| Print Page | Close Window |
opinion on alarm/remote startPrinted From: the12volt.comForum Name: Car Security and Convenience Forum Discription: Car Alarms, Keyless Entries, Remote Starters, Immobilizer Bypasses, Sensors, Door Locks, Window Modules, Heated Mirrors, Heated Seats, etc. URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=55124 Printed Date: May 28, 2024 at 11:29 PM Topic: opinion on alarm/remote start Posted By: xenon2000 Subject: opinion on alarm/remote start Date Posted: May 04, 2005 at 2:34 PM I have searched this forum, other forums and many sites for 1-way remotestart alarm combos.
I currently have the LogixStart LSA9624 in a 1986 Fiero SE that I installed about 3.5 years ago. Still works great. I now want to install one in my other car. I got the first unit from 12voltshop.com 3.5 years ago. Now they have a similar model with the same OEM looking remotes, for only $80 plus shipping. But I would rather get something else now that there is so much selection and price range. https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/dll?ViewItem&rd=... this has ended, but I see it often. I have emailed them asking what brand and model it is. Other than the rather boring remotes, it looks like all the features I want and need. But then there is this: https://www.autotoys.com/x/catalog/ULTRASTART_2600_ALARM... Which I am more comfortable buying from this site, than some guy on ebay who doesn't mention the brand or model of the alarm he is selling. This 2nd one is still only $104 shipped. I really like the backlite remote. But $62 shipped for the ebay alarm sure is cheap. Very tempting since it also comes with extra relays, etc. If anyone has other 1-way remote start alarm combo suggestions that are under $110, I would love to see any links. I am hoping to order something today so I have it for this weekend. https://www.12voltshop.com/proddetail.asp?prodid=CS124&cat=12&path=1,12 This is the one that is nearly identical to the LSA9624 that I currently have. Same remotes, slightly different brains. Replies: Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 04, 2005 at 3:22 PM This is only $70, decent remotes. Lots of features. Anyone have any other suggestions? What about site links that you buy your remote-start alarms from? So far I have only liked: Anyone have any other online retailers that you like to buy from? Or alarm brand preferences? Or what to avoid in brands? Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 04, 2005 at 4:12 PM Ok, what if I asked for people's opinion on where to buy online, a 2-way remote start alarm for under $140? Besides ebay.
Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 04, 2005 at 10:31 PM Seems like an active forum.... hmmmm.... Am I asking the wrong question? Or asking in the wrong way? Seems there are plenty of people here who own and have bought remote start alarms. Including myself. With all the selection available now, I just wanted some opinions on what I have found and any link suggestions if anyone has bought from a different place than I have found. Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 11:52 AM Ok, I was the only one replying to my very first post. I guess it just had too much info to get a reply. So here is my simple single question. What is your experience and opinion on the Crimestopper RS900VII (phase 7) remote start alarm? I am curious about range, function, and reliability. But any comments about this alarm are welcome. Posted By: Velocity Motors Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 12:03 PM Presonal experience with the CS systems are they have great range & operation is reliable ....... but they are cheaply made & the remote controls are easily broken when dropped. This opinion is from installing a few of the older 900 series systems, but not the new ones.
------------- Jeff Velocity Custom Home Theater Mobile Audio/Video Specialist Morden, Manitoba CANADA Posted By: arp35 Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 12:27 PM I bought the crimestopper 2016FM from Car stereo Expo https://shop.store.yahoo.com/csexpo/index.html It has great features and is priced at 128.00 on sale. Fairly easy to install and the remotes are well made. ------------- Alan Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 1:42 PM Thanks for the comments and link. I am curious, I heard mixed things about Crimestopper and Scytek's Galaxy alarms. I have had a LogixStart LSA9624 for over 3 years with no issues. I got it from 12voltshop.com and now after all this searching, I am more unclear on what to get for under $100. https://www.scytek.net/Products/page/5000RS.htm - this is the Scytek link to the Galaxy 5000RS specs. I can get this for only $70 shipped. Which is ultra cheap for all it can do. Has anyone used the new Galaxy 5000 or 5100 series alarm? I think I have seen complaints about the earlier 3000 and Astra series alarms. Posted By: Powermyster Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 2:42 PM i have have installed a galaxy5100rs only problem i found was with the colour screen
its hard to see in the daylight other than that the alarm is fine Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 2:58 PM Powermyster wrote: Thanks. I would image that TFT LCD would be hard to see in the daylight. I assume the 5100 probably has similar main unit since I am interested in the 5000RS. How long have you had your 5100RS installed? And did you do the install yourself. Any issues? Mainly I am curious if you have been using it for sometime and if it is reliable. I have only found 2 places that sell Galaxy (ScyTek) products and I haven't seen any mention of a warranty, etc. I called them twice today and they keep saying they will call me back, but haven't. Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 05, 2005 at 4:24 PM Well, looks like I am getting the Galaxy 5000RS for $70 shipped. 30 day return policy from X10.com. I can't find any terrible reviews. Has the features I want. It's super cheap, has a warranty. And X10.com customer service. Way better price than anything local. Cheapest thing I could find locally is a super simple AudioVox 1-way starter/alarm for $150 and very OEM looking remotes.
Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: May 16, 2005 at 11:09 AM xenon2000 wrote: I now have the Scytek Galaxy 5100 remote start alarm installed in my 1991 Geo Metro 4 door automatic 3cyl commuter! Works great so far. I haven't tweaked all the settings, everything is default right now. But it remote starts perfectly via Tach sensing and I haven't even done the tach learning stuff yet. Added door locks work great (did a 2 stage door lock setup). Dome light supervision setup is so nice. Before this alarm, my dome light was only manually controlled because the car does not come with door pin switches. So now after 3.5 years, I finally have light when I enter the car without having to manually turn it on and off. I still have to add the power trunk release. And I wasn't able to find the correct main accessory wire on my car, so I still have that wire to connect as well so that I have have heat in winter and A/C in the summer. Manual says it's a black wire, not very helpful. Car alarm wiring guides for my car say it's a blue wire, but that has 12volts hot at all times, so it's definately not that one. And I put my blue LED indicator in the center of the top of the dash by the defrost vents to mimic many OEM car setups. Visible 360 on the outside of the car. I like how when the alarm is disarmed, any shock sensing makes the LED blink in perfect sync with bumping the car. :) I personally think the remotes are well built, very strong and solid buttons. And I like the small size of the remote and how the botton panel area is embedded with a raise edge so that the buttons are a lot less likely to be pressed in your pocket. The green LED in the remote is ugly, I would rather have an oldschool red LED in my remote, than green. But I will most likely change that to Blue in the near future anyways. Also, the remotes came with batteries pre-installed and the range sucks, so I am going to try new batteries before I go ranting about crappy range. $70 shipped was definately worth it for this alarm. Only time will now tell if it's a reliable unit. I almost wish I spent the $110-140 to get a 2-way version of the Galaxy 5000 so I didn't have to listen for the Remote Start confirmation tones. My other alarm would do 1 loud tone what sounded different than normal chirps. And the normal chirps were soft. This one with the way it is by default (maybe a tweak is possible) the chirps are very loud and it does 4 chirps as the remote start confirmation tone. That is really my only complaint so far. But definately just my personal preference. Also, if you care about the look of your valet switch, all alarms I have seen, come with ugly ones, so you will want to buy a different one if you even care about the look of it. Parts list of my current install so far. (1) Galaxy 5000RS alarm from X10.com for $70 shipped (5) relays $8.75 total (10 pack purchased from Asianwolf's ebay auction for $17.50 shipped.) (5) relay sockets, $5.00 total (10 at $0.99 each from X10.com shipped free with alarm, shipping not free otherwise.) (4) door lock actuators from ebay for $22 shipped. Items I had laying around: (1) Blue LED to replace RED alarm LED , had one already. Various wires, solder, heat shrink tubing, etc. So far I really like this alarm and am extremely happy with my setup for only a total of $105. Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: June 01, 2005 at 4:16 PM Sorry, meant to say I have the Galaxy 5000RS installed, not the 5100. Anyways. I have now had the alarm installed for about a month. And I don't like it. The range is just the worst I have ever had, completely useless for remote start away from home. And the alarm is inconsistent. I set it for RPM sensing. 1 because RPM sensing claims to be the most reliable way to start the car, yet in this mode it almost never starts on the first try. 2, I wanted it to lock the doors based on RPMs so it doesn't lock right away since passengers often don't have the doors shut before it locks which means the door unlocks when it shuts because as an import is has lame "hold the door handle up" to keep them manually locked. Import owners will know what I am talking about. Anyways, it's not consistent for the door locking, it should only lock based on RPM. But instead sometimes it locks right away as if in the ignition lock mode, sometimes it does it based on RPM and sometimes it does both which is annoying to have it double lock like that. Also, with the remote start, if it doesn't start the first try it takes forever between cycles. I think about 30 secs between cycles. Doesn't sound like a long time, but trust me, sit there for 30sec waiting for it to try again is forever. My other remote start retrys in about 5 sec and it didn't even have