Do-it-yourself car alarm repair
Content
Car alarms, like any other car system, can sometimes fail. If you are not an expert in the field of electronics, then it is better to entrust the repair of an alarm on a car in terms of its brains to a professional auto electrician.
What is important to know?
There are situations when the alarm malfunction is not related to the operating system, and in this case it is quite possible to fix the breakdown yourself. In order not to panic ahead of time, not to transport your car to a car service, you need to have an idea about the typical car alarm malfunctions.
In this case, self-repair of the alarm system on the car will save you from unnecessary worries and unforeseen blows to the budget. To repair an alarm on a car, traditional driver tools should always be at hand: screwdrivers, wire cutters, electrical tape, a couple of wires, a tester (a light bulb with two wires for “ringing”).
Important! If your car alarm is still under warranty, then, of course, you should not interfere with it yourself.
What are the most common malfunctions?
- Food. The alarm does not respond to your pressing, or performs actions that you did not order. We start the check with the key fob, namely with the battery. Disassemble and key fob and replace the battery - it does not take much time. A characteristic sign of a low battery is the LED becomes dimmer, or the range of the key fob remote action decreases. Another reason for the key fob to not work may be the ingress of water on it (when used in the rain).
- Wiring. No matter how complex or advanced the car alarm is, whether it is the usual “beep” of the AOS (auto security alarm) or the GSM alarm, under the influence of external factors, the contacts at the junctions always oxidize. That is, the repair of a car alarm always begins with the ringing of contacts.
- The LED lights up brightly, but the alarm does not respond to pressing. In this case, the repair of the alarm on the car begins with finding out the reasons for this phenomenon. The "brain" of the AOC could freeze, because in any case we are dealing with a mini-computer. Reboot required. It is necessary to remove the terminal from the battery (any), i.e. de-energize the system and after a couple of minutes put it back on. If the alarm is working, you can fix the terminal, no - try rebooting 2-3 more times. If it doesn’t work out, then we proceed to the next step in repairing the alarm on the car - checking the fuses.
- Circuit breakers. If a separate wire with a separate hanging fuse box comes from the positive battery terminal (or from wires with a constant “plus”), check the fuse. Since we started, at the same time you need to check the serviceability and performance of the main energy consumers of the car (standard fuses): emergency gang, sound signal. During this test, the negative power is called (this type of testing can be carried out if you know where the AOC central unit is located). In this case, the AOS is rebooted by the following method: remove the connector from the unit and reconnect it. If the beep sounds, no big deal.
If your efforts to repair the car alarm are unsuccessful, you will have to contact a car service, the cause of the malfunction turns out to be deeper.
How to troubleshoot car alarms on the road?
There are many factors that affect the fact that a car alarm may not work. Electronics is a delicate thing. Do not panic in these cases. Test the system and most likely, car alarm repair may not be needed. Most often, when you press the key fob, the arming (disarming) function does not work. Why and what should be done?
- Bring the key fob closer, preferably to the location of the central unit, and try to press again.
- Did not help, reboot the system by manipulating the battery terminal.
This may be due to the presence of powerful industrial facilities in the parking lot. Key fob signals are simply "clogged".
Another option: the car stalled or you turned off the ignition, and when you try to start, the alarm starts to go off with a “good obscenity”. Most likely, your battery charge has disappeared, it is discharged, the car will not start. And the alarm responded to a voltage drop below 8V (this is a precaution for trying to steal a car by removing the terminal from the battery). In this case, you need to disconnect the siren and proceed to troubleshoot the battery.
Actually, these are the reasons for the malfunction of the car alarm. The most important thing is not to fall into despair, but try to repair the alarm on the car yourself if it is not under warranty or not a super fancy GSM alarm. We hope that the information will help you not only repair the alarm, but also save money.
The second reason is radio interference, often this can be encountered near airports, closed sensitive facilities and in other places where there is a powerful electromagnetic field. By the way, the car of collectors can become a source of radio interference, you should not park near it. If the car still got into the radio interference zone, you can try to bring the key fob as close as possible to the location of the alarm control unit. If this does not help, it remains only to tow the car a few hundred meters from the source of interference.
Another reason for the impossibility of arming and disarming the car is a discharged battery. The key fob may not work even in severe frosts, as well as due to constantly pressing the buttons on the key fob away from the alarm control unit, for example, accidentally pressing in pockets. Over time, anything wears out and car alarms are no exception because of this, the signal coverage radius is reduced. Sometimes it happens that a faulty antenna is to blame or gross mistakes are made when installing a security system on your own.
And finally, the key fob may not work due to lack of synchronization with the control unit. In this case, it is necessary to “make friends” with each other again using the instructions that are in the instruction manual for any car alarm. Depending on the manufacturer, the process may differ slightly, but the general algorithms are similar and not at all complicated.
Good luck to you lovers of your car.
