viper 3203 trunk release not grounding

Hi,
I installed a Viper 3203 into my 2000 Tahoe Limited a few months back without event. Pretty standard install, and I hooked the trunk release and AUX1-4 up to relays to activate my shaved door solenoids.

Everything was working fine until a few weeks ago when the trunk release and AUX2 stopped responding to my remote. Originally I thought it may be bad relays (hard to imagine both would crap out at the same time) but after swapping in some tested relays, the issue remained.

I dug around a bit more and determined that the alarm was no longer grounding the trunk release and AUX2 connections when I pressed the buttons on my remote. I tested this by hooking a multimeter in between a 12+ and the trunk release and AUX2 wires (tested separately of course) and I got no reading - 0.00 when I triggered the channels with my remote.

Long story short - is there anything I can do to figure out what might be going on? Is there any way those particular channels got fried (AUX1, 3, and 4 are still working fine)? I checked the fuse in the alarm unit, which was fine - although I think this is just a fuse for the parking lights.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
-Casey

I suspect you have inadvertently changed the programming of the outputs. Read the manual again, figure out what option you need for the outputs, then program trunk and aux 2 again.

Did you test the trunk release and AUX 2 at the viper 3203 or at the relay? I would test right at the Viper 3203. You may have two bad connections coincidentally with the two outputs.

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I drink current, eat ohms, and bleed voltage

davep. wrote:

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I suspect you have inadvertently changed the programming of the outputs. Read the manual again, figure out what option you need for the outputs, then program trunk and aux 2 again.

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I disconnected the truck battery overnight. Hooked it back up this morning and went through the programming menu and verified the AUX/Trunk Release and AUX2 were set to 'Validity' and not to 'Off'.

I retested the ground on AUX/Trunk Release and was getting a little under 12V after pressing the trunk release button on the remote for 3 seconds. Seemed to have start working.
Hooked the AUX/Trunk Release ground from the alarm back up to the relay and tried, no luck. Disconnected the ground again and tested the relay/wiring harness by grounding it to the chassis and the relay activated.
I then hooked everything back up, but unplugged the relay from the relay wiring harness. I hooked my multimeter leads up between the ground receptacle on the wiring harness and 12+, activated the trunk release from the remote, and was seeing just under 12V. Am I going crazy?
I spend about 30 minutes trying to fathom what could be wrong. The alarm unit is grounding, but when hooked up to the relay it doesn't work. I'm not sure what else to try. Is it maybe not getting enough "ground" to activate the relay? I'm really lost... :)

pts760 wrote:

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Did you test the trunk release and AUX 2 at the viper 3203 or at the relay? I would test right at the Viper 3203. You may have two bad connections coincidentally with the two outputs.

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Testing was done at the end of the AUX/Trunk Release lead coming off the 3203.


Thanks for the replies, hoping you guys might have some more advice now that I can at least see some ground coming from the AUX and AUX2 leads.

-Casey

Use a DMM and check the voltage between your ground and 12V+ (black and red)wires.
Also did you use a quenching diode across the relays.
The shutdown spike can fry the circuits controlling trunk release and the aux outputs.

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Test before boxing up.

misterd wrote:

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I then hooked everything back up, but unplugged the relay from the relay wiring harness. I hooked my multimeter leads up between the ground receptacle on the wiring harness and 12+, activated the trunk release from the remote, and was seeing just under 12V. Am I going crazy?
I spend about 30 minutes trying to fathom what could be wrong. The alarm unit is grounding, but when hooked up to the relay it doesn't work. I'm not sure what else to try. Is it maybe not getting enough "ground" to activate the relay? I'm really lost... :)

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Double check you have good ground going to the 3203. Do ALL of your relays have the diode going across pins 85 and 86? If not, it may have fried the 3203.

You can also try triggering with a known good aux channel and see if it works. If it does, it's definitely fried channels.

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No question is stupid or not worth asking. You were once a noob, right? :)

Sorry for disappearing, I just got around to working on this issue again. I'm not sure about the diode on the relays, they're just the standard 30A 5-pin Bosch-type relays?

AUX2 seems to have fixed itself, no changes in relay, wiring, or programming, just one of those wiring gnomes I guess.

Still having issues with the trunk release. After approaching with a fresh mind, I think I've made some headway. Tested the ground at the 3203 brain by putting my DMM in 10VDC mode, hooked the red lead to 12V+ and the black lead to the RED / white wire location on the 3203 harness. Activated the trunk release and got 12V+ after about 3 seconds.
Next I switched the DMM into 200mA ADC mode with the leads on the same connections. Upon activating the trunk release on the remote, I was only getting about -3mA, seemed low (not sure why the polarity was reporting backwards.). Hooked the leads up to a known good AUX channel in the same fashion, hit the channel on the remote and the DMM showed a 1 on the left side - exceeded the range.
Next I switched the DMM to 10A ADC, activated the channel and got -.75A.
The other 3 working AUX channels all displayed similar behavior. Went back to the trunk release channel in 10A mode and just got negative polarity result when it activated (-0.00).

