For a smooth installation — prepare

You ‘re credibly tidal bore to add a security system system to your fomite. That ‘s great. And you ‘ll save a set of money by installing it yourself. That ‘s bright. But, please do not turn the first cheat before you map out a complete, bit-by-bit design of attack. “ ready, Fire, Aim ” is no direction to install a security system. You do n’t have to do it all in one day. Break the job into bite-size pieces. Verify that each segment of the arrangement works arsenic intended before moving on. For exercise :

• Step 1 — Find a spot to mount the “brain” (control module) and siren. Hook the siren, LED indicator and valet switch to the brain, taking great care to route and connect the wires in a safe, secure way. Connect the power and ground leads to the brain. Test.
• Step 2 — Position your sensors in their intended mounting locations and connect them to the brain. Test the coverage area of the sensors and make final adjustments before you fasten them down.
• Step 3 — Tie into your door triggers and your power door lock circuit for keyless entry. Tie into your dome light and parking light circuits. Test these functions. When everything is working properly, secure the brain to the mounting surface.

If you have prison term to do it all in one day, fine. But do n’t rush it. And do n’t drive your vehicle until you ‘ve secured any lax wire. Remember to disconnect your negative battery cable before you start mounting and connecting your system components. That will keep you from running your battery down or bypass any of your components. You ‘ll need to have the battery cable television connected while you test cable functions or switches. But do n’t forget to unhook it before you splice wires. Check your fomite owner ‘s manual to see if there are any special procedures to follow when disconnecting the battery cables.

Tools needed ( depending upon fomite )

Make sure you have the tools you need before you begin

You credibly already own the basics : screwdrivers, wrenches and an electric exercise. In addition to these basic tools, you should have the pursue available :

• A panel removal tool to get behind your dash and the other places you’ll need to access.
• A wire cutter/stripper. For many vehicles, plug-in interconnect harnesses simplify security system connections. But even if you use a harness, you still may need to splice some wires together.
• To make secure wire connections, you need a soldering iron and/or a crimping tool.
• Use heat-shrink tubing or electrical tape to protect your connections.
• A wiring diagram, specifying sensor wire colors and functions, comes in handy and can usually be found via an internet search. If none can be found, you’ll have to check each wire’s function with a meter while activating the sensor.
• Use a multimeter (voltmeter) to verify the functions of vehicle wires you splice into, or to determine what kinds of switches your vehicle has. You need to test the wire because car makers occasionally use different color wires than the ones specified on their wire color sheets.
• DO NOT USE A TEST LIGHT instead of a multimeter. Test lights draw too much current and could damage sensitive circuits in your vehicle.

Vehicle interface modules

many cars nowadays feature an immobilizer security system that wo n’t allow the car to unlock or start without first sensing the bearing of a chip imbedded in the key or key fob. If you have such a fomite, you ‘ll credibly need a preprogrammed vehicle interface module ( like a Fortin EVO-ALL ) which tells your vehicle through its calculator databus that it ‘s all right for an aftermarket security system to unlock the doors without that chip. Each interface module comes preprogrammed for your specific fomite, so you ‘ll have to identify your vehicle precisely when you rate one. besides, an interface module will greatly simplify your security wire, as a set of the vehicle ‘s sensors and actuators are accessible via the databus, so run wires around your car to each separate detector becomes unnecessary. For many vehicles there is a T-harness available — a unmarried harness that plugs in between your car and the interface module. then normally alone a single “ data-to-data ” harness is necessary to connect that faculty to your security organization ‘s genius module. The small alarm “ brain ” should be installed somewhere close to the center of the car and out of view. Under a seat, under the crash near the steering column, or even under a center comfort are well locations.

Mounting the alarm brain

Some locations to consider : Under the dash near the steering column is a likely spot. Pros:

• It’s close to many of the wires you may want to tie into.
• It’s up high, so you should get good range with your remote control.
• It’s easy to reach, which makes installation and service easier.

