Major Alarm & Siren Woes
Discussion
I'm up at my Parents at the moment in sunny Brigg. And have major alarm probs. On the drive up here the alarm started coming on intermittently in short bursts - very embarrassing because the short burst sounds like a Wolf whistle, and it always seems to go off just as I am passing some big shaved head hard ba$$$trd, they turn round, and see me looking at them with a wry smile on my face and the "Sorry mate it's a TVR, can't do nothin' about it" expression. 
Anyway, I have tried resetting it. reconnect to battery, hold blipper for 4 seconds (tried 10 and 12 and 16 too). It seems to cure itself, then within 20 minutes the alarm starts off again. I have disconnected the Meta alarm and it still goes off. Does anyone have any ideas where to start looking? Or failing that can someone e-mail me how to disconnect the siren so at least I can drive back home without the alarm going off - I'm a bit frightened that I'll meet the same shaved head ba$$$trd on the way back, and next time I could end up dead (or even worse lose my virginity in a M'way servie area car park)
Anyway, I have tried resetting it. reconnect to battery, hold blipper for 4 seconds (tried 10 and 12 and 16 too). It seems to cure itself, then within 20 minutes the alarm starts off again. I have disconnected the Meta alarm and it still goes off. Does anyone have any ideas where to start looking? Or failing that can someone e-mail me how to disconnect the siren so at least I can drive back home without the alarm going off - I'm a bit frightened that I'll meet the same shaved head ba$$$trd on the way back, and next time I could end up dead (or even worse lose my virginity in a M'way servie area car park)
Update time.
I rang Carl Baker when I had the Alarm problems, and he was really helpful and talked me through how to temporarily fix the problem.
On Monday I drove down to get the problem sorted. He's a really interesting and knowledgeable guy, and knows so much about alarms and In car Entertainment, he gave me a quote to have my car properly ICE'd £970, a 6 speaker system with tweeters that would blow my mind. And the way he talks about it, and the knowledge he has, it is very very tempting to go ahead and do it. I learnt more about in car Hi-fi in 1 hour than I'd learnt in my whole life.
In a nutshell......
There is no point and no need to fit powerful amplifiers, you just need quality speakers, correctly wired up, and fitted in the right places, and you will get exactly the same volume with no distortion, just pure Hi-Fi quality sound..
No point in fitting Bass boxes, because fibreglass, unlike steel, just totally kills Bass frequencies.
Oh by the way, got my alarm totally sorted, now have a new ear shattering alarm siren, and 2 brand new, smart looking key fobs that have a range of about 20 meters as opposed to my previous 20 inches.
Great Guy, and highly recommended to anyone who has alarm problems, needs a spare key fob, and wants the ultimate in Car Hi-fi.
PS - Had a great drive back including a blast with a Porsche Carrera S, I was overtaking a car, and he was up my a$$, so when I;d passed I pulled over to the left, , he stayed in the outside lane to overtake me, but I put my foot down and left him well behind, it carried on like that for a good 15 miles, Oh how I love this car
I rang Carl Baker when I had the Alarm problems, and he was really helpful and talked me through how to temporarily fix the problem.
On Monday I drove down to get the problem sorted. He's a really interesting and knowledgeable guy, and knows so much about alarms and In car Entertainment, he gave me a quote to have my car properly ICE'd £970, a 6 speaker system with tweeters that would blow my mind. And the way he talks about it, and the knowledge he has, it is very very tempting to go ahead and do it. I learnt more about in car Hi-fi in 1 hour than I'd learnt in my whole life.
In a nutshell......
There is no point and no need to fit powerful amplifiers, you just need quality speakers, correctly wired up, and fitted in the right places, and you will get exactly the same volume with no distortion, just pure Hi-Fi quality sound..
No point in fitting Bass boxes, because fibreglass, unlike steel, just totally kills Bass frequencies.
Oh by the way, got my alarm totally sorted, now have a new ear shattering alarm siren, and 2 brand new, smart looking key fobs that have a range of about 20 meters as opposed to my previous 20 inches.
Great Guy, and highly recommended to anyone who has alarm problems, needs a spare key fob, and wants the ultimate in Car Hi-fi.