I'm at the conclusion now that my trunk release is grounding, but maybe not enough amperage to activate the relay? Forgot to mention, I tested the trunk relay itself on another aux channel, and it switched closed/open flawlessly.

So my next question is, is there anything else I should try before going out and getting a new 3203 brain?

Thanks for everyone's responses, much appreciated.
-Casey

Don't ever test current (ADC) by hooking up the meter to the power and ground. Your likely to screw your meter or whatever your testing that way.

catback wrote:

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Don't ever test current (ADC) by hooking up the meter to the power and ground. Your likely to screw your meter or whatever your testing that way.

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Good to know... I figured putting the meter in the middle of the circuit would give me a good idea how much amperage would move through the circuit when the alarm channel activated (manual says -200mA). My results seemed to verify something was not right on my trunk release channel compared to the other 4 AUX.

My DMM and Other AUX channels didn't seem to get damaged, so I guess I got lucky. Any suggestions on other tests I should perform to figure out why the channel isn't grounding/switching my relay?

Thanks for the help!

Yes, there are other (proper) tests when you think a transistorized output may be current limiting or going into current protection shutdown. You need to determine how many amps your drawing by activating whatever you have on that channel/output. The module is only good for 200mA per channel which is typically one relay correctly wired with no mishaps with things like diodes facing the wrong way or issues with the relay that will cause it to draw more than 200mA max.

catback wrote:

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Yes, there are other (proper) tests when you think a transistorized output may be current limiting or going into current protection shutdown. You need to determine how many amps your drawing by activating whatever you have on that channel/output. The module is only good for 200mA per channel which is typically one relay correctly wired with no mishaps with things like diodes facing the wrong way or issues with the relay that will cause it to draw more than 200mA max.

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Not 100% clear, are you saying I should be testing the amps on the 30/87 circuit or the 85/86 circuit? The relay is being used for door poppers/solenoid a associated with shaved door handles. I've tested the popper on another channel/relay and it works correctly. I believe the solenoid draws 30A.

If I need to test the 85/86 amperage, would I put my DMM into 10ADC mode and put the probes between the 85 and a ground?

I don't have any diodes installed. In fact the quenching diode was all new to me but interesting purpose. Seems like it would be something relay manufactures would internalize.

Just to summarize, my current wiring is as follows:
30 - 12v+ fused with 30A
85 - wired to Trunk Release on Viper 3203v
86 - 12v+ (same fused connection as the 30)
87 - wired to door popper/solenoid
87a - not used

misterd wrote:

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If I need to test the 85/86 amperage, would I put my DMM into 10ADC mode and put the probes between the 85 and a ground?

Just to summarize, my current wiring is as follows:
30 - 12v+ fused with 30A
85 - wired to Trunk Release on Viper 3203v
86 - 12v+ (same fused connection as the 30)
87 - wired to door popper/solenoid
87a - not used

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Yes that is how you would test current draw for the low-current (coil) part of the relay. Your DMM in essence takes the place of the 3203. You'll be measuring for milliamps so the 2A or 2000mA scale would be better. On the 10ADC scale your reading would/should be less than 0.2A.

Your relay setup looks good as printed so if your test concludes a current of less than 200mA for the relay you have wired to the 3203 and it fails to operate but succeeds in triggering a DMM (in volt mode) then short of a bad/weak ground or power the 3203 will need to be replaced.

catback wrote:

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Yes that is how you would test current draw for the low-current (coil) part of the relay. Your DMM in essence takes the place of the 3203. You'll be measuring for milliamps so the 2A or 2000mA scale would be better. On the 10ADC scale your reading would/should be less than 0.2A.

Your relay setup looks good as printed so if your test concludes a current of less than 200mA for the relay you have wired to the 3203 and it fails to operate but succeeds in triggering a DMM (in volt mode) then short of a bad/weak ground or power the 3203 will need to be replaced.

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Thanks for clarification... Tested with the DMM in between the 3203 trunk release and the 85 prong on the relay in 20m mode and got about 3.5m when triggered the channel. Looks like it's functioning, just not well enough to trigger the relay. Guess it's time for a new brain!

Thanks again for your help and suggestions, I'll report back once I get the new brain installed (hopefully with good news).