Cons:

• An experienced thief will probably look there first and could silence the system by yanking wires out of the brain. If you’re worried about that, look for a less obvious spot behind the dash (behind the glove box or behind a kick panel).

Under a front seat is another suitable location. Pros:

• Once you remove the seat, it’s a very convenient area in which to work. Most seats are held in place by a bolt in each corner.
• It’s reasonably accessible, but not too obvious to a thief.
• It is isolated from electrical interference.

Cons:

• If your car develops a leak or you leave a window down during a storm, the brain could end up in a puddle (you could elevate it on a block of wood to be safe).
• Your remote control range might suffer a bit and you’ll probably have to extend most of the wiring.
• admonition : removing your seat could deactivate your fomite ‘s SRS organization.

If you do need extra wire to extend the leads from the brain to switches, sensors or a world power reservoir, take the brain plug with you to the hardware shop. Buy stranded wire that matches or exceeds the estimate ( thickness ) of the leads you need to extend. For sensors, 18 bore or larger should work fine. For power leads, 16 gauge or larger is normally required. If you put the mind under a seat, do not cover it with carpet because excessively much heating system could build up inside the brain. If you have a stereophonic amplifier under a seat, do not put the mind nearby. electromagnetic radiation from the adenosine monophosphate could interfere with the operation of the brain. An alarm clock brain installed behind a concentrate console panel Wherever you decide to put the brain, remember to check what ‘s behind the mounting surface, so your screw wo n’t unintentionally penetrate fuel lines or any wiring. Your alarm genius has a built-in pigtail-type antenna electrify. It is important that the wire target straight off from the brain ( a drink straw acts as a beneficial reward ), or at a right lean to the brain. Do not cut or ground this wire.

Mounting the siren

Mount the siren under the hood, high in the engine compartment, preferably at least 18 inches from heating system sources such as exhaust manifolds, radiators and fastball cores. Aim it twin to the earth, or toward the ground. never mount it with the horn facing up — water can collect in the french horn, causing the enchantress to malfunction. Mount the siren in your engine compartment and route the wire back through your firewall In some vehicles, you can mount your siren to the inner fender panel. If you have a choice, pick the spot that ‘s hardest for a thief to reach. Route the siren wires away from a thief ‘s reach ampere well. If you mount your siren to a metallic surface, function sheet alloy screws. Do not use wallboard screws. If you mount your siren to a plastic inner fender, use nuts and bolts to secure it. Determine what ‘s behind the mounting surface, so that your screws wo n’t unintentionally penetrate fuel lines, brake lines, void lines, control cables or telegram bundles.

Mounting the flashing LED

Your security system comes with a fiddling dart light, called an LED ( Light Emitting Diode ), that mounts in your dash or center console. Its purpose is to warn manque thieves that a car security arrangement is armed and ready to wail if they try to break in. Mount the LED in an area that is highly visible from both sides of the vehicle. Check the hole-size requirement before bore. Inspect the area behind the mounting coat to make sure there is sufficient clearance and a path for the wire. A brilliantly, blinking LED will go a long way to discourage manque thieves

Sensors

Position your sensors inside your vehicle, not in the engine compartment or anywhere else they could get wet. Attach electric shock sensors solidly to a metallic element surface, using screws. Try to take advantage of an existing prison guard in your vehicle. If you ca n’t find a good one, you ‘ll have to supply your own screw. As an option, you can strap the shock sensor depressed, using nylon wire ties. Do not use Velcro or tape. You should mount your shock detector relatively conclusion to the center field of your vehicle ( under the crash is good ), so it can detect shocks from both front and rear equally well. When you adjust your shock detector ‘s sensitivity, apply impingement from all sides of the vehicle. Keep in mind that an extremely sensitive adjust yields the most false alarms. That ‘s on-key of any detector. Locate your gesticulate sensor down broken near the center field of your fomite. Do not mount your motion detector until you have thoroughly tested its coverage area. You may have to try a few different spots before you find the one that gives you the best results.

