Fitting my remote central locking/alarm unit

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationIt is day one and I am fitting one of these.

and one of these.


There has been some question as to whether or not the solenoid is really needed.
When I got the door panel off it seems like there is a master control unit which may or may not be operable from the alarm kit but I decided earlier to fit the extra solenoid as this mean no messing with splicing wires in the harness.
So here we have the door card off.



And a closer look at the door lock unit.



As I decided to add my own solenoid I had to feed the wire for it through the door and I found it easier to remove the speaker to get the wire through. They must employ King Kong to tighten the screws holding the speaker in place"



There are not too many places to fit the actuator, you need clearance for the window and a fairly straight run for the rod. I chose this spot as it seemed asking for it.



The solenoid comes with a bendy strip but I broke it when I bent it so I had to fabricate my own bracket. The pic above shows the pre-painted job. I'll add more pics as I get on with the wiring up.





There is a convenient grommet in the bulkhead - I intend to prewire the alarm as much as possible. There was obviously once a system fitted as there are wires for the indicators already!!



Spent some time while watching Question Time soldering. As the alarm's harness wires were all different lengths, the long wires being too short and the short wires being too long I decided to make them (more or less all) the same length - short, solder the ends and so on. This dramatically reduced the spaghetti. All wires like power supply etc. being tailored to reach the unit. The exception being the wire to the siren and the wires to the flasher wires I found dangling; these I left uncut to be cut later.




I know some don't like the use of choc block but I have loads of it and I find it to be a great way to connect wires. When I am finished I'll use cable ties instead of the freezer bag ties.

Installed the siren and connected the main items and great news, it works. But Houston I have a problem. I was going to leave the pin switches (courtesy lights and boot and bonnet) connection until MUCH later but as I was starting on the last stage which is putting everything in place the doors locked. Yes the re-arm came in to play. I should have read the book of words and realised it had this feature. It is on my other motor and I love the feature so now I have to deal with the pin switch install which will sort out this problem. I removed the courtesy light switch on the driver's door and piggy backed a lead from that.




Then I mounted the unit to the unit to the steering column cowling with cable ties and replaced the cover to hide the wiring harness.




The cover is held by two screws and is slid upwards to release it from the upper lugs..

Nearly done, it has taken me six hours. Works well though with good remote range but I don't like the eight flashes on the indicators that you cannot prevent after disarming then opening the door. The warning light is very noticeable and that is on the dash with the wiring running down the side by the door frame.

Every time the door is opened the flashers do eight tick tocks. It is a safety measure according to the user manual and is very annoying. I disconnected the leads to the flashers but then I still had the ticking coming from the unit enough to drive you mad.

So I disconnected the door(s) pin switch to alarm lead which meant no more tick tock but the unit re-arms itself after 20 seconds. The book of words says the other way to prevent re-arming it to turn the accessories on. I had not wired it up to the accessories circuit at this stage. I wired it in by connecting a lead to the ciggy lighter. I then re-connected the flashers. Now it is all operating like a regular remote central locking unit should.

So the solution seems to be do not connect the door courtesy light switches to the alarm or any pin switches in the door. It is OK for the bonnet which I will be doing next. As long as the light comes on when a door is opened it will sound off as it seems to be current sensing. I discovered this as I was sitting inside with the alarm set and turned on the courtesy light at the roof switch.

I placed the shock sensor on the steering column with cable ties. In this position if I thump the A pillar the alarm will go off.

One point worth noting.............if I set the alarm silently, there is a button for doing that, the siren is silenced even when the alarm goes off!! Note to myself - never use that button even if it is 1am!

Now for the rear door. It was a choice between that and the bonnet! Thankfully there is a ready made place for a pin switch which uses the same ones as for the front doors. I used the piggy back I had made earlier and abandoned and ran the wire from the front door (but switched to the passenger side) under the trim to the back and passed it through the grommet in the shell.



There is a better grommet farther over to the left which I used rather than the one in this pic.




All I had to do was acquire the switch - my thanks to James for that - and connect up with a spade. I notice they are using speaker size spades more and more. Cheaper by the million I guess.



Next is the bonnet pin switch if I bother.

I have the unit working as you would want it to. For the money this is great value especially if you primarily want remote central locking as I did. I would recommend it.

Looking good so far

gonna follow this with interest as I weigh up whether I can motivate myself to fit one or not

My doors don't lock when I activate my alarm. It would be nice if they did, I might put the alarm on then

Mick C wrote: Looking good so far

gonna follow this with interest as I weigh up whether I can motivate myself to fit one or not

To be honest, if I had fitted one yesterday, this would be done in half the time. I am trying to get the wiring ready to go for tomorrow. I'll be soldering the tips in the morning to give it some strength cos the wire is really really thin.

Hope it all goes well.

As I said once you have done all the hard research and produced a nice fitting guide I will fit one

that's the way I did it but did not use the bracket on the motor drilled the door just up a bit than you have and put the rod up the door lock knob rod and fixed it with the clamp that came with the motor
than ran a twin flex across the door and in to the cab

410shotgun wrote: that's the way I did it but did not use the bracket on the motor drilled the door just up a bit than you have and put the rod up the door lock knob rod and fixed it with the clamp that came with the motor
than ran a twin flex across the door and in to the cab

Here's why I didn't mount the actuator higher up; mainly I liked the access at the hole, as I recall the door lock that was there was in the way of mounting it vertically and finally the rod was just the right length at that position. It would make for a quicker job if you don't use a bracket.

Did you pass your wire through the rubber sleeving that the existing harness passes through.

yes ran the flex through the rubber sleeving or boot

All finished now and for the money it is excellent.

that's good to hear

410shotgun wrote: that's good to hear

Except it has a feature that is driving me nuts. It is called "Warning for temporarily parking car". The direction lights flash for 8 seconds every single time I open the door. Not only does the tick tock irritate me but it means I can't jump in and drive of from a parked position in the high street. Also I am forever opening and shutting the door to fiddle with the motor so it is tick-tocking for hours which can't be good for the battery.

I think I may have to disconnect the flashers from it which is a pity. There is nothing else I can do about it. If these alarms are all like this I would not automatically recommend one and that's a turn about isn't it.

Drove me mental so sadly disconnected the flasher leads from the unit. It still clicks away but ear plugs will cure that.