RPM sensing. Seems if it's using RPM sensing it should try cranking for at least 6-10 secs before giving up and then it should be able to see it's not started and retry within 5 secs not 30 sec. $70 is cheap, but upset because for just $20 more I could have gotten the same alarm I was used to, and from a company that actually replies to emails and phone calls. Scytek in California will not reply to my emails and never calls me back on the phone. Pro: CHEAP and does work, but see the CONs. Cons: COMPANY IS UNPROFESSIONAL, won't call back or reply to emails, not once even. Terrible remote range (like 50 feet on a good day) Remote is slow to react (feel like I have to constantly press buttons) Remote start is unreliable and has no config options other than RPM sensing or Auto. Remote start cycle times are way too way apart. RPM sensing mode gives buggy door locking results So don't buy this alarm. I wish Someone else had mentioned these things, I would have stayed clear. At least it's just my GEO and was only $70 shipped. Posted By: KarTuneMan Date Posted: June 01, 2005 at 4:39 PM Im just wondering what you were exspecting .....for 70 bucks, shipped? Don't get me wrong......K ------------- Posted By: Powermyster Date Posted: June 01, 2005 at 4:43 PM if i want one of those off my guy he charges me over $150
Posted By: Powermyster Date Posted: June 01, 2005 at 4:43 PM if i want one of those off my guy he charges me over $150
Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: June 01, 2005 at 4:47 PM KarTuneMan wrote: Posted By: KarTuneMan Date Posted: June 03, 2005 at 12:06 AM Dude....you sure can type...
------------- Posted By: OhioMike1101 Date Posted: June 03, 2005 at 11:03 PM xenon2000 wrote: Hmmm, after installing many many of Scytek RS units, I really have to wonder if you have the correct tach wire or have programmed the tach correctly. I have never had one that was programmed to tach fail multiple times on the first attempt. By not having the correct tach wire, that would also make the rpm locks funny. With the combination of those problems, I can only assume the tach is not programmed correctly or you have the incorrect wire. I read in your first post about how you have it hooked up to tach and it is working fine RPM sensing without any programming of it yet. But that alarm comes from the factory preset to voltage sense. How could it work tach sense if you had not programmed it for it? Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: June 05, 2005 at 3:09 PM First off, I have a single electronic fuel injected throttle body 1991 Geo Metro G10 3 cyl Automatic 4 door that this is installed on. Required cranking time is anywhere from 1/2 sec to about 3 or 4 sec due to the carb/injector setup. Which is why I choose the RPM sensing mode. I setup Engine type to Gas, Enabled RPM Sensing Mode from the default Tachless mode. Then followed the instructions for "learning" the idle. Even had the A/C on to program for a lower RPM idle. LED status blinked in confirmation, turned off ignition to save programming. And it was obvious that RPM sensing mode was enabled because then the door locks locked with RPM which it wasn't before. I have my RPM sensing wire directly connected at the coil instead of tapping into the existing wire because I wanted a clean signal. I did not extend the RPM sensing wire that is a part of the wiring harness of the 5000RS brain. I have the right wire and I followed instructions (simple) for tach learning. The door locks work, but I was kind of hoping that the door would lock sooner after a 200 rpm increase, which it doesn't. Seems I have to hit over 1500 rpms before the doors lock. Which if that is normal, I don't like. My biggest issue with this alarm is the range. I have a really hard time at about 50 feet. Even with new batteries. And my antenna is in the windsheild near the drivers side at the very top. Which is where I always put them. My other RS unit by LogixStart gets 500+ ft easy. Both 1-way setups in case anyone was wondering. Another thing I noticed about the 5000RS. I disabled ignition locking and kept ignition unlocking enabled. So that for testing it should only unlock when turning the car off with the key. And that it should never auto lock the doors. Well, if I remote start the car, disarm (unlocking), get in and put in the key, turn to on, and press the brakes to drive the car. The doors lock! Yet if I start the car with the key only, the doors never lock as programmed above. Which to me is a flaw in the design of the unit. And which also explains why it seemed random that my door where locking with RPM sensing. It's because it would lock only with RPM when using the key only for starting, but do both when doing Remote Start. So