Pin switches

Pin ( plunger-type ) switches are sensors that trigger the siren when a door, hood or proboscis opens. In most cases, you can tie into the pin switches that are already in your car. Look for the switches that turn on the attic luminosity when you open doors. Tap into the wires leading aside from the switches. They can normally be found behind your gripe panels. Some vehicles besides have pin switches for the torso and hood. generally, the easiest station to tie into pin switches is at a floor-level courtesy ignite or a pin-switch wire behind a kick empanel. Pin switches can have either a damaging ( – ) trip or a positive ( + ) trigger. If you have a electrify diagram, it ‘ll show you which kind your vehicle uses.

If you don’t have a wiring guide for your vehicle, here’s a way to test your switches:

With your multimeter set to measure DC volts, connect the total darkness probe to background and the red probe to the electrify you think is the peg switch wire. A veto trigger throw will read 0 volts when the door is open and 12 volts when the door is closed. A positive switch will read 12 volts when the door is overt and 0 volts when the door is closed. If your fomite does n’t have pin switches, you can add the ones that may have come with your security arrangement ( we besides sell them individually ). Some vehicle manufacturers use mercury switches rather of pin switches for hood/trunk lights. They are extremely difficult to tie into, so you will probably want to install trap switches. When installing the pin switches, keep in mind that they require about 1/4 ” headroom above the mounting coat with the doorway, hood or trunk closed. Never mount them in a enfeeble path or in a pit or depression, where urine might pool up.

Connecting the brain to your parking light wiring

Your cable car will have its parking lights wired either off a single lap or in a parallel shape. Most european cars use a parallel circuit. Most american english cars use a single circuit. If your car uses a parallel circuit, you will have to tie both sides into the parking light output electrify of the brain, using a dual-make relay. If you ‘d quite locate the wire under the crash, rather of at the park light switch, make sure you do n’t use one that ‘s tied into a dense tour. Test the wire with your multimeter, and see if the electric potential drops when you dim your dash lights. Since most dash lights connect to the parking unaccented circuits, you can expect the dash lights of your car to flash along with the parking lights. To connect the crank disable feature, you ‘ll need to tap into your ignition system. Some cars allow you to do this by plugging into a cardinal relay box, but others require you to splice into the wire.

Starter Disable/Interupt

The newcomer interrupt is a relay, built into most systems we offer, which ties in between the ignition switch and the starter solenoid. The crank solenoid main power feed draws a huge total of stream, so the solenoid run wire going to the appetizer can not be spliced into. The wire that you tie into is the little wire going to the crank solenoid that tells the solenoid to energize when you turn your identify to the “ start ” situation. To verify that you have found the discipline wire, test the wires at the steering column to find the one that reads 12 volts alone when the starter is cranking ( not while the engine is running ). Following the instructions supplied with the alarm, splice the starter disable wire ( or outboard motor relay ) into this electrify. properly spliced newcomer disable wire

Valet switch

The valet switch lets you bypass the organization when you leave your vehicle for service or valet parking. This means you wo n’t have to give your outside control to anyone. The valet throw is besides used for programming the alarm clock system. The valet trade is normally a childlike switch or button that connects to a wire coming from the brain. Mount the switch over out of sight so that it wo n’t be obvious to a thief. Most alarms require that the valet switch be activated merely with the alarm clock disarmed and the key on. not following the operation called for in the owner ‘s manual of arms may result in a malfunction.

