need a discreet sounding chirp siren

I'm installing a keyless entry system in my 1990 Eclipse and I'd like to include a discreet "chirp" sound with the parking light flash when locking and unlocking doors. By "discreet" I mean unobnoxious, something that's unlikely to get on my nerves and result in disconnecting it.

I ran across one chirp capable siren here:
https://www.ecarsecurity.com/ProductDetails...R%2D20&Cartid=1
For $30 shipped.

Anybody know of any good (and preferably affordable) alternatives?

Thanks :)

Using the parking light output, in most cases, doesn't work out very well because the "chirps" need to be very short, and the parking light flashes are too long.

I've got a custom built electronic beeping system on my car - it uses a small piezo and custom controller.  Sounds almost exactly like the OEM Toyota setup.

KPierson wrote:

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Using the parking light output, in most cases, doesn't work out very well because the "chirps" need to be very short, and the parking light flashes are too long.

I've got a custom built electronic beeping system on my car - it uses a small piezo and custom controller.  Sounds almost exactly like the OEM Toyota setup.

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Good point!  That hadn't occurred to me and I think you're right!  It's as though it needs a one-shot behavior that just gets triggered by the parking light flasher.  Though I would still need the "chirper" itself :)!

capamonkeyboy wrote:

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are you going to have it actually do the keyless entry? ususally that is loud enough to hear, I would be sneaky and put the siren inside behind the dash. If someone gets inside the car and the alarm goes off, they will not stay in there for very long, it really hurts your ears. The great part is having it inside means the windows will dampen the volume and make it less obtrusive.

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Thanks, but that solution doesn't really appeal to me!

I was annoyed with the chirps on my CompuStar and the siren that came with it (too loud.) I bought a DEI 514N and cut the wire to make it use the soft chirp and was still annoyed (still too loud.) So I put the CompuStar one back in and put a piece of foam tape around the inside of the siren and it's perfect now. It tried the same with the 514N, but the sound was too distorted.

I hooked the horn output up with the alarm as well, so both the siren sounds and the horn goes off together, although the siren isn't very loud now. The horn doesn't chirp on the CompuStar units, just the siren. It's perfect as the sirens are ingored 99.9% of the time and annoying anyways imho...

The only thing that annoys me now is the drivers door priority unlock. It chirps twice when unlocking the drivers door, and two more times again when unlocking the passenger door. Same with popping the trunk with it armed, as it chirps when unlocking the car, and again when opening the trunk... (yes I can be annoyed easily at times!  )

icarus_icarus wrote:

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I was annoyed with the chirps on my CompuStar and the siren that came with it (too loud.) I bought a DEI 514N and cut the wire to make it use the soft chirp and was still annoyed (still too loud.) So I put the CompuStar one back in and put a piece of foam tape around the inside of the siren and it's perfect now. It tried the same with the 514N, but the sound was too distorted.

I hooked the horn output up with the alarm as well, so both the siren sounds and the horn goes off together, although the siren isn't very loud now. The horn doesn't chirp on the CompuStar units, just the siren. It's perfect as the sirens are ingored 99.9% of the time and annoying anyways imho...

The only thing that annoys me now is the drivers door priority unlock. It chirps twice when unlocking the drivers door, and two more times again when unlocking the passenger door. Same with popping the trunk with it armed, as it chirps when unlocking the car, and again when opening the trunk... (yes I can be annoyed easily at times!  )

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Pretty wild :)!

I was oblivious to keyless entry until I recently purchased a Scion xB (roughly two months ago.)  Since then, I find it so convenient that I strongly prefer not to have to use a key :)!  This has resulted in my attacking the installation of keyless entry in my factory alarmed 1990 Eclipse.  Hence my questions :)!

From what you say and another comment above, I'm wondering if I might be best off purchasing another Scion alert and installing it in my Eclipse.  I've absolutely no complaints about it, even at four peeps for non-driver's door openings, sounds just fine to me!  Guess I should check with the dealer and see what the damage (cost) would be.

KPierson wrote:

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Here is what my car sounds like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc9PXap0PUk

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tillithz wrote:

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KPierson wrote:

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Here is what my car sounds like - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc9PXap0PUk

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anyway to get 'that' sound for the common person? I know you said it was custom and there was a controller board. Or, do you know of some electronic board that could control the factory item.. such as the toyota, or acura chirp pieces? thanks

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The beeper itself comes from Projects Unlimited.  It is a piezo with a built in driver circuit, so all you have to do is provide voltage to it and it emits the beep.  However, integrating it in to your locking system would still be difficult without the control board I made.

trevors wrote:

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I've decided to fly with the Scion beeper and makeshift a oneshot timer to adjust the duration.  My keyless entry controller has two signal outputs, so after the parking lights, there's still an available wire!  It's just begging for a beeper :)!

