96 S1 Alarm again :(

les · Post by **les** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:34 pm

Guys,

OK, having purchased my new battery I've been able to tame the cobra alarm in the elise however, the Alarm light in the stack is alway illuminated. When the immobiliser is switched off (by pressing the key fob) it flashed for the 40 secs as specified. Is this the case. Not having had the elise for too long, my recolection may be in correct but I thought that the alarm light was only on if there was a fault

Any ideas

Cheers

robin · Post by **robin** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:42 pm

You may need to go through the whole fob reprogramming thingmy - read your owner's manual and be careful because later S1s have an identical looking fob and touch key but the purpose is quite different - i.e. make sure it's the manual for your car you are reading.

In all probability the alarm is totally shagged though - I suggest disabling it with the alarm master switch (which you have in your car - pax footwell) and leave it turned off for the rest of time!

Cheers,
Robin

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:12 pm

Does the mast switch unlock the immobilizer? I have one fob and a touch key, but the touch key has never apparently worked. I have the alarm key also but I thought that only worked the alarm side of things?

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 9:25 am

Correct, the master alarm switch only stops the alarm from operating; it has no effect on the immobiliser side of things, but as I understand it the immobiliser is working in this car?

Cheers,
Robin

[Actually, that's from memory - I might need to go look at the manual to be sure]

les · Post by **les** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:21 am

Robin,

The fob itself still switches on and off the alarm, just the stack light is on all the time. I've got 3 weeks of warranty left so I'll start chasing it up. Is the alarm light meant to be on?

Les

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 10:31 am

No, deffo not when the alarm is disarmed and the engine is running.

Suggest you double check that replacing the alarm would be covered by your warranty before booking it in!

Cheers,
Robin

timmsky · Post by **timmsky** » Sun May 06, 2007 12:35 pm

robin wrote:You may need to go through the whole fob reprogramming thingmy - Cheers,
Robin

I don't have a manual - how is this done?

Cheers,
Iain

robin · Post by **robin** » Sun May 06, 2007 4:58 pm

Iain, the various procedures are in the electrics section of the PDF manual which I am sure you have - just be sure to match up the pictures of the plips - i.e. the square ones vs the sculpted ones.

If you don't have the manual, tell me what shape your plips are and the age of your car and I'll go take a look.

Cheers,
Robin

timmsky · Post by **timmsky** » Mon May 07, 2007 7:50 am

Thanks Robin - I had a look in the pdf manual and it is all there - apart from my 4 digit security code.. That I don't have a record of.

I think I need an Emerald...

The plips are the musical note shaped jobs with the 2 grey buttons, the car is a '97 S.

Cheers,
Iain

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:17 am

Why do you need an emerald? Is it because you cannot turn off the immobiliser with the plips?

Provided you can prove ownership I wouldn't be surprised if the factory kept a record of the code for each car ... worth calling their customer services department I think!

Cheers,
Robin

timmsky · Post by **timmsky** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:22 am

I think an Emerald would make life easier as it reprogrammes itself to match the immobiliser etc... Then I could be sure nothing else is skewing my results..

I suspect that the plip (whilst turning the alarm off and extinguishing the dash telltale) is not disarming the immobiliser. Everything else seems fine as she turns over and gives a couple of light coughs after being turned over for a few seconds continuously. There just seems to be no spark...

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:35 am

Iain, I'll have a spare emerald you could borrow to test this once Andy has the new one for the rough love chariot - or if you can use a scope you can see if the 5AS is sending the code down the relevant wire - it's a fairly slow square wave - easy to trigger on either rising or falling edge.

Perhaps it's a broken code wire? The 5AS must be able to produce the code, else your rematching service wouldn't have been able to rematch it?

Finally, you could use the emerald in code learning mode to see if it acquires a code from the immobiliser which would be the same as using a scope without having a scope IYSWIM.

In the end, for a standard car, you want a MEMS - better fuel economoy, better starting/idling/etc.

Cheers,
Robin

timmsky · Post by **timmsky** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:50 am

Thanks Robin,

In the absence of a scope I'd appreciate the loan of the Emerald to check it out.

I'm also going to send the MEMS & 5AS back in the meantime (as it's such a quick turnaround) with the plip to make sure all is perfectly matched as it appears the immobiliser is not being immobilised.

Once Andy has Paul's old Emerald on the RLC I should have my MEMS back too so I could spend a couple of hours tinkering.

I presume the s/w and patch lead are with the Emerald?

Many thanks,
Cheers,

Iain

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon May 07, 2007 1:20 pm

Yes, I have the patch cable - you need a computer with a standard 9-pin serial port and you can just download the s/w (though I have it on a CD too I think).

Avoid those USB-RS232 dongles for this application - they don't seem to work properly with the emerald (at least several people have discovered problems like this).

Once RLC is ready, how do you want to get the emerald - it's an expensive bit of kit, so don't really want to chance it to royal mail - insured (~650) courier pricing probably in the 10-20 quid each way range I think?

Cheers,
Robin

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon May 07, 2007 1:21 pm

P.S. Did you speak to Avon about how this all works - if you want me to talk to their technical support people I would be interested to understand it all anyway - feel free to pass on my number: 07973 391 393.

Cheers,
Robin