PS - Had a great drive back including a blast with a Porsche Carrera S, I was overtaking a car, and he was up my a$$, so when I;d passed I pulled over to the left, , he stayed in the outside lane to overtake me, but I put my foot down and left him well behind, it carried on like that for a good 15 miles, Oh how I love this car
jensena said:
Update time.
I rang Carl Baker when I had the Alarm problems, and he was really helpful and talked me through how to temporarily fix the problem.
On Monday I drove down to get the problem sorted. He's a really interesting and knowledgeable guy, and knows so much about alarms and In car Entertainment, he gave me a quote to have my car properly ICE'd £970, a 6 speaker system with tweeters that would blow my mind. And the way he talks about it, and the knowledge he has, it is very very tempting to go ahead and do it. I learnt more about in car Hi-fi in 1 hour than I'd learnt in my whole life.
In a nutshell......
There is no point and no need to fit powerful amplifiers, you just need quality speakers, correctly wired up, and fitted in the right places, and you will get exactly the same volume with no distortion, just pure Hi-Fi quality sound..
No point in fitting Bass boxes, because fibreglass, unlike steel, just totally kills Bass frequencies.
Oh by the way, got my alarm totally sorted, now have a new ear shattering alarm siren, and 2 brand new, smart looking key fobs that have a range of about 20 meters as opposed to my previous 20 inches.
Great Guy, and highly recommended to anyone who has alarm problems, needs a spare key fob, and wants the ultimate in Car Hi-fi.
PS - Had a great drive back including a blast with a Porsche Carrera S, I was overtaking a car, and he was up my a$$, so when I;d passed I pulled over to the left, , he stayed in the outside lane to overtake me, but I put my foot down and left him well behind, it carried on like that for a good 15 miles, Oh how I love this car
I rang Carl Baker when I had the Alarm problems, and he was really helpful and talked me through how to temporarily fix the problem.
On Monday I drove down to get the problem sorted. He's a really interesting and knowledgeable guy, and knows so much about alarms and In car Entertainment, he gave me a quote to have my car properly ICE'd £970, a 6 speaker system with tweeters that would blow my mind. And the way he talks about it, and the knowledge he has, it is very very tempting to go ahead and do it. I learnt more about in car Hi-fi in 1 hour than I'd learnt in my whole life.
In a nutshell......
There is no point and no need to fit powerful amplifiers, you just need quality speakers, correctly wired up, and fitted in the right places, and you will get exactly the same volume with no distortion, just pure Hi-Fi quality sound..
No point in fitting Bass boxes, because fibreglass, unlike steel, just totally kills Bass frequencies.
Oh by the way, got my alarm totally sorted, now have a new ear shattering alarm siren, and 2 brand new, smart looking key fobs that have a range of about 20 meters as opposed to my previous 20 inches.
Great Guy, and highly recommended to anyone who has alarm problems, needs a spare key fob, and wants the ultimate in Car Hi-fi.
PS - Had a great drive back including a blast with a Porsche Carrera S, I was overtaking a car, and he was up my a$$, so when I;d passed I pulled over to the left, , he stayed in the outside lane to overtake me, but I put my foot down and left him well behind, it carried on like that for a good 15 miles, Oh how I love this car
Carl fitted replacement speakers ( 6x MB quartz) in mine, fantastic sound. As you say Carl really knows his stuff, and takes great care in everything that he does, absolutely amazed at what he does for the money!
Do it Jensena, you will then have great sounds in the car as well as out, for those rainy days when the windows are up!
mxi933 said:
Hi Alan
I'm pleased you got your alarm sorted.
Mines been playing up for a couple of weeks. Although it doesnt actually go off when I'm driving, it does go off when I park up and lock the car. Consequently I have to leave it unlocked.
Got any pearls of wisdom?
I'm pleased you got your alarm sorted.
Mines been playing up for a couple of weeks. Although it doesnt actually go off when I'm driving, it does go off when I park up and lock the car. Consequently I have to leave it unlocked.
Got any pearls of wisdom?
That is exactly how mine started, is it just going off intermittently, and 'chirping'?
Mine did that for a coupe of weeks on and off, then it started doing it as I was driving, and eventually ended up doing it continuously. It's the alarm siren telling you that it is about to fail any time now, and when it does it will trigger off the whole alarm system, so get the siren changed asap. If you want to know how to stop it chirping as a temporary fix, drop me an email.
jensena said:
mxi933 said:
Hi Alan
I'm pleased you got your alarm sorted.
