alarm with its own mind
Discussion
Hi out there, this is my first post on PH.
For 20 months now, I have been owner of a 1999 Chim 500 (my first TVR), and I am totally enthusiastic about it. I live in Germany and part-time in Italy, and there are not too many TVRs around as you can immagine. Specially in Italy (were I will stay for the next three months) it is amazing how much admiring attention you get for the looks and particularly for the sound of the car.
So far, I have done 8000 troublefree miles since I brought her from England in 2009, but over the last few weeks (since I took her out of hibernation during which I had disconnected the battery), the alarm has begun to develop a mind of its own. When I lock the car with the remote, it would sometimes beep and flash three times, sometimes it would just flash three times as it had always done. What is worse, it happened several times that the alarm would suddenly go on, for no apparent reason, only to stop after a few minutes.
Any of you know this phenomenon? What could it be? Anything I can do to prevent this? Any suggestion wold be highly welcome since I would like to stop disturbing the neighbours with these spells of alarm in the middle of the night.
R.
For 20 months now, I have been owner of a 1999 Chim 500 (my first TVR), and I am totally enthusiastic about it. I live in Germany and part-time in Italy, and there are not too many TVRs around as you can immagine. Specially in Italy (were I will stay for the next three months) it is amazing how much admiring attention you get for the looks and particularly for the sound of the car.
So far, I have done 8000 troublefree miles since I brought her from England in 2009, but over the last few weeks (since I took her out of hibernation during which I had disconnected the battery), the alarm has begun to develop a mind of its own. When I lock the car with the remote, it would sometimes beep and flash three times, sometimes it would just flash three times as it had always done. What is worse, it happened several times that the alarm would suddenly go on, for no apparent reason, only to stop after a few minutes.
Any of you know this phenomenon? What could it be? Anything I can do to prevent this? Any suggestion wold be highly welcome since I would like to stop disturbing the neighbours with these spells of alarm in the middle of the night.
R.
Mine did this a few times, the alarm just randomly went off on my Cerbera.. Having read so many stories of their unreliability I decided to nip it in the bud and scrapped the standard system for a Viper Cat1 pager alarm which was £300 fitted.
But I understand not everyone will want such an extreme option.. Most people say the man to contact is Carl Baker but as you are not UK based I'm not sure how much help that would be unless he is able to advise over the phone what might be the issue and you DIY any components.. OFten they play up as the back up battery in the siren goes flat, and a solution is just to replace the siren with a new one. (From what I have read anyway)
But I understand not everyone will want such an extreme option.. Most people say the man to contact is Carl Baker but as you are not UK based I'm not sure how much help that would be unless he is able to advise over the phone what might be the issue and you DIY any components.. OFten they play up as the back up battery in the siren goes flat, and a solution is just to replace the siren with a new one. (From what I have read anyway)
Hi
I had a very similar issue problem with the alarm in my Griffith. It would randomly go off and the only way I could fix it was to disconnect the battery terminal and then reconnect it. I came back to the car park one day with the alarm going off and whatever I did nothing helped so I had to cut the wires for the siren and wrap it in a towel and chuck it in the boot until the internal batery ran down! I got some odd looks as I drove out the car park with the Siren still going off in the boot!
Sounds like yours is telling you that there's something wrong so I would get it looked at.
Karl Baker fitted a new one for me. It might be worth giving him a call he's a very helpful guy if you can get him on the phone. He might be able to advise your best course of action.
I had a very similar issue problem with the alarm in my Griffith. It would randomly go off and the only way I could fix it was to disconnect the battery terminal and then reconnect it. I came back to the car park one day with the alarm going off and whatever I did nothing helped so I had to cut the wires for the siren and wrap it in a towel and chuck it in the boot until the internal batery ran down! I got some odd looks as I drove out the car park with the Siren still going off in the boot!
Sounds like yours is telling you that there's something wrong so I would get it looked at.
Karl Baker fitted a new one for me. It might be worth giving him a call he's a very helpful guy if you can get him on the phone. He might be able to advise your best course of action.
Hi
When you set the alarm if you get a beep as well as the normal flashes then it means one of the alarmed entries is not set. I.E the boot, doors and bonnet all have sensors.
The common one that sometimes needs adjusting is the the bonnet sensor.
It could be just on verge of sometimes making and other times not and that would explain sometimes getting the beep and sometimes not. If you were to set the alarm and not get a beep and a vibrtaion or wind made the bonnet move slightly then this would cause the bonnet sensor to activate and start the alarm.
Its an easy fix to adjust the sensor. It is by the bonnet catch.
You shouldn't get a beep when setting the alarm.
Also if you get 3 flashes then you must be holding the button down for a longish period and this turns off the internal movement sensor. This is useful if you have the roof off or its very windy.
The full alarm is set by holding the button down for a shorter period and you get only 2 flashes.
Hope this helps
Trev
When you set the alarm if you get a beep as well as the normal flashes then it means one of the alarmed entries is not set. I.E the boot, doors and bonnet all have sensors.
The common one that sometimes needs adjusting is the the bonnet sensor.
It could be just on verge of sometimes making and other times not and that would explain sometimes getting the beep and sometimes not. If you were to set the alarm and not get a beep and a vibrtaion or wind made the bonnet move slightly then this would cause the bonnet sensor to activate and start the alarm.
Its an easy fix to adjust the sensor. It is by the bonnet catch.
You shouldn't get a beep when setting the alarm.
Also if you get 3 flashes then you must be holding the button down for a longish period and this turns off the internal movement sensor. This is useful if you have the roof off or its very windy.
The full alarm is set by holding the button down for a shorter period and you get only 2 flashes.
Hope this helps
Trev
rfein - Do you have a green Chimaera 500?
If so, I think I have enjoyed your videos on YouTube!
Vids like this-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soum7NriqK0&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-k2AFR_7cE&fea...
If so, I think I have enjoyed your videos on YouTube!
Vids like this-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soum7NriqK0&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-k2AFR_7cE&fea...
Edited by FreeLitres on Wednesday 23 March 08:11
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