that solves that mystery and only means I like the alarm less. If only the range was at least 200 feet I would just accept the poor design of this alarm and stop messing with it. If this wasn't my cheap Geo commuter car, I would definately uninstall it and return it. But for my Geo, even with low range and not really using the remote start, at least now the Geo has power doors. The remote start is so silly with only 40-50 feet range. By the time I am close enough to activate the RS, I am already at my car by the time it even does the first crank cycle. And that is with a slow walk. Takes WAY too long to do the first crank over. Should start cranking within 1 sec after the confirmation tones. Not like it takes that long for the fuel pump to charge the system. Posted By: OhioMike1101 Date Posted: June 05, 2005 at 10:57 PM xenon2000 wrote: I think you should try to reposition the antenna. Also, I would suggest relearning the tach at a higher RPM. Your car idles at 200? And I have yet to install a RS that starts the car within 1 second of getting the confirmation for RS. Most take about 10 or so seconds. Why do you need it to start within 1 sec if you aren't going to your car for about 10 minutes. I have installed many of these alarms. I know that I can start the cars easily when I am in front of our store and the cars are in the back lot. Is your antenna pinched somewhere? Try relocating it? etc... etc.... You sound like you know the features you want and are not willing to settle for anything else. Maybe these items are not design flaws but are part of the design and you just don't care for them. Does that make it a bad alarm? Posted By: xenon2000 Date Posted: June 07, 2005 at 9:58 AM OhioMike1101 wrote: My car doesn't idle at 200, I said I would like the RPM door locking to happen after a 200rpm increase. Meaning, 200 rpms over my normal 700rpm idle. So would be nice to have it lock at around 900-1000 rpms. Right now it locks at a much higher rpm. OhioMike1101 wrote: This is true as well. I would personally like it to happen sooner. But even though my other RS unit doesn't do it in 1 sec either, it's also not 30 secs like this Galaxy 5000RS. My other unit that I like much better starts in about 5-6 sec after the tones. 1 sec would just be my ideal timing. Also, if my range was much better, than I might actually bother starting the car sooner so that a 30sec delay would be less of a big deal. Also, with 1-way remotes, I don't like standing there waiting to see if the car successfully starts. 2-way would make this 30 sec delay less of an issue for me. Again, I like the short delay on my other alarm. OhioMike1101 wrote: If my range was that good, I probably never would have bothered to post and vent as much as I have. My wiring is perfect. Nothing is pinched. But that doesn't mean the placement is perfect for this unit. I have it the same as my other brand unit which works fine with a horizontal placement at the top left on the windshield. Is vertical or horizontal recommended for this unit? OhioMike1101 wrote: In my opinion and comparison, the 5000RS 1-way that I have installed.... sucks. It appears to work the way it was designed. Compared to my LogixStart LSA9624 RS 1-way that is 3.5 years old, the galaxy 5000RS is much slower to the frist crank cycle, and several other features I have mentioned also have ill timing algorithyms or processes. Because of the easily comparible differences. I could not recommend this alarm to anyone. Maybe the Galaxy 5000RS 1-way design is acceptable to others, but it is not acceptable to me and so therefore it is a bad alarm and I feel it's helpful to post my findings. As for the range, that is debatable. There are so many car differences and placement differences that I can't guarauntee that the poor range I am experiencing would be the same for everyone. My opinion (other than the debatable range) is to stay away from ScyTek. If you had read all my posting in this thread, you would also know that the biggest reason for saying to stay away from ScyTek is that I have had no luck emailing them and after many phone calls and finding a new number, I finally talked to some of the employees and they are rude and unhelpful. If you never have to talk to your suppliers, retailers, or the manufacture's, then you would most likely not care about this claim. Even if this alarm was perfect and the best alarm out there, I would not buy their products again, solely based on my experience with ScyTek themselves. Again, take my opinions and findings as you like. If anyone that installs this alarm has specific antenna positions and placement recommendations (other than "Try another location"), I would like to hear them. Thanks. |
| Print Page | Close Window |