Mines been playing up for a couple of weeks. Although it doesnt actually go off when I'm driving, it does go off when I park up and lock the car. Consequently I have to leave it unlocked.
Got any pearls of wisdom?
I'm pleased you got your alarm sorted.
Mines been playing up for a couple of weeks. Although it doesnt actually go off when I'm driving, it does go off when I park up and lock the car. Consequently I have to leave it unlocked.
Got any pearls of wisdom?
That is exactly how mine started, is it just going off intermittently, and 'chirping'?
Mine did that for a coupe of weeks on and off, then it started doing it as I was driving, and eventually ended up doing it continuously. It's the alarm siren telling you that it is about to fail any time now, and when it does it will trigger off the whole alarm system, so get the siren changed asap. If you want to know how to stop it chirping as a temporary fix, drop me an email.
YHM
Don't want to hi-jack the thread... but I'm wondering whether I have a problem now?
Mine didn't used to make any noise in locking or unlocking - until recently - when I got the odd chirp... which leads me to suspect either the siren isn't working properly, or the wider alarm? My problem is that I don't know what it should be doing!
... so assuming it should make a beep or something when locked/unlocked... thoughts on where to start looking?
Locking seems to work fine apart from this noise aspect. Perhaps if someone put a window through the alarm still wouldn't make any noise? Easy way to test without losing a window?
Mine didn't used to make any noise in locking or unlocking - until recently - when I got the odd chirp... which leads me to suspect either the siren isn't working properly, or the wider alarm? My problem is that I don't know what it should be doing!
... so assuming it should make a beep or something when locked/unlocked... thoughts on where to start looking?
Locking seems to work fine apart from this noise aspect. Perhaps if someone put a window through the alarm still wouldn't make any noise? Easy way to test without losing a window?
phil_edge said:
Don't want to hi-jack the thread... but I'm wondering whether I have a problem now?
Mine didn't used to make any noise in locking or unlocking - until recently - when I got the odd chirp... which leads me to suspect either the siren isn't working properly, or the wider alarm? My problem is that I don't know what it should be doing!
... so assuming it should make a beep or something when locked/unlocked... thoughts on where to start looking?
Locking seems to work fine apart from this noise aspect. Perhaps if someone put a window through the alarm still wouldn't make any noise? Easy way to test without losing a window?
Mine didn't used to make any noise in locking or unlocking - until recently - when I got the odd chirp... which leads me to suspect either the siren isn't working properly, or the wider alarm? My problem is that I don't know what it should be doing!
... so assuming it should make a beep or something when locked/unlocked... thoughts on where to start looking?
Locking seems to work fine apart from this noise aspect. Perhaps if someone put a window through the alarm still wouldn't make any noise? Easy way to test without losing a window?
Phil,
Talk to Carl Baker, the Meta alarm specialist. (website www.tvruk.tv, mobile 07720723407).
Steve.
jensena said:
Update time.
I rang Carl Baker when I had the Alarm problems, and he was really helpful and talked me through how to temporarily fix the problem.
On Monday I drove down to get the problem sorted. He's a really interesting and knowledgeable guy, and knows so much about alarms and In car Entertainment, he gave me a quote to have my car properly ICE'd £970, a 6 speaker system with tweeters that would blow my mind. And the way he talks about it, and the knowledge he has, it is very very tempting to go ahead and do it. I learnt more about in car Hi-fi in 1 hour than I'd learnt in my whole life.
I rang Carl Baker when I had the Alarm problems, and he was really helpful and talked me through how to temporarily fix the problem.
On Monday I drove down to get the problem sorted. He's a really interesting and knowledgeable guy, and knows so much about alarms and In car Entertainment, he gave me a quote to have my car properly ICE'd £970, a 6 speaker system with tweeters that would blow my mind. And the way he talks about it, and the knowledge he has, it is very very tempting to go ahead and do it. I learnt more about in car Hi-fi in 1 hour than I'd learnt in my whole life.
Alan,
If you fancy a listen of said 6 speaker setup before you purchase, I'm sure I can meet you somewhere. It does sound fabulous.
Steve.
phil_edge said:
Don't want to hi-jack the thread... but I'm wondering whether I have a problem now?
