I have been watching my car the past few days because my car alarm goes off at night. In the morning I do the zone intrusion check and the flashes indicate it's the impact/optional sensor. I have the OEM 2 zone shock sensor connected with the 2 zone motion sensor which I have off and the tilt/motion sensor and a glass sensor connected on the optional sensor wire. They all have diodes to isolate them. I have reduced the sensitivity of the tilt sensor to normal tilt and low motion but it still goes off. The alarm seems to work fine if I unplug the sensor but I have to test that tonight. Can a bad diode do this? Is it the temperature change? Please point me in the right dirrection with this. Thanks.
BTW the tilt sensor is the DEI electronic tilt/motion sensor model 570T


[Modified by Undepelo, 6:03 AM 9/6/2002]

 

Ahh come on! Anyone?

 

my car did the same **** when i had a viper alarm with a motion sensor.... there are dials on the sensor, turn them down to your liking (less sensitive to movement)

I got a Aladdin paging system on my newer car now.....

 

 

It's not the sensitivity, I have put them to their lowest possible setting and it still does it. I found out last night that if I only use 1 of the sensors the problem seems to go away. It may trigger later at night but I am not sure. I'm checking the diodes and will probably eliminate the glass sensor. Does anyone know what can be causing this?

 

like you said... double check your diodes. with multiple sensors you need to diode isolate them all from each other. that is usually what causes falses when multiple sensors are used.

 

check your diodes on all the sensors.. also if you have a tilt sensor check to see if its on the automatic reset/zero in/whatever setting.. sometimes it will false if its on the manual setting or whatever... I guess since your sensitivity is all the way down its not that... can you have your sensors shut off (or input ignored from the brain) one by one? I can turn off my other sensors if say I'm in a busy/heavy foot traffic area or whatever on my Clifford alarm... see if you can do that so you can try to isolate which sensor it is then try to fix it..

 

Humm, I noticed the "glass" sensor was only noise sensor. It was cheap so I'll just disconnect it. I got 4 chirps at arming (malfunction sensor overide) when I supply power to the motion sensor so I disconnected that too. I will check battery voltage but I find it strange that it would drop lower than 12.6. It's a new Optima red top. I did notice today at the 4 wire harness that goes from the ignition key to the fuse box that the yellow and black wire had a 0.5VDC accross it even with the key out of the ignition. Is that normal or is my current draining through that wire? I connected a passive fuel cut/ignition cut relay set I made with a magnetic trigger and I forgot to isolate 2 of the grounds. Don't think that is a problem but I'll do it in case. Thanks for your help I really am getting frustrated here by myself with all this...

 

WOW!! Just checked my voltage (At battery terminals in the trunk) and the voltage was 12.23VDC!. How could it go down so much? Could there be a voltage drain going on? How can I pin point a short or current drain I understand current fairly well but I don't know what the best approach would be in this situation. More help please?

 

12.23 is normal when the car is not running. The DEI motion sensor is really cheaply made, I have installed many of these things and the customers always come back so I can readjust it. DEI has a new digital tilt sensor out so maybe you might wanna try that.

 

That's the one I have I think. It cost me around $68. It's the DEI motion/tilt sensor 507T. 12.3 is normal but my battery goes from 12.6 down to 12.2 while parked. Is that normal? I wouuld think the battery holds the voltage better/longer.

 

Can anyone tell me how to find why my battery is draining? Please? I have my car without interiors and I need to get my alarm working well so I can re-assemble stuff. TIA

 

this will sound silly in comparison to the above potential solutions, but i too had similar problems at two different times. after more than a week of false alarms every night, i realized that leaving my cell phone in the car within a foot or so of the shock sensor was setting it off. another time it was falsing from the tilt sensor, which turned out to have gotten water damage over the winter (snow) and corroded the terminal.

so don't leave your cell in your car, and make sure your tilt doesn't get wet.

hope that helps.
doubt it will.

good luck.

(i knew someone who left his cell in the car, and it would trip his alarm AND open/close his garage door! my solution worked for him.)

 

Well I don't own a cell phone, the tilt sensor is new and the lighter isn't connected for the cell phone I don't have.. hehehe I'll remember these if it happens down the road. Thanks for your help, I need every suggestion I can get.

 

A tip here, set your DMM for the highest measurable current first. Then move it down to the milli amp range. This will save you from blowing the fuses in the DMM if your current draw is to high. Its doubtful that your current draw would be this high (your battery would probably be dead), its just a good practice to get into.



[Modified by nsxxtreme, 9:45 PM 9/9/2002]

 

Teken: Just wondering aboutt he relays again and the diodes. On that one parts site on a previous post, it sold the relay wire harness with the diodes already installed. Is this alright to use? Do you recommend a diode on all relays? The reason I ask is because im thinking about the relay on my NX nitrous kit which has a relay but no diode. Thanks

Do you guys also have a reason why my python alarm keeps locking my doors after its already locked? When I arm my alram, the door locks, then it locks and locks and locks.....etc....only sometimes will it lock just once. Is it my door lock actuator or my alarm that keeps sending power to the locks? VERY ANNOYING


[Modified by dvp95, 6:47 AM 9/10/2002]

 

im guessing your car is an accord i had that problem on a customers car its NOT your alam its your door actuator

 

it was an accord.

 

Teken,
I I bought a charger 2 amp trickle, 10 amp charge and 50 amp start. I charged the optima with the 10 amp then triclkled with the 2 amp. I did it automatically and it took very little time about 20 minutes with the 10 amp and 30 minutes with the trickle. Is this ok? You said 8 hours, do I manually do it for 8 hours at 2 amps? Please advise. Thanks again for your help.

 

That was quick!. Thanks. I have the battey out of the car and was waiting for your answer to know if i was going to keep charging or install it back. I will install the battery back tomorrow and check the current. My DMM only goes to 200 mA so I don't know if I should use it for this. I will see if I can buy a current DMM if I find one cheap today. I'll post soon my findings.. Thanks again for your help.

 

Teken,
I calculatedthe current at the battery terminalBecause my DMM goes up to 200mA I used a precision resistance (.01 Ohms) in series and measured the voltage across it (8.9 mVDC) then calculated the amps. (.89 Amps). That is triple the max right? Now I will check the current at the fueses like you recommended. Any thoughts?...

 

Whow stupid me I had the doors open and that seemed to mess up the reading. I closed the doors and my current was around the 150mA with the alarm on. I guess the battery was just too low on charge. I'll see if it's working tonight.

 

did it work?