Alarm Install 101 - where not to put it

[boostfix]

I recently bought my first p-car, a 1988 911 Turbo and the PO was nice enough to install a fantastic stereo and an alarm. This was all installed by a high end shop, unfortunately now out of business. The stereo install was done really well. The alarm wiring appears to have been done well with the exception of where the alarm brain was located. The purpose of this thread is to educate owners so that you can ask your installer some key questions about where he will be placing components.

I started having problems with the Clifford Intelliguard 8000 alarm and decided in investigate. Finding the brain took some time and the reason why things were probably not working properly....pretty clear too.

The result: Can you guess yet where it was installed?



The wrong location for an alarm brain or any heat sensitive electronic device is in behind the footwell blowers:



Note in the next picture how the case got melted and the internals are showing. Also note in the picture the receiver antenna (melted wire top right)....wonder why the remote did not work anywhere but right beside the car




Apparently trying to find a replacement brain (2001 era) is the definition of impossible. So some options as I see it now:
1. un-install the alarm and repair wiring harness with solder and heat shrink
2. install another alarm - install new harness in place of the existing
3. try and repair the board to salvage the remote door lock and interior light feature and unwire the other features to ensure that I never get stuck somewhere.

The problems that I was experiencing...the remotes no-longer worked and to start the car I had to have the head lights on. Go figure. Without the headlights on, the starter would not crank.

[javadog]

Yank the alarm. I have yet to see one that didn't eventually cause some mysterious problem, when it was least needed.

Garage the car. Buy a loud dog. Dont park at large shopping malls, or in ghettos at night.

JR

[azasadny]

Ouch! That looks like the old Hoffco alarm that was giving me fits last summer. I hate car alarms!!

[Paulporsche]

I can certainly see why that type of device is heat sensitive, but I'm surprised to see that the blower heat melted the housing like that. Are you sure it wasn't heat from some short or overload?

[bigchillcar]

+1 i agree with paul...that's some serious heat carnage!

[jorian]

PO had a CD changer under the passneger seat in my car. With the heat on I would start to smell melting plastic. I'm sure thats not good. Yanked the changer and smell is gone.

+1 on yanking the alarm. Buy a Club. Not fool proof but it'll slow a guy down a bit.

[bigchillcar]

yeah, the club saved my bacon in miami. i was more worried about the car being stolen there. i'm interested in an alarm, but more to ward off vandals if possible. any recommendations? remember the infamous 'please step away from the car, please..' voice alarm?

[boostfix]

Originally posted by Paulporsche
I can certainly see why that type of device is heat sensitive, but I'm surprised to see that the blower heat melted the housing like that. Are you sure it wasn't heat from some short or overload?

I'm pretty positive it was heat from the ducting system because the end of the alarm antenna was actually pinched in the inlet ducting to the footwell blower. ie. it was in the heated air stream and the picture shows what happened to that! also, taking the module apart, there is no evidence of heat from any internal components.

I can understand the desire to tuck away the alarm module somewhere other than just under the dash where it would be easily unplugged.....where is the best location then that keeps the harness length reasonable? behind the dash instruments?

[kees]

Originally posted by boostfix
I can understand the desire to tuck away the alarm module somewhere other than just under the dash where it would be easily unplugged.....where is the best location then that keeps the harness length reasonable? behind the dash instruments?

Behind the floorboard on the passenger's side?

Kees.

[Mookster]

Ditch the alarm!

There is no such thing as a professional install job. They are all hack jobs!

A/M alarm systems will eventually fail. They create electric gremlins you can chase for years.

...of course it is your car and you can do what you want.

[Steve 82SC]

When I acquired my car, it had an alarm. It was a good alarm, but very 80's....even had a pager transmitter so if you were in a nearby location and someone was tampering with the car, your pager would go off. Upon close inspection once the car was mine, EVERY wire connection was twisted together and duct taped....just a problem waiting to happen. Typical example of good hardware and extremely shoddy installation. It took me days to go through the system and carefully remove it from the car. There were power connections from the alarm into certain parts of the car where they shouldn't have been.....I did alot of extra wiring repair work because of the removal. When I was finished, I couldn't believe the amount of wiring in a pile on the garage floor. I keep a CLUB under the seat and use it as needed. My wife pointed out to me that if someone breaks into the garage, they'll probably leave the three cars alone and go for the 52 inch Snap-On tool chest and roller cabinet. I then had a professional install a very secure setup on the garage and tied it into the existing house alarm.

Steve

[TerryH]

Here's another "where not to put it". This was done prior to my ownership. I would have had to kick someone's ass if I saw them cutting out the dash.

[javadog]

Originally posted by TerryH
Here's another "where not to put it". This was done prior to my ownership. I would have had to kick someone's ass if I saw them cutting out the dash.

Yes, that was common back in the eighties. I just took one of those out of a car I bought a while back. It's getting really hard to find nice dash padding.

JR

[dorschman]

how about a pair of led lights on the doors near where the locks show? That would make anyone think there was an alarm and maybe less likely to fool with the car. Nice fake with no real alarm.

I bought the alarm in my car off of e-bay because I wanted a specific alpine that is not made anymore.

[masraum]

When I installed the alarm in my old '88, I put the brain in the smuggler's box. I was able to do it without removing the fan/evaporater assembly, and I was able to use an existing strew/nut to attach it to the body. It worked out well since the necessary wiring is in the trunk anyway.

[boostfix]

Originally posted by kees
[B]Behind the floorboard on the passenger's side?

I did some work on the car last night and found some more alarm sensor wiring after removing the passenger side floor board. This does indeed look like a decent place to put an alarm module.

In my case however, the installer put the power conditioner module for the stereo here.

Originally posted by masraum
[B]When I installed the alarm in my old '88, I put the brain in the smuggler's box....

This sounds like a decent idea too. I have never looked in my smugglers box as the installer put the stereo amplifier and cross over on a custom rack above the lid to the smugglers box....one day I'll have a look.

Originally posted by dorschman
[B]how about a pair of led lights on the doors near where the locks show? That would make anyone think there was an alarm and maybe less likely to fool with the car. Nice fake with no real alarm....

The decoy trick....I like this one. Add a club to the steering wheel and you will have a good chance of being bypassed by the joy rider. Unless of course your car is to fill an order in some remote part of the world and a shipping container awaits the flat deck. In this situation, no alarm is going to help either.

[jester911]

I personally think an alarm is a waste of time and money. They really don't do much but annoy people when they go off. I don't believe anybody thats is stealing a car looks at them as much of a deterent.

I really think the best solution is a battery cutoff hidden in the car.

[boostfix]

After some googling time I found an interesting web site for those that have car alarms as their hobby. It is here that I found a link to a PDF version of the "installers guide" for the particular alarm in my car.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/4/107533.html

Armed with this information I was able to figure out what was actually installed in the car by looking at what wires on the alarm harness were used and not. This would also make alarm removal a lot easier.

[kees]

Originally posted by jester911
I personally think an alarm is a waste of time and money. They really don't do much but annoy people when they go off. I don't believe anybody thats is stealing a car looks at them as much of a deterent.

I really think the best solution is a battery cutoff hidden in the car.

Here in Holland most of the insurance companies insist on having an alarm, otherwise the car isn't insured.

Kees.