Wire routing and terminating

Any time you tie into a car ‘s electric organization, maintaining the dependability of the car ‘s electric system is a big precedence. hera are some tips :

• Encase your wiring in protective loom.
• Solder or crimp every connection, never use wire nuts or simply twist and tape.
• Use heat-shrink tubing to protect your splices. If you can’t use heat-shrink tubing, tape the splice and secure your tape with a nylon wire tie to help keep the tape in place.
• Use grommets when running wires through freshly drilled holes.
• Keep wires away from high heat.
• Make sure wires do not rub against any sharp metal edges.
• Use the right size multi-strand copper wire with good quality insulation.
• Secure the wiring with nylon wire ties so it won’t fall into your pedals or get pinched by other moving parts. Ties also bear the weight of the wire, and this ensures that vibrations won’t put too much strain on your terminals.
• When connecting the main power wire to the battery, install a fuse holder within a few inches of the battery. Use a good quality ring terminal to attach the wire to the battery terminal.
• Use a star washer when connecting wires to chassis ground, and scrape away any paint or grime that might prevent a good connection to the bare metal. If possible, connect ground wires beneath an existing nut and bolt. If a nut and bolt aren’t available, use a #10 machine screw with a lock washer.
• Run wires through the firewall using a factory-cut hole, if possible. Look at the hood release cable to see if wires can be run alongside it. Some cars will run the release cable between the inner fender well and the fender. In this case, you must remove the inner fender (the plastic guard above the tire). If you decide to drill your own hole through the firewall, determine that there are no obstructions on the other side of your drilling and don’t forget to use a heat-resistant grommet or firewall bushing.

Soldering tips

• Strip the plastic insulation back about 1/2″ on each wire.
• Slip a piece of heat-shrink tubing over one wire.
• Place the two wires parallel but pointing in opposite directions.
• Wrap the bare wires around each other. Make sure you have a smooth connection, with no stray wire strands sticking out that could poke through the heat-shrink tubing.
• Heat up the soldering iron and “tin” the tip by applying some solder directly to it. This cleans the tip of the iron (the rosin in “rosin core” solder is a cleansing agent) and makes the process of soldering easier.
• Heat the wire until it gets hot enough to melt the solder.
• Touch the solder to the wire and let it melt until it covers the entire splice with a thin layer of solder, then remove the soldering iron.
• Let the solder cool for about 10 seconds until it’s cool to the touch. Do not blow on it — that could crystalize the solder making a “cold solder joint” which could fail. Keep the wires still until the solder cools.
• Finally, slide the heat-shrink tubing over the splice and heat it. A heat gun works best to heat the tubing, but if you’re careful, you can also get satisfactory results using a match or lighter.

Crimping tips

• Always position the seam in a crimp-on connector against the rounded side of the crimp tool. Let the tooth of the tool depress the solid side of the connector opposite the seam.
• Check the crimp connection by gently pulling on both wires. A proper connection will not come apart.

Alternative connections

If you do n’t have a bonding iron or a crimp cock, you can still make impregnable and besotted connections for your wire by using a Posi-Products connection kit. You strip the ends of your wires, insert them into the connection, and hand-tighten them in concert. You get a firm, low-resistance electric connection, and you can reuse the connectors, besides.

Multimeter tips

• The negative (black) lead of the multimeter connects, touches, or clips directly to the chassis ground of the car. (Chassis ground is any metal part of the car which is physically common to the point of the car where the negative battery cable connects.)
• Connect the positive (red) lead of the multimeter to the part of the circuit being tested.
• If you poke a hole in the insulation when you probe a wire with the tip of the multimeter, cover the hole with electrical tape.

Testing the system

If you have a clock dome lighter on your car which is hooked up to an instant trip or detector input, make sure the dome light has timed out and turned off before testing the system. Some alarms must be programmed to delay until the light is out. When testing introduction through the doors, make certain you test all of the doors. Some vehicle manufacturers use a key-sense telegram on the driver ‘s dome light substitution ( this is the wire that makes your car chime when you ‘ve left the key in the ignition ). If you have tied your door entrance alarm wire into this key sensing wire, your dismay will only sound when your driver ‘s door is opened. Test each door, one at a time, to make sure each doorway triggers the alarm. false alarms are normally the consequence of sensors being set besides sensitively. If you experience a lot of false alarms, dial the sensitivity back a bit.