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Which output are you planning on using?  If you are going to build a one shot you would be best off to go with the parking light output, as you can get it to beep once for lock and twice for unlock (that is how most keyless systems flash anyway).  Do you have any info on the Scion beeper?  I've only messed with one OEM beeper and it was just a speaker - you had to drive it with whatever frequency you wanted it to beep at.  I would love to see some pictures of the installation if you wouldn't mind posting them.

Judging from the limited documentation with my controller, the two signal ouputs are equivalent -- the suggested application for both being parking lights.  The reason I'm falling back to the Scion is I own one and know the sound meets my needs -- I actually miss it when I operate my just-installed Eclipse keyless-entry.  I was hoping I could identify a good alternative at a price significantly lower than the typical auto dealer, but I'll just stick with what I know.

For my application, it really isn't necessary to have a dedicated controller output, just a convenience.  Given the extra signal output, a sonic companion to the parking lights just makes sense to me :)!   The drawbacks I see are the alert device isn't cheap, will probably have an oem specialized connector that's inconsistent with both the installation car and standard controllers and relays, and some kind of One-Shot has to be fabricated/mounted/powered -- other than that, a piece of cake :)!.

I don't have a model number, but last time I checked there were only a few "loud" 12vdc piezos that they offered.

As long as voltage is supplied the unit will beep.  You can control how long the beep lasts by how long you apply voltage.

You know, it's all very well to come up with circuits and solutions, but in the absence of clean mountable project packaging and wiiring connects/disconnects,  even rhe most elegant solution ends up half -assed :(!  Not very encouraging for the do-it-yourselfer.  Intentional? Or does no-one do it themself any more?

Anyone know of any good mobile packaging and interconnection suppliers?

Half assed???

Here is my solution:

Modified on-the-shelf PacTec plastic enclosure (www.PacTec.com)
Genuine Molex connectors (www.digikey.com, www.mouser.com)
Modified Projects Unlimited electronic beeper (www.projectsunlimited.com)
Wiring (www.delcity.net)

The Molex connectors are nice, but the crimp tool is outragiously expensive (~$200).  If you are only doing a few you can get a knock off version fairly reasonable, but I wouldn't trust the crimped connections to last forever.

The PacTec enclosures are great.  Hammond also makes some nice enclosures.  I've been using more Hammond then PacTec lately.

Delcity has great prices on bulk wire.  I haven't been able to find a place to beat their prices on 20 ga stranded automotive grade wire.

That entire thing is soley for the electronic beep.

It has constant power and ground so that it can operate with the igntion off.

It has an ignition input so it won't beep if the car is on

It has a + door lock input and a + door unlock input so that it knows when to beep, and what beep pattern to use (one beep for lock, two beeps for unlock, one more beep for priority unlock)

It has a 200mA (-) parking light output to flash the parking lights (same patturn as the beep, just longer).

Yes, but you still need to control the duration of the pulse, and when it actually pulses.  You can't use a door lock actuator output because they are too long.  You need a dedicated controller.

You could possibly use an alarm siren output, but you would need to put a delay on the actual siren so that if the siren output is on for longer then ~0.5 seconds the siren kicks in and starts doing its thing.

I don't have an aftermarket alarm on my car, so I had to do the whole controller.  I also wanted my parking lights to flash, so I used every wire on the thing!

KPierson wrote:

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Half assed???

Modified on-the-shelf PacTec plastic enclosure (www.PacTec.com)
Genuine Molex connectors (www.digikey.com, www.mouser.com)
Modified Projects Unlimited electronic beeper (www.projectsunlimited.com)
Wiring (www.delcity.net)

The Molex connectors are nice, but the crimp tool is outragiously expensive (~$200).  If you are only doing a few you can get a knock off version fairly reasonable, but I wouldn't trust the crimped connections to last forever.

The PacTec enclosures are great.  Hammond also makes some nice enclosures.  I've been using more Hammond then PacTec lately.

Delcity has great prices on bulk wire.  I haven't been able to find a place to beat their prices on 20 ga stranded automotive grade wire.

