celicool

I need help figuring out what went wrong with my installation.

I have a 1996 Honda Accord EX Sedan with V-tec and no factory alarm/remote entry that I know of. The old AviStart 3200 (Avital) quit working so I decided to replace it with a new Carvox CX-999. It's a two-way car alarm with remote engine starter.

The alarm works and arms/disarms with power door lock lock/unlock respectively.
Remote start only engages when the car is armed (I suppose that makes sense) so I'm ok with that. The big problem is that I can't kill the engine by stepping on the brake and/or turning the key to run position. So Basically, I could just drive away without the key. I tested and could shift and drive away w/o the key in the ignition. The only way to shut off the engine is to press on the remote start again. My key has no effect whatsoever here.

I can still start my car the normal way with a key.

I have checked and rechecked 3 times already and can't seem to find anything obvious.

I do have a Brown(+) Wire for brake pedal input of the alarm connected to the brake wire which produce 12v when depressed. I have positively tested it with a meter.


My hood pin switch is working as I can arm the car with the hood up, but remote start won't engage.

Remote start would cut engine when I triggered the alarm by opening the driver door with my key.

I appreciate any advice or suggestion you may have.

Thank you,

MotoCARR

Are you connecting it to a green/white wire?

If so, and you verified with a tester that it does put out 12v when you press on the brake, test the brake wire(brown) on the remote start. Disconnect the brown brake input wire from the car, remote start the car, then touch the brake wire to a 12v constant source. Like sticking it into the plug with the big red wire coming out.

By doing this, does the remote start shut the car off? If not, you may have an issue with the brain box.

celicool

I don't remember the brake wire color code of my honda, but I have tested and positively identified it with a volt meter--it does produced 13.8Volt when foot brake is depressed and goes back to 0 when foot brake is released.(I conducted the test while the Remote Start (R/S) is engaging). None of that can cut out the engine.


I also tested the Alarm's brown wire (+ input brake wire) at its harness and it showed 13.8v while my R/S is engagaing. So, I know for sure the alarm does get at least 12v, and the engine should cut out.

MotoCARR

The brown wire on the remote start should not have any current on it. If you do, something isn't right. That wire should be an input wire, and the polarity listed (+) is what the unit is looking for. In this case, it is looking for a positive input to "trigger" the remote start to turn the car off.

If you have 12v on that brown wire with it disconnected from the car, if you connect it to the brake switch your brake lights would be on while the remote start is on lol.

celicool

Your statements are correct and are understood.

The brown wire does NOT get any current going thru it until I depress the foot brake. I did not mention the foot brake in the last test, but it was depressed during my volt meter probing. Anyway, my point was to prove that there was a 13.8volt going thru the brown wire, and the car engine did not cut out.

MotoCARR

You have the right brown wire hooked up? The siren wire is also brown, and about the same size as the brake input.

Ask me how I know to check for that lol

celicool

that's a tough question. You got it from the diagram?


My siren works normally and chirps when it supposed to so It must be connected to its correct Brown wire. As for the brown wire for the brake + input, I traced it all the way to the 8pin plug and to the 5th position as mentioned on the installation menu.


As of this morning, I am suspecting the remote start module(the pre-wired 3 relays tied together by the manufacturer) is probably at fault. I already switched out the brain unit yesterday with the same result(i bought 2 units).


I personally have never seen a defective relay yet, but some of you may have. The remote start is just a bunch of relay tying to gether, and one of them could have gone bad.

MotoCARR

Hey just checking trying to eliminate all possibilities lol.

Do you have the ignition wire cut and a relay installed like a starter kill?

Curious, based on what I see on this page of the manual, is there only one 30A fuse for the whole remote start?

celicool

No, I have nothing cut. The remote start wires are connected exactly as shown on the diagram and menu instruction.
The diagram does offer an optional setup using the orange wire on the 6P plug for starter kill, but I left that out.

celicool

I still need help with this and am running out of options here.


I think I will switch out the remote start bundle(the BLACK pre-wired relay bundle shown next to the alarm brain) tomorrow and see if that make any difference. As mentioned earlier, I bought 2 of these units. I will post the result here when done.


If you have any other ideas or suggestion, please post. THANKS!

MotoCARR

Give it a shot, but I don't think the relay pack is the issue. You can start/stop the car from the remote so I would think that tells you the relay pack is working as it should.

If you remote start the car then pop the hood, does it turn itself off?

celicool

No, popping up the hood does not cut the engine. Yet, I can't engage the remote start when the hood is up neither. I don't understand that at all.

MotoCARR

I don't know if I would classify that as an "issue" since we don't know for sure if it's supposed to shut it off.(Unless it states it in the manual) It does for Directed products, but maybe not across the board.

Did you try touching the brake wire to a constant 12v source with the remote start running/engaged? This would eliminate an installation error and I would think point to a faulty unit.

celicool

Yes, I wired the brown brake wire directly to a constant 12v while the remote start running, but the engine did not cut out.


I'm going to give up if switching out the relay pack doesn't fix it. My car has been sitting on the driveway for almost 2 weeks now. Also, another board member told me that Carvox brand is trouble. I hate to uninstall and return it back to the seller, but I may have to.

MotoCARR

I would have to agree with said other board member lol. In my years of doing this "off brands" are hit or miss. Some work perfectly for years, others you have to try 3 or 4 of them that don't work right out the box.

If you decide to go another route, check out Directed brands such as Viper, Avital, Python, Clifford, Automate, or Compustar, Omega, Excalibur, Audiovox. Those tend to be the major brands out there, but to be honest all those brands fall under one of three "parent" companies lol.

Let me know if you have questions on Directed products as I am a dealer for them .

celicool

I changed out the relay pack but that did not change a thing.


This is the end for my installation of this alarm. It has great potential minus this one defect of course. I will uninstall it and find another replacement unit.


I may go back to Crimestopper as I have installed 3 of those in the past, and they all worked and never had issues on the first try.


Thank you all who helped out.

MotoCARR

Glad to help, good luck on the next unit!(At least you have all the wires marked now )