Alpine Alarm gurus here?

[Purrybonker]

Not sure what model the alarm is (back of the remote says "SEC-8448"). It's been working fine for years (car is an '87- alarm installed by previous owner) but I understand that Alpine got out of the alarm business about 10 years ago.

Recently, when I arm the alarm I notice the following approximate sequence:

(1) Alarm red indicator light will pulse in a normal pattern (every .5 sec or so) for five or ten minutes.
(2) The indicator light will start to flash very rapidly for about ten seconds, then return to the normal (.5 second) pattern.
(3) On what seems to be a random basis the indicator light will flash very rapidly AND the parking lights will flash on and off (as they would if the alarm were tripped) AND the alarm will pulse a "beep" sound for about ten seconds or so. The alarm "beep" is the same sound as when the alarm is armed or disarmed (one beep to arm - two beeps to disarm) - NOT the high pitched tripped alarm tone.

Battery seems OK - car starts and runs fine. The Alpine remote unit also operates the power windows (it's a cab) and door locks and those functions seems to work properly.

I have no manual or instructions for this system.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Ken

[SalazarS2K]

Ken, I have an Alpine alarm on my daily driver too and its been reliable for the past 9 years. From what I remember, the flashing on the LED indicates that the alarm was tripped when you were away from the car. I can't remember what they meant exactly, but the blinking tells you what location set off the alarm, ie. the windows (1 blink every .5 seconds), or the drunk (2 blinks every .5 seconds). If this isn't the problem, than my other guess would be to try and reset the alarm by unhooking it from the battery for 30 seconds and putting it back.

[RANDY P]

You're triggering the outer proximity sensing. It does that when it's armed and someone walks too close to the car. It could be in sensitivity adjustment mode.

I used to own that unit years ago, and don't have the manual anymore, but try to press both buttons on the remote and hold them for a few seconds until it flashes the parking lights. If that doesn't work. Switch the car to "run" position and hold the toggle switch down.

You can always do a full reset by finding the unit, unplugging it from it's harness, then turn the key to "run" and plug the unit back in, that may reset it.

rjp

[Purrybonker]

Originally posted by SalazarS2K
... or the drunk (2 blinks every .5 seconds).

- ah, so we've met before...

Originally posted by RANDY P
Switch the car to "run" position and hold the toggle switch down.

I'll try playing around with that little toggle and/or re-setting it.

Thanks for the tips guys!

[Por_sha911]

You may want to consider replacing that thing before it decides to go haywire on you while 50 miles out of town. I have a feeling you are headed toward a problem without any paperwork and the company being out of the alarm business. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" (and a tow bill to get the car home). Remember the mantra: Preventative maintenance.

[Purrybonker]

Originally posted by Por_sha911
You may want to consider replacing that thing before it decides to go haywire on you while 50 miles out of town. I have a feeling you are headed toward a problem without any paperwork and the company being out of the alarm business. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" (and a tow bill to get the car home). Remember the mantra: Preventative maintenance.

That's actually a good point. I did manage to get it reset; but not after "fighting" with it for a while. I'm going to try to track down more info about this thing.