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Looks very clean -- good show!  I haven't seen Molex or their competitors available to the general public.  Although I think of DigiKey for electronic components, connecters didn't occur to me!  I just today picked up a couple 1/8" mini-phone panel jacks and cable plugs and I expect my "project box" to arrive late next week :).  I'm using the wire left over from the keyless entry install.  I can get away with the mini-plugs because it's just two wires in and two wires out, but it isn't my preference for wiring a car.

I installed the "peeper" under the hood today -- there was one open spot on an actuator shelf adjacent the HVAC relay box at the far left of the firewall.  A single tiewrap secured it.  Routed the wiring through the fender like oem -- used quick disconnects for the actual connection to the piezo, but then taped and tiewraped them.  Can't finish it properly until the cabinet arrives, but it's working fine -- just need to turn down the loudness a tad.

KPierson wrote:

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That entire thing is soley for the electronic beep.

It has constant power and ground so that it can operate with the igntion off.

It has an ignition input so it won't beep if the car is on

It has a + door lock input and a + door unlock input so that it knows when to beep, and what beep pattern to use (one beep for lock, two beeps for unlock, one more beep for priority unlock)

It has a 200mA (-) parking light output to flash the parking lights (same patturn as the beep, just longer).

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Sounds like you went just a tad fancier than mine, but it also sounds like you didn't already have the keyless entry (I finished installing a standard box a little over a week ago.)  If the keyless entry controller thinks it's cool to flash the parking lights, that's good enough for me (the peeper will fire off too :)!) 

I used my OEM keyless system.  For some reason it flashes twice when you lock and not at all when you unlock.

I fixed it, though!

KPierson wrote:

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I used my OEM keyless system.  For some reason it flashes twice when you lock and not at all when you unlock.

I fixed it, though!

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That does sound a little unusual!  My 1990 Eclipse didn't have keyless entry (they weren't big then), but it did have a factory security system.  So after I recently  picked up a Scion, I decided I liked keyless entry and wanted the Eclipse to have it too (on the other hand, the Scion DIDN'T have a security system, so I installed the factory accessory.)  That led to the Keyless Entry controller, remote lift-gate release, and then the "peeper" :)!  I'd still like to have remote lock security enable, and I'll probably be tinkering with that next!

KPierson wrote:

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Modified on-the-shelf PacTec plastic enclosure (www.PacTec.com)
Genuine Molex connectors (www.digikey.com, www.mouser.com)
Modified Projects Unlimited electronic beeper (www.projectsunlimited.com)
Wiring (www.delcity.net)

The Molex connectors are nice, but the crimp tool is outragiously expensive (~$200).  If you are only doing a few you can get a knock off version fairly reasonable, but I wouldn't trust the crimped connections to last forever.

The PacTec enclosures are great.  Hammond also makes some nice enclosures.  I've been using more Hammond then PacTec lately.

Delcity has great prices on bulk wire.  I haven't been able to find a place to beat their prices on 20 ga stranded automotive grade wire.

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By the way - thanks for the source info.  I've been looking them over and am impressed!  I see this Hammond box would have housed my oneshot nicely :)!  https://www.hammondmfg.com/dwg2XXFL.htm  Hopefully I have enough leftover wire for the remote-lock-security-enable project, otherwise, I may have to order some.

Did you etch your own PC board?  I'm using an old CSC Proto Board for breadboarding and even older perfboard for point to point building.  Does the job, but point to point wiring to DIP sockets can be a little hairy :).  Almost all bits and pieces come from a box of miscellany I accumulated over past years of playing with electronics, but I occasionally have to break down and purchase something :)!

Well, as a follow up, I really had trouble simply waiting for the two "project" boxes to arrive, and so I cruised Radio Shack again.  Turns out they have a series of reasonably priced and sized "project" boxes on the shelf, and so I went with a pretty tiny 1"x2"x3" version (their smallest) and was just barely able to squeeze my piezo "peeper" perf board into it.  However, the heavily trimmed board and two mini-phone jacks just fit :)! So naturally, I wanted to fit my second project into the same box.

I tested the breadboard circuit in the car and it worked, so I returned to Radio Shack, picked up another 1"x2"x3" box and a DB9 subminiature male and female ( had already used the mini-phone on the Piezo box.), and this evening built it.  The transition from breadboard to final article ixn't necessarily problem-free, but when it's confirmed working in my Eclipse, I anticipate taking photos of both "controller" boxes and the Piezo buzzer install, and post them (in light of an earlier request) -- presuming the heavily restrictive rules for posting on this forum will allow it :(!