Mine didn't used to make any noise in locking or unlocking - until recently - when I got the odd chirp... which leads me to suspect either the siren isn't working properly, or the wider alarm? My problem is that I don't know what it should be doing!
... so assuming it should make a beep or something when locked/unlocked... thoughts on where to start looking?
Locking seems to work fine apart from this noise aspect. Perhaps if someone put a window through the alarm still wouldn't make any noise? Easy way to test without losing a window?
Mine didn't used to make any noise in locking or unlocking - until recently - when I got the odd chirp... which leads me to suspect either the siren isn't working properly, or the wider alarm? My problem is that I don't know what it should be doing!
... so assuming it should make a beep or something when locked/unlocked... thoughts on where to start looking?
Locking seems to work fine apart from this noise aspect. Perhaps if someone put a window through the alarm still wouldn't make any noise? Easy way to test without losing a window?
Phil - see my post above, exactly the same symptoms as me, if its chirpnt, the chances are your siren is on the way out. To test if the alarm is working, leave a door open, set the alarm (ie lock the in the normal way)wait 30 seconds, then lean into the car and wave at the sensor above the rear window, this should avtivate the siren.
PS Important Just in case, and For obvious reasons - Dont anyone inadvertently, and trying to be helpful, give any clues to the location of the siren.
byker28i said:
Steve_T said:
Alan,
If you fancy a listen of said 6 speaker setup before you purchase, I'm sure I can meet you somewhere. It does sound fabulous.
Steve.
Steve - any pictures?
There are some here on Carl's site - www.tvruk.tv/dyncat.cfm?catid=32 - although the lighting is not that great. Once I get a chance to take some of my interior (bit busy over the next few days), I'll post them up.
Steve.
byker28i said:
Steve_T said:
Alan,
If you fancy a listen of said 6 speaker setup before you purchase, I'm sure I can meet you somewhere. It does sound fabulous.
Steve.
Steve - any pictures?
Carl showed me the speaker's, they look nothing special, just speakers with black grills. About the same size as the standard speakers, and the set up is...
2 Speakers in the front with tweeters fitted into the cones - this gives optimum performance for the tweeters.
2 Speakers in the back in the normal place.
2 Bass speakers in the Helmet holder hole, covered in a special black Acoustically (not optically) transparent material. Mounted one above the other in a bespoke mounting plate.
But what gives you the the sound quality, is the quality and specification of the actual speakers themselves, and the crossover units he uses, he showed me these and they are serious bits of kit, beautifully engineered, and really heavy, these filter out, and redirect certain frequencies (this is where I get lost on the actual way they work) to the connected speakers.
My JVC Head unit has loads of Equalizer settings - Hard Rock, Pop, Jazz, etc etc, but Carl was dismissive - in a nice way - of these features, he said all you need is the 'flat' setting, that will give you the true Hi-fi sound. If you use any of the other settings then the sound quality deteriorates - not on his system, but on any system - Again I got lost here on the technicalities, but as an example if you increase the bass setting, all you are actually doing is distorting the pure sound that you should be listening to.
If like me, you are probably used to home hi-fi systems that have Loudness buttons, and tone controls, and equalisers etc etc. But if you go and buy yourself a true hi-fi quality amplifier like a Marantz for £1000, then all it has on it 2 knobs, one for volume, and one for balance - that is what Hi-Fi really is, and thats what Carl will give you.
I forget the actual terminology he used, but its one of those RMS type measurements. Japanese/Normal speakers go up to 91'xyz', but the quartz go up to 94'xyz', only a difference of 3, but the meausrement is exponential, and that difference of 3 equates to double the volume with zero distortion.
Hope this all makes sense, it may not be totally accurate, but you get the jist of what I am saying. Carl knows his stuff, and you end up with an amazing sounding car hi-fi system, whereas if you go to your local Car hi-fi shop you just end up with a system fitted by an 18 yr old who doesn't really know what he is doing, and you get a system that just sounds LOUD, that doesnt mean it is good.
Ah my brother in law is a hifi nut. He spends a fortune on his home stuff. Some years ago I looked at his recent purchase of a very expensive amplifier that just had a volume knob and didn't understand it, but he was explaining that he only listened to master pressings and didn't change the sound from the way it was recorded/produced.
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