Discussion
Technology has moved on since my days in auto security, but the Cobras were one of the more expensive brands back then (early '90s). Nothing desperately special about their construction (in fact IIRC they were a multitude of PCBs and a right arse-on to repair at component level), but as I say things move on so the whole thing is probably done with one IC and a power transistor to drive the siren!
I seem to recall they used moving coil sounders that blew with monotonous regularity, however that was a feature of several other brands as well; exacerbated by idiots who let their kids play with the alarm remote, repeatedly arming/ disarming it (the high current pulses that 'chirp' the sounder would fry the voice coil). On the other hand the likes of Laserline used piezo sounders, driven by a high-impedance transformer; instead of the siren burning out, the transformer did instead, and almost always took out the driver tranny and half the PCB tracks as well.
Then there was the infamous Vecta immobiliser, that you could defeat with a well-placed hole drilled by a cordless screwdriver. I was one of the people who pointed this out to Vecta, and they subsequently potted the circuit board in a length of plastic pipe so you couldn't tell which way up the board was!
You may also want to consider Clifford: though I personally wouldn't have gone out looking for one, there is a Cliff on my 390SE and it's actually blody good (with one or two annoying foibles if I'm really picky - like it sometimes locks the doors when you turn the ignition on, even though I disabled that feature). Depends on the coin in your pocket, perhaps - this one was £575, but it wasn't my money!
Worth shopping around for other brands as well, having decided on the features you need/ want. Most of them do central locking control (some do total closure as well, only really any use on a Cerbera I'd have thought) and if you get an immobilising one, make sure it's a Thatcham Cat 1 and you'll get an insurance discount.
Ian
I seem to recall they used moving coil sounders that blew with monotonous regularity, however that was a feature of several other brands as well; exacerbated by idiots who let their kids play with the alarm remote, repeatedly arming/ disarming it (the high current pulses that 'chirp' the sounder would fry the voice coil). On the other hand the likes of Laserline used piezo sounders, driven by a high-impedance transformer; instead of the siren burning out, the transformer did instead, and almost always took out the driver tranny and half the PCB tracks as well.
Then there was the infamous Vecta immobiliser, that you could defeat with a well-placed hole drilled by a cordless screwdriver. I was one of the people who pointed this out to Vecta, and they subsequently potted the circuit board in a length of plastic pipe so you couldn't tell which way up the board was!
You may also want to consider Clifford: though I personally wouldn't have gone out looking for one, there is a Cliff on my 390SE and it's actually blody good (with one or two annoying foibles if I'm really picky - like it sometimes locks the doors when you turn the ignition on, even though I disabled that feature). Depends on the coin in your pocket, perhaps - this one was £575, but it wasn't my money!
Worth shopping around for other brands as well, having decided on the features you need/ want. Most of them do central locking control (some do total closure as well, only really any use on a Cerbera I'd have thought) and if you get an immobilising one, make sure it's a Thatcham Cat 1 and you'll get an insurance discount.
Ian
Looking into getting a new Cobra alarm fitted to my Chimaera to replace the original Meta unit.
Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with Cobra alarms?
My Griff has a Cobra. Great especially the boot release button on the key fob.
Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk
Well I've got a Cobra Cat-1 on my A6 - works fine but had problems with the Audi 2 click to unlock all doors so we set it to one click to unlock all doors. Works well but remote range is much shorter than Audi's.
I've also got a Clifford Concept 600 (with dual zone, boot opening, blackjax, data port, etc) in my Chimaera - this alarm is simply fantastic. Remote works from miles away, no false alarms, works with the roof up / down. Install was neat and tidy - no issues at all.
Both were done by Premier Alarms (MK - 01908 220337) - good guys and jobs well done on both.
Cheers
Ian
I've also got a Clifford Concept 600 (with dual zone, boot opening, blackjax, data port, etc) in my Chimaera - this alarm is simply fantastic. Remote works from miles away, no false alarms, works with the roof up / down. Install was neat and tidy - no issues at all.
Both were done by Premier Alarms (MK - 01908 220337) - good guys and jobs well done on both.
Cheers
Ian
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