We'll see what happens :)!

So here's the photo -- nothing spectacular I'm afraid (including the focus :(), but just to the left of the two stacked modules, you can see the red nose of the Piezo buzzer.  As I mentioned earlier, it's mounted to the  actuator shelf with a single tiewrap -- the grey material round the Piezo's body is dense adhesive foam to stabilize it.  The modules are just sitting atop the HVAC relay box for the purpose of the photo, they normally live in the cabin along with the keyless entry controller and four relays (kinda crowded at this point.). 

If this image post doesn't work right, then sorry -- since I'm not permitted to edit my post, whatever is wrong will just have to stay that way :(!

tillithz wrote:

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take out the tags

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OK, I'll drop the HTML.  See if this works (fingers crossed:)

https://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a33/TrevorSt/Buzzer.jpg

How does it sound there?  I got the best results out of mine from aiming it down through the engine compartment to the ground below.  My main goal was distance though, not being discreet.

What beeper did you end up using?

KPierson wrote:

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How does it sound there?  I got the best results out of mine from aiming it down through the engine compartment to the ground below.  My main goal was distance though, not being discreet.

What beeper did you end up using?

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I went with the Toyota "peeper" :)!   For me, the number one requirement is that it doesn't annoy me, (hence the thread title), the second is audibility.  I can make it louder by delivering more current, but the louder it is, the less comfortable I find the sound.  I've adjusted the level about three times since installation -- it currenty sounds pretty reasonable to me, though modestly loud ambient can certainly drown it out.  However, if I could hear it then, it would probably get on my nerves in more typical quieter locations.

I previously read a recommendation to point the "siren" down -- reason being to minimize entry of road dust/dirt/debris.  Perhaps it would also be more 360 degree audible (presuming an open path to the ground ), however, I don't have a convenient way to mount it facing down (especially with a direct path to the ground) and I normally only operate the remote (thinking of my Scion as well) when in close proximity.  To (for example) unlock too soon, results in re-lock with the 2008  Scion xB setup.  I'm expecting this high-up far-back location to be reasonably low dust/dirt/debris, but to be seen.

noobie4life wrote:

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I thought I would ask this in this topic since alot of people have been chiming in. I wanted to know what is the best sounding (loudness and overall sound) and most reliable siren? If you could give brand and model number, that would really help. Thanks.

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I've no idea :)!

Read the thread from the beginning (at least my inputs), and you'll know where I'm coming from :)!

tillithz wrote:

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hey trevors, toyota peeper? you took stock piece and are using that?

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As I mentioned, I recently purchased a 2008 Scion xB and I like the sound of it's "peeper" :)!  The reason I started this thread was to see if there were any interesting alternatives, target being my Eclipse.  Well, I can't say there aren't, but I still don't know what they are!  Hence, my choice was to go with what I already knew.  However, it's clear the sound of the Toyota "peeper" in my xB is not identical to the sound I'm getting with the supposedly identical device pictured above in my Eclipse.  If I removed a few rear engine compartment pieces from my xB (yet again), I might understand the reason for that (some specialized containment perhaps), but frankly, I'm in no rush to perform that disassembly (also don't really wish to purchase yet another Toyota part -  enough money spent already.!)

However, what I have is currently working for me and yes, I purchased it from Toyota specifically for installation in my Eclipse.

tillithz wrote:

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great!

by chance are you simply supplying 12 volts dc (or less) like a piezo beeper, or are you actually supplying the frequency to where its more like a speaker? As mentioned I am looking for a solution that would be a simple supply of 12 volts dc to activate the device. I have not had the ability to play with toyota stuff to learn about it, but the Acura piece I have is more like a speaker then a siren or piezo. I then want to package this in some way to make it an as easy add on, I think the discreet sound is desired by many. thanks for any input.

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A "Piezo-Buzzer" is a "buzzer", not a speaker.  My choice is how much energy to deliver to it, or how to mount it, the rest is up to it.  As I mention above, all I adjust is it's loudness (ie. less than 12VDC..)

tillithz wrote:

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beautiful! got a part number by chance? for toyota

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The Toyota part number is 08192-60891.  Please note that I provide no guarantee for its suitability relative to your expectations -- ie. I don't know whether or not you'll be satisfied!  I DO know that at the volume level I am currently using (installation last weekend), it appears satisfactory to me!