Alarm headaches again...

[FactionOne]

Hi folks,

I'm still without a functioning alarm, as I really can't get my head around what's wrong (and I'm still without documents to get the car taxed and down to Audi)...

There's a lengthy post on what exactly I've found out about the alarm (read: how it's broken) HERE - but to save you all that reading I can sum it up simply...

Somehow in the process of replacing the audio rig in the car, I've upset the alarm, in so much as now it seems it's just not arming at all. No indicators winking to say it's armed, no LEDs flashing in the doors to say the same /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif - I've tried some of the daft combinations of locking and unlocking with keys and remotes and using the interior monitor disable button on the pillar, all with no effect.

I'm just wondering if you guys know whether the part shown in the jpeg does only what its name suggests (interior monitor control unit), and merely looks after the sensing components for the cabin, or if it plays a more integral role in the arming of the alarm (- is this the main component of the alarm system or just a "closed-circuit" for the monitors at the top of the pillars?)

Also, do any of you know what one of these little fellas looks like in person? The illustration isn't too enlightening... I guess that it's going to be on the right (rhd car), contrary to the image, because the interior monitor disable button is over there too.

Unfortunately I've rebuilt the interior now, which makes poking around by the wheel arches pretty tricky, but I can't help wondering if it's something I've seen at the upper-front corner of the arch (peering through the access panel in the right-hand boot-trim).

As always, I owe you all a debt of gratitude for just reading one of my waffles, and even more so for any info you can fire my way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

Cheeres,

Rob.

 

[AndyMac]

Have you tried disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes. I've had an alarm that kept going off, resetting it did the trick. Sometimes they just seem to get confused.

 

[FactionOne]

Hi Andy,

I haven't done that one - although you having said that is making me want to head out to the garage right now!

There are no idiosyncratic A3 things to take precautions for when disconnecting the battery right? Just do it like I would any other?

Cheers fella,

Rob.

 

[FactionOne]

Hi Andy,

Just thought I'd drop a note on here to let you know that unfortunately I didn't get any luck with the battery-disconnect thing.

I'd resign myself to thinking that something like the part above has died, but as I mention in my _massive_ post linked above, the LEDs show life when you push the interior monitor disable button.

It's all very odd /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Thanks very much for your suggestion none the less though chap, I'd have been another stage off diagnosis if it wasn't for that!

Regards,

Rob.

PS> My mate and I were passeed in his pug coming up the M61 on the way from from work tonight by a "dedicated customer support technician" or something like that in his flashy painted allroad quattro - My mate was having none of my requests to follow him home! Heh

 

[SimonPoole]

Rob,

Not sure how the Audi alarm system is wired, but it may be that the head unit is connected in some way and that by fitting an aftermarket unit you have not reconnected it back into the system. The alarm senses something is not right in the same way as leaving a door open and trying to arm it and then will not arm.
Are all of the wires from the plug in the car connected to something on the new head unit?

Simon

 

[FactionOne]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the suggestion, I must say I'd had a similar thought myself a while ago - There's one block with a single cable unused on my DAB-54 head unit which was used on my Audi Concert, which is apparently CAN-bus.

I'd already read a few documents explaining things about the CAN-bus (Controller-Area-Network) and how it's used as a communications backbone for numerous components around the car - but apparently it's used for little more than illumination on the Concert HU. I did think I remembered reading somewhere that some alarm systems monitor the stereo in some way though, so I decided it wouldn't hurt to quickly pull the DAB-54 out and try reconnecting the Concert HU - unfortunately the symptoms were persisant /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'm really puzzled with regard to what's gone-on, or is still going-on to make the alarm dead enough to fail to arm, or allow the total-closure functions on key and remote to work, but also show enough life to respond to the interior monitor button by lighting the door LEDs when pressed.

I think it's going to turn out to be a definate trip to the dealer, but as I say, the car's off-the-road for the moment, and this problem's one of those that I'd prefer to fix sooner rather than later /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Thanks very much for your input all the same though fella, it shows I'm thinking along some kind of sane-lines!

Regards,

Rob.