car alarm setup

Evan Platt has brought this to us :

Find a new alarm shop. They should know if it is possible to flash the lights and\or release the trunk. Those are easy functions on any alarm (if the alarm has a trunk output, secondary relay and your vehicle has an internal button for releasing the trunk then yes to that. If the alarm has a light flash circuit (and every single one I've ever seen does) then doing the light flash is easy).

The door locking is trickier and probably can't be changed. Usually those just wire into the interior door lock button and that is always an all or none circuit (unlike the factory FOB). 3rd party alarms just hit the circuit the same way you would hit the interior door lock\unlock switch.

Better yet - forget the alarm shop and talk to your dealer. THEY know how to interface an alarm to your car - and will have one available that works with your car. MOST aftermarket alarms are junk, and most installers screw up everything else in the car when installing them.

Maybe I got the wrong dealer... But they already tried to 'sell' me an alarm. No remote start available. I bought the car used. They said the car comes with an alarm already, since it's pre-owned, but I need to pay $300 if I want it. Otherwise they have to disable it. I tried to bargain, telling them it would save them time of not having to disable anything, they said no. I REALLY doubt they disabled anything because of the short time frame from that discussion to getting the keys, so not sure what would have happened if I said I DID want the alarm...

It's a used car that had an alarm already in it? And they are going to take it out after you made a deal on the car? Sounds like a good small claims court case.

Well - no. Alarm was never mentioned until we were going through the paperwork. But not worth going to small claims regardless. I'm pretty sure there WAS no alarm, and if I decided to pay for the alarm, they would have actually had to ADD it...

What kind of car? Did you buy from the brand dealer?

2014 Focus SE, CPO from a Ford Dealer.

2014 focus has a type of alarm system built in as standard equipment if it has remote door locks.

What's a 'type of alarm'?

Built in security system - if you lock the car with the remote and then open the car, say by reaching in the window, the alarm will go off. You must open with either the fob or the key. There is a "theft" light that flashes on the dash on cars that have the alarm.

I've found adding aftermarket alarms to be a total execize in futility

- and aftermarket remote strarters, other than those available from the dealer are just as bad..

Back when they were not an option from "the factory" I installed many at the dealership. There were some types I wouldn't even attempt to install because they caused so much trouble with the rest of the car (even 26 years ago). Imagine what all they can screw up on today's cars - with can-bus and all.

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote in news:i9c66b5jpu5i0r6c8ft30eda1bib4tbdlj@

4ax.com:

yep, you want a bunch of trouble, get a after market alarm or remote start. KB

I've had aftermarket alarms, and a few with remote start, on all my cars. Never a problem...

So spoke more with the alarm shop... He's going to look into the door unlock - says it may be a single pulse vs double pulse issue. As for the trunk output and the parking lights - the Fortin interface doesn't 'have' parking lights or trunk open, so he'd have to tie directly into the car as opposed to using the Fortin .Sounds like a plan :)

Yeah, I've been out of the business for awhile now so I imagine some things have changed. Maybe it can be done that way.

This however should be really easy to fix, assuming the tech is willing to put in the time. Those are just single wire outputs from the alarm (either +12 or GND out) that tie directly into most cars (no interface needed) and at worst require a $6 relay (like if the alarm is +12 out and the car circuit requires GND to activate).

what kind of cars? On today's cars they CAN cause a lot of grief= particularly if you use the wrong ones. There are afterrmarket units that the dealeers will sell, install and guarantee. Those will be decent units and work with the factory electronics. There are lots out there that will NOT work - and you don't know untill you've tried them unless you get bas reviews on the net - and Either good or bad, those are worth about what you paid for them - - -

15 years ago I put alarms on my occasional new car. With the anti-theft systems the factory puts on cars now I would not waste my money on an added alarm system. When I bought my 09 the dealer's "finance guy" nearly had a fit when I refused to buy the already installed alarm and they had to round up a mechanic to remove it so they could deliver the car.