Poxy Alarms!

[markysparky]

Anyone have good knowledge of Cobra alarms. Mine has just this minute gone loopy GGRRRR!
Alarm sounding but weirdly no flashing of indicators??? I can still unlock the car with the cobra remote and run the engine, at a pure guess i would say maybe the circuit for the battery back up in the siren has pooped itself. The remote and the overide will not shut it up, so i have carefully cut all 4 wires to siren (one at a time), and strangely the battery back up hasn't kicked in /Hmmm

Any suggestions peeps?/help

[Nick Mann]

Does it think the bonnet is open or something?

[markysparky]

Does it think the bonnet is open or something?

That did cross my mind Nick, have had a quick peep at bonnet and door pins but all look dry, with no stickyness or grittyness. Seems a bit peculiar that hazards are not flashing with siren. Every other aftermarket alarm ive had, had visible as well as audible warning, but hazards do flash from remote twice for lock, once for unlock?
/wall

[Nick Mann]

Years ago I had a mitsubishi dealer fit cobra alarm where the siren stopped working. The dealer fixed it under warranty. I don't remember it doing anything weird other than the siren not sounding though.

[markysparky]

Absolutely Nick, ive been out to jobs where sirens have packed up due to normally poor placement and/or being saturated with water. Ive never seen this problem where the siren seems to have isolated itself from the main alarm ecu. To add i haven't done anything to the car for a few months now, so i can't blame me :)
Granted it is a bit blowy and wet out there at the mo and siren does look nice and dry down next to the Battery. I am also pretty sure with this particular cobra model there is no microwave or sonics, so i can eliminate them as a trigger.

[Davezj]

i had a similar issue with my corbra alarm, it turned out to bete mounting point of the siren, it was mounted directl above the rear turbo on the firewall. the issue was, it was getting to hot, and going wacky, so i relocated the siren and all was fixed.

by the way why did you cut the wires to the siren, there is a multiplug on the siren which you can just unplug.

i am not saying this is what your issue is, i just want to make you aware the cobra sirens do not seem to like getting hot, or getting wet for that matter. mine got wet on another occation and the seals failed, probably due to the heating previously and it went wacky again, but i took it apart and dryed to out on a dariator and put some silicone sealant on it when i put it back together and it has been fine ever since, ad that was about 2-3years ago.

[markysparky]

i had a similar issue with my corbra alarm, it turned out to bete mounting point of the siren, it was mounted directl above the rear turbo on the firewall. the issue was, it was getting to hot, and going wacky, so i relocated the siren and all was fixed. by the way why did you cut the wires to the siren, there is a multiplug on the siren which you can just unplug. i am not saying this is what your issue is, i just want to make you aware the cobra sirens do not seem to like getting hot, or getting wet for that matter. mine got wet on another occation and the seals failed, probably due to the heating previously and it went wacky again, but i took it apart and dryed to out on a dariator and put some silicone sealant on it when i put it back together and it has been fine ever since, ad that was about 2-3years ago.

Ooohh that makes sense, varying degrees of temperature can play havoc with solder joints on pcbs in electronic equipment. Reminds me of petrol astra ecu's that are mounted on the rear of the engine, the number of those i have reflowed with solder :)

The reason i didn't unplug the siren is because the superseal connector is about 14 inches from siren cable tied in behind the front arch liner, i was not going to take the wheel and liner out at 11.30 pm with it chucking it down and blowing a gale.
On a more depressing note the alarm install is shocking, found the immobiliser cuts in 2 minutes???? staring me in the face when i dropped the under dash panel. Obviously when in the docks the alarms are thrown in, am sure Cobra/vestatec and thatcham would have a few words to say. I'm trained in Tracker installs so everything has to be (a) look factory and (b) be a pita to get to!

Maybe its time for a new system, it is 14 years old and has done its job (until now). As i'm out of the loop on current alarm systems can anyone suggest a good one?
Cheers

Mark

[Davezj]

personally i thik one of the most annoying things you can do with an alarn system is to put the loudest adaitional siren under the divers seat with a battery backup say 130db siren so you can't just set it off and close the door to make it quiter you want a siren that will make your ears bleed. The only way to shut it off is to remove the drivers seat and rip out the siren then have to to refit the drivers seat to ba able to drive it away. make it a real pain in the arse to steel.

but as you say the newer breed of security systems are much better than any 15year old system.