help installing car alarm

[mark]

hey i bought a delta 200 car alarm and installed it pretty good. however, the siren is very low, it sounds like a friggin toy gun. anyone know a way that i can amplify the sounds without screwing it up. when i connect it straight to the cars battery it can be heard a few blocks but its not triggered with the alarm. its just a constant noise. if anyone has experience with this stuff please advice. this alarm is sweat lol. i flick my car and the toy gun sounds off a warning.

thanks,marcus

[mark]

help?

[numatik]

So it's loud when it's hooked up directly to yhe battery huh? Try this, have the original wire that went to your siren activate a relay that gives the siren power from the battery. That way the siren will turn on when the alarm wants it to, and the siren will get the power from the battery that it needs. I'm assuming you know about relays and stuff because it sounds like you are insalling this yourself. Anymore Q's email me. Good luck!

[mark]

not to sure what relays are but i do have some backround in electronics and building circuits. how would i go about optaining and connecting this relay. i know what it does but dont know how to use it

thanks,marcus

[numatik]

Ok, it's not hard. Buy a 12v relay from Radio Shack (my former employer LOL!). Chances are none of the employees will know what they are talking about, and if they do they are probably high on something (don't ask). It's hard for me to explain without showing you, but I'll try. A relay is just a switch that is activated by a low current source (like the positive wire going to your siren). The wire that now goes to your siren will attach to the relay instead. They relay will also have 1 wire going to the battery, and 1 wire going to the siren. You probably have to ground the relay as well (I forget, but not a big deal). Look around on the net for better explanations. My advice is go get a relay or two and start experimenting, they can be used for lots of cool stuff.

[mark]

wow ok you explained it good enough.. doesnt sound so hard. i just gotta find a relay now. maybe ill head to radioshack tonight or tommorow and let you know how it goes. but hey another problem i am probubly going to reach is that my alarm sends out one of those really cool sirens like the 5-in-1 please, ambulance, fire, alien, etc one, but when i connect it directly to my battery it just a contant siren. anyway to configure that? also are the relays expensive cause if they are i know a store downtown thats half the price of radio shack, its just if its only 10 or 20 bucks it doesnt matter to me.

thanks so much for your help,mark

[numatik]

Relays are really cheap, like under $5 I think, I was in Radio Shack yesterday and honestly forgot to check on those for you. There is one that has a clear casing and says automotive relay on the package, that one should work. About the siren sounds, A siren like that is kind of like an electric buzzer that makes different frequencies (notes, tones) depending on the voltage that is hooked up to them. I think (not sure though) that your alarm unit has the voltage patterns programmed into it, not the horn itself. In other words you're probably gonna lose the cool different sounds when you use the relay. Before you try the relay idea, what direction is the horn pointing? ideally you want it pointed down towards the ground with nothing obstructing it's path. Make sure the "brain" of the Alarm (little box part) is recieving sufficient power also. Good Luck!

[mark]

thanks man, i got one today from radio shack for 9.99 canadian (a few cents american) and put the baby in. It worked! Now all i gotta do is make some switches to kill the alarm because the shock thing is pretty sensitive and a false alarm (like a bird crapping on my car) will wake up the neighborhood. maybe ill just change the sensitivity on it but i rather have a switch in my car to turn the option off. i also plugged the ignition a battery wire thats right in my dash, im going to put a switch there too so that i can mock the car being started when i dont want the alarm on. thanks for your help.

marcus

[mark]

the horn is in the engine block beside the strut bar screw hold up things. would i get better performance facing it to the ground? wouldnt that make it obvious where it is and then someone can just reach under my car and piss on it (shorting out the power)

Relays are cool. im going to make some bombs now.

[numatik]

I mounted my siren high up on the firewall on the drivers side, so It can't be reached from underneath. I also installed a hood pin so if the hood has been opened the car won't start. I have a fancy alarm with the 2 way pager system. So if someone is screwing with my car I can go bat their head in.