alarm and interior lights

Chaps,

I'm new here ... be gentle ...

I fitted a Toad AI606 alarm to my own car some time ago (4+ years), and one thing has always bugged me about the install. The interior lights in the car used to fade out slowly whenever you closed a door; since fitting the alarm they are either on or off - I've lost the elegant fade out.

I am suspecting that this is due to the adding of the wire from the alarm to the door pins; giving a signal to the alarm as to whether a door is open or closed (so as to allow the alarm to be armed or not, and so as to set the alarm off if a door is opened when it is armed.)

However, everything else works as it should; the alarm is fine and has never caused problems. It also turns the interior lights in the car on when the alarm is disarmed, thus lighting up the inside of the car when you walk up to it in the dark and unlock it.

I know that these are trivial things (both the fade-out and the turning on of the interior lights when you unlock the car), but I'd like it if they both worked. I guess there is the argument that one of them does work, so I shouldn't tinker with it, but is there a simple way of making the light fade as it should do (and used to)?

I guess one solution would be to fit another set of doorpins, one set for the alarm and one set for the interior lights, but that would be quite a lot of work and hassle. Is there a simpler way of doing it?

Thanks, in advance, for any help!


Oli.

Just seen the pop-up about vehicle make and type. It's an '89 Porsche 944 S2. Otherwise standard.

Thanks again.


Oli.

Nothing in a properly installed Toad, or any other decent (Toad barely qualifies, it's an Avital Maxx)alarm will cause your problem. Did the lights fail to function properly at the same time as the alarm was installed? I don't think you have any warrantee comebacks because of the time delay. I think because of the vehicle's age it's more likely to be a failure of the factory relay which controls the interior lights, failure of various relays in Porsches, very common in late 60s to early 90s.

Howie,

That's interesting, thanks. And helpful.

No, the alarm will be way out of the warranty period, but it doesn't sound like an alarm problem. As in, I thought it was an installation problem, you are thinking it's a car problem, so I'm not too concerned about the alarm.

It's a minor detail, but I'm a perfectionist ...

I'll do a bit of poking into the wiring diagram and see how the light is controlled; if it is a relay then that will be nice and easy as it will be simple to replace.

Thanks for your help.


Oli.

Sorry, just (re-)read your bit asking when the lights ceased to dim. It was at the time the alarm was fitted. Hence my suspicion of the alarm fitting. The fact that the alarm has always worked perfectly has always suggested that the alarm unit itself is OK.

(As 'Rookie' I notice I'm not allowed to edit my posts, otherwise I'd have put this in the original post.)


Oli.