side of things, as well as where I could get a manual for a particular alarm so I could read over it some.
So anyway, I'm bad about making really long posts. I need to stop now. :P Also, just as an FYI, this isn't actually my first post here, I posted up a big tutorial I wrote a while back in the lighting section on here. Hopefully this will help a few guys out! That thread is
here.
Thanks in advance for any and all help you can give guys! I realize this is a long post with a lot of questions, but I appreciate your help! :)