Cliff notes first: On my Viper 791 alarm, the remote sensor in the car doesn't pick up the remote on my keychain. My alarm will just keep going off unless the battery is unplugged or part of the "headunit" of the alarm is unplugged as well.


Here's where it gets interesting. Last week i managed to put a new battery in and connected the terminals on the wrong polarity. Ended up blowing the battery 80A fuse under the hood.

I fixed the fuse and was on my way with everything working. However, the sensor wouldn't pick up my remote everytime, took at least 2 or 3 clicks of the Unlock button to get my car to unlock, and vice versa. The following morning i get into my car. Go to class. Come back and the remote on my key chain just beeps at me and the car doesn't unlock.

So use my key and get in. Alarm goes off as expected. I eventually go unplug the Negative terminal of the battery, but if i put it back on, the alarm goes off. So i had to unplug parts of the alarm itself and connect the battery just to get home.

Question: what's happening?! I figured it was a fuse in line with the alarm, nope. Found four of them, none blown.

 

dude you fried the alarm. good job.

 

Who installed it? Bring it back for them to fix it.

 

or try to re-program your remote. I've had this situation happen before without the customer hooking up the battery termninals backwards... of course that was with a 790, but you might be having the same issue. Ends up his remote was being a PITA

 

I had Circuit City install it because they are right across the street from work, and the guy that does the work there i know. Now he's gone and they usually charge a grip and aren't trust worthy.

I'd reprogram the remote, but can't figure out how. I think it's in the manual somewhere. But the second i plug the alarm back in, the sirens go off, and when it stops, the remote doesn't work. I even tried pushing the "lock" button "numerous" times like it said to re-sync the remote, and nothing happened.

 

lol
you have a lifetime warranty if you purchased it from circut city
there is no charge there no matter what they tell you
you bumped the key pad out of program
find your valet button (little push button or toggleswitch) and with the door open and the key on while the alarm is going off push or flip the switch
alarm goes off
......
your trustworthy circuit city sales and instalation manager

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by barefootbilly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Last week i managed to put a new battery in and connected the terminals on the wrong polarity. Ended up blowing the battery 80A fuse under the hood.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Hell you are lucky all you blew was the alarm. I would recommend that you don't say how you blew the alarm, just walk in and say it doesn't work anymore. The warranty doesn't cover owner stupidity.

 

to the circuit city dude: thanks. I hope. I'll try it asap.

to that last response: I'm not so sure connecting the battery wrongly blew the alarm or messed it up as opposed to me just throwing the remote/sensor out of sync. I have it in my pocket a lot and the booklet says pushing the button out of range will cause this. But i tried the remedy and nothing happened.

 

yeap, use the valet switch. It's the little black push button switch. As stated, with the door open turn the key to Ignition and push the valet switch the programmed # of times. If you're not sure of the programmed #, it's either 1 to 5. Default is 1, and I know most people who work at bigger chains like that don't tend to change the number. Actually I bet most of the people who install at them don't even know the number.. atleast I can say that for circuit city. Most of the other stores around my location have no clue about the detailed featuers of the alarms. They just know lock and unlock.

If you'd like to find what we're talking about in your manual, it should be in the section labeled "disarming without transmitter" and it's found on page 24 in the Owners Manual.

As for the programming a remote, it's found on page 35 and is labeled "transmitter/receiver learn routine". here's what you'd do it auto-program the remote to the default configuration:

-Open the drivers door

-turn the key to IGNITION

-Press and release the black valet button 1 time, and then press 1 more time and HOLD the button in. The siren should chirp.

-Press a button on the remote (I usually use the LOCK button). Once you have pressed the button the alarm *should* chirp (doesn't always for me) and/or the parking lights should flash. After pressing the remote button you can then let go of the black valet button The programming should be finished. See if it worked. If not you can repeat the steps.

 

thanks again, i just printed that so i could go use it when i get out of the office.

I have however noticed that it's probably the antenna that's the problem. One day i came into my car and saw the antenna which is right above the rear view mirror had one of it's two antenna's bent downward. Not broken off, but at a 45 degree angle instead of the straigh line. Stupid car wash people. But it never gave me problems for a month. I'm willing to bet the alarm just got reset, and i hope that's all it is. Though i still want to get a new antenna, but don't know where.

 

take it back to circuit, tell them it just stopped working and you want it fixed under warranty.. dont mention the battery mishap just tell em it stopped working and they should take care of it free of charge

*edit* i worked a circuit as a lead installer for almost 3 years btw, **** happens, just go back and get it taken care of...


Modified by Boostfedb18c1 at 2:27 PM 5/31/2004

 

ughhh i work at circuit city and i know the ins and outs....
seems kinda biased there
and i was the one who gave him the info ...

 

but even if i didn't buy it from them?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by barefootbilly &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">but even if i didn't buy it from them? </TD></TR></TABLE>


if you did not buy it from circuit city then the warranty does not apply.. only warranty they can garantee is the installation warranty, there would be no warranty on the parts

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Boostfedb18c1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


if you did not buy it from circuit city then the warranty does not apply.. only warranty they can garantee is the installation warranty, there would be no warranty on the parts</TD></TR></TABLE>

You can still take it back to circuit city. If they installed it they will cover any wiring mishaps and trouble shooting. If you didnt' buy it from them, then they will *NOT* do an instant swap. If you DID buy it from them, the life time warrenty means circuit city will swap the bad unit out for a good one. Without that, they can remove it and either you can send it in to DEI or circuit might be able to send it in to their repair center (since they can cover most manufactorers warrenties... not all though).

The only issue you might run into is Circuit City just dropped DEI. IF there was any way to get a swap or anything of the sort, well that's out the window. I'm not sure what they'd do from there.

 

i was informed it may just be my remote that was thrown off and that i have a replacement one. I don't know where that is or even if i got one, but could that be it?