Alright I think it’s time to upgrade my alarm, since I don’t really trust my current alarm right now (Got it cheaper like a year and a half ago). I’m looking to a good system, with tilt sensor, backup siren, proximity, immoblizer, etc. I know a couple of friends who has Clifford and I think it’s pretty good, but one guy who works as an installer said Clifford is having some problems right now and he recommended Alpine… Anyone got some good recommendation? I just don’t want to see my effort and pain and blood and money all goes away in one night…
I would like to know how to put a sensor on the hood? Is one spot better than another to put a trigger pin, and if so what is it/they? Also, what are the best spots to mount a shock sensor and proximity sensor?
How does a back-up siren actually work - is it powered by it’s own battery source and if so how is it actually triggered if power is lost to the original alarm? Lots of questions I know, just trying to be better informed.
Originally posted by LeftCorner
[B]I would like to know how to put a sensor on the hood? Is one spot better than another to put a trigger pin, and if so what is it/they? Also, what are the best spots to mount a shock sensor and proximity sensor?
How does a back-up siren actually work - is it powered by it’s own battery source and if so how is it actually triggered if power is lost to the original alarm? Lots of questions I know, just trying to be better informed. [/B]
A hood pin is basically a “stick” that gets depressed when the hood is closed. If this stick is eased off and releases, the alarm goes off.
A back up siren has a batter of itz own. You cut the batter of the car, it goes off. You pull it off, dump it in the garbage can, it keeps going off. you throw it down the street it keeps going off. You dump it in a garbage can, then roll it down the street, it will still keep wailin.
you get the point.
Jon, The G4 stuff is pretty good…but then again I’m biased…
Originally posted by LeftCorner
[B]I would like to know how to put a sensor on the hood? Is one spot better than another to put a trigger pin, and if so what is it/they? Also, what are the best spots to mount a shock sensor and proximity sensor?
How does a back-up siren actually work - is it powered by it’s own battery source and if so how is it actually triggered if power is lost to the original alarm? Lots of questions I know, just trying to be better informed. [/B]
Just to elaborate on what Max said… Yes there are better places to mount the pin switch for the hood. The best place to mount the hood pin-switch is somewhere on the front frame of the car, near the headlights. The reason for this is because if you mounted it towards the back of the engine bay at or near the firewall, one could open the hood far enough to not trigger the pinswitch and eventually cut the wire leading to it.
If you mounted it near the front of the car like you should, the pin-switch will trigger even if the hood has been released but not opened (ajar situation) and will subsiquently activate the alarm accordingly. The only time you’d want to mount the pinswitch towards the back of the engine bay near the firewall is if your hood opened backwards and hinged on the front of the car like 2nd Gen Preludes.
The backup siren works like Max said. While in normal mode, it acts as a second siren until its separate power source is cut from it, in which case it switches to its internal battery. It is key deactivated once tripped.
Proximity (or radar) sensors are best mounted inside the car, somewhere in the center facing up as to have a general equal omnidirectional pattern to its sensor range. Because it relies on radar, any metal objects in its sensor path will hinder it’s ability to detect movement in that general direction.
Shock sensors should be mounted on a sturdy metal portion of the body, although many ‘quick’ installers tightly tie-strap this sensor to the steering column to speed installation time. With the exception of poorly setted prox sensors, the shock sensor is the one that causes the most false alarms.
startroops IMO your friend is the one having the problem with Clifford alarms.Clifford alarms can be a pretty involved install. I have not had any out of the ordniary problems with any Clifford alarm. Now with Alpine we have had a few bad out of the box alarms. IMO Alpine makes great headunits the V12 amps are pretty good,alarms are ok, their coax speakers ok, subs suck wind.If you are looking for an under 300 alarm I would suggest Avital you can add any of the features you want that don’t come with it.
I have had a Clifford Concept 40 for about 5 years now. This is one of Clifford’s alarms with the dual zone proximity (radar) sensor, but I had to add the shock sensor. I love the alarm. The only exeption is when the outside zone is turned up too much and it rains, the warning for intrusion to the outside (around the car) continues to go off becuase the rain sets it off. This is kinda annoying. Also, once I got the windows tinted, for some reason the distance of the proximity detection was lowered. I would say unless you have a convertable (which I hope you don’t being a member of this club :p) or you leave your windows down all of the time, skip the proximity sensor and spend the $$ on other alarm components (i.e. backup siren, backup battery, window rollup, triggerer alarm pager). Other than the proximity sensor I have been really happy with the alarm. I love the 5 button (12 function - I think) remote and user programming alarm features! Very secure alarm, very upgradable!
Umm… maybe I should really save up for a Clifford then Right Max? Ive do you know any places that does good install? I wanna cut the cost as much as possible since I know it’s going to be expensive TIA.
[/B]
Right Max? Ive do you know any places that does good install? I wanna cut the cost as much as possible since I know it’s going to be expensive 
TIA.