So I bought my car with a DEI Viper alarm already installed. I wanted to do some work around the dash area and, while trying to separate the two pos/neg wires running to the status LED so they wouldnt short, I shorted them. Go figure.
So now my alarm doesn’t work at all. I am wondering if any of you happen to know if the control box is protected by a fuse somewhere, either inline or maybe inside the box itself?
I hope I didn’t just f*ck myself over into having to buy a new control box or an entire new system.
I take it you did not disconnect your battery before doing anyelectrical work?
For that you deserve a :slap:
I don’t know much about alarms, but check the rest of the fuses in your
car. I dunno if the alarm could be tied to any of them (since the alarm
might be wired to your lights and shit).
If all else fails, just get rid of the alarm. You got your car for a steal. The
alarm is worthless. No one is gonna steal your car.
At least no one has attempted at mine (other then stealing my chrome
tire valve covers).
As far as not disconnecting my battery, you’re absolutely right: I should have- no matter how small the job. I didn’t because all I wanted to do was disconnect the wires and cut the stripped leads off and tape off the insulated nub. I just really hope its a fuse thats blown and not any control box electronics. Sigh.
There are usually 3 fuses on DEI products two for +12 V inputs and one for the parking light output. They will all be within 6" of the alarm brain.
You don’t have to disconnect the battery when you are working on the electrical system of the car. It could seriously damage cars to disconnect the battery and reconnect it, especially newer ones. None of us here have to worry but what if he didn’t want to lose his preset stations, or didn’t want his capacitor to drain, or didn’t want to hard code his main ECU (newer model Nissans)? You shouldn’t be to quick to deal out the stupid smileys when you yourself could make an even bigger mistake someday.
I am sure, yes, because those are the ones I was trying to separate at the time. I’m still not sure whether I touched the leads together or whether one of them accidently touched a piece of metal on the car.
The fuse was a 10amp that (I think?) was on the 12v wire. I don’t remember the color of the wire offhand. I can check tomorrow.
Someone else was also surprised that it shorted. I saw a spark and after that the alarm stopped working entirely. I probed under the dash, found the broken fused, and uttered a sigh of relief.
The wire was red… it could concievably blow a main fuse as the alarm just tried to send infinite current down the LED wire(s). You are lucky that all you blew was a fuse… but then again, that’s what the fuse is there for.
^ Real constructive bud… your post had absolutely nothing to do with anything above it except that it contained some of my user name in it. If you feel you need to up your post count, do it in another section! The tech. section is for finding solutions to technical problems vehicles.
Go figure.