Phoenix Gold Phorum

With all the talk we do about systems I have never heard anyone talk anything about alarms or how they protect their systems. I upgraded the alarms in both of my vehicles in the last 6 months so that I can have both systems on one remote and went with a compustar pro 2 way system. I liked these as they claim to have a 1 mile range from car to remote, 1/2 mile from remote to car as well as they have the system to put a remote start on a stick safely. It is a great alarm as it even will tell me the temp in the car as well as the vehicle battery and the remote battery.

I pulled an old code alarm out of the stang when I replaced it just 2 months ago. It as actually the first alarm I was trained on back when the car was new in 94. I am proud to stay that the alarm never gave me any issues in teh 15 yrs it was in there and was just in need up upgrading.

The truck had a DEI sidewinder 7000 that was 10+ yrs old as wel. IT had all the bells an whistles and did need an occasional tweeking but was still a great alarm.

What alarm are you guys using now? Do you have any extra items on it like back up batteries or starter kills on it? I put backup batteries in both of them this time and even wired up a starter kill in the mustang that works when I pull the cig lighter out for those times I want a little extra protection.

I have an Aftermarket Generation alarm on my car, works pretty well! I ordered another one for the girlfriend's car too!

I live in the butthole of Ohio, so I use a dog and a ball bat.

so what if the dude has a bigger dog an a gun?

The alarm was always the first thing audio related I installed and always recomended it for my customers as well. there are no qualifications for being a thief niether geographically nor educationally, they are everwhere because of open enrollment.

ttocs wrote:so what if the dude has a bigger dog an a gun?

The alarm was always the first thing audio related I installed and always recomended it for my customers as well. there are no qualifications for being a thief niether geographically nor educationally, they are everwhere because of open enrollment.

lol I hear that. Luckily I have never had anything eye catching. I dont even lock my shit up man. If I had a mustang like yours, I would be more worried. I just have an old chevy van and a pontiac aztec.

To be totally honest, i used to steal people's car when i was younger. I had a step brother that was into civic dementelement, was paid 500$ for every civic i brought back, and trust me thoses are way to easy to start, all you needed was a star screwdriver and 2 minutes.

But in that time i was only a drug addict trying to make the most money in the fastest time. After i stopped drugs, and started working legit, i found out how bad that was, i mean if someone was to come up my house and steal my car to pay his drugs, i'd be mad as hell since i've worked hard to get the money to buy the car and the system in it. So first thing i'm installing is an alarm in every car i own, since i know it will stop 99% of car thief, since they are almost everything people looking for a quick job to do quick money. If they blow your window, open your door and your alarm start, they will 99% of the time run away, unless they are professional and you have a valuable car, but if that's the case there's easier/quietter way to get in a car for them (slimjim or even lockpicks).

And you have to admit, paying for a window is far better than paying for a whole new system and a new car.

Ttocs,

I plan on getting a compustar 2-way as well ASAP. Funds are a bit tight now, but I do worry about my system I have in there.

I looked around an did some reading, and seems those are pretty high end