A friend of mine got a problem with his alarm, the siren output is fried. The alarm is a Viper 550esp. The output for the alarm reads 3-4 volts continuously regardless if the alarm is going of or not. The voltage doesn't even change when you arm/disarm the system or when you set off the alarm or use the panic function.
He doesn't have the cash to get a new one and he asked me to try to fix it. At first I thought about using the parking lights output to to power the siren and at least chirp with the lights, but then if he turns on the lights on the car the siren would go off. But that has an easy fix. If I put a relay on the lights output wire after the wire for the siren the lights would flash off this relay and be isolated.
The problem is with the RS part of the system. As you all know this system turns on or flashes the PL when the car is running with the remote starter. And that would mean that the siren will either chirp or stay on for as long as the RS is on.
Does anyone have an idea as of how I can get around this? Like I said getting a new system is not an option at least not in the near future. And no he can't just take it back to the dealer who installed the alarm as this car has been trough two owners before him and the original owner was the one to put in the alarm and he got it from a reseller with no warranty. By the way I checked the installation and fix the problems it had( t-taps everywhere) but the siren is still on the air.Please don't suggest that he changes the alarm. I have a few alarms here but he wants the alarm/starter combo he's got( very stubborn m***** f*****).
Any and all ideas are welcome!
never heard of it staying at 3-4 volts, seen severl DEI alarms that had no output b4. did you just put in this alarm and the siren sounds very low, if so check the ground of the alarm.
Well short of opening up the brain and seeing if you can find some component that looks burned up, I guess he'll just have a silent alarm. lol
If you take it to a local DEI dealer they can send them back for repair. You'll have to pay for it if you have no reciept but it's cheaper than a new unit.
I redid all the connections because the guy who did the original install used t-taps on all of the connections. Now they're all solder. And sending the unit in for repair would probably cost more than buying a new Audiovox APS-786t ($95 shipped) which has more features and cost less than the Viper.
But right now he doesn't have the money to do either, so I have to somehow make this thing work. The alarm part I have figured out but the remote starter part is the one that I can't get around.
So I need a way to bypass the siren while the remote starter is on without loosing the parking lights(the siren would be connected to the parking lights circuit to at least get the siren chirping).
Wire a relay that uses the ignition as a feed on pin 86. Have it cut the power lead going to the siren whenever the Ignition is powered. Ground pin 85. cut the lead going to the siren and wire one side to pin 87A and the other to pin 30.
use this as a guide.
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Steve G
Iskidoo, that's what I'm talking about. I can't believe that I didn't think about that. Thanks for the help!
No problem, I hope it works out for him. Post back your results.
Oh and make sure you ground pin 85 instead of using negative out when armed. Otherwise your siren is going to sound when you turn the parking lights on at night because the alarm is not active and providing the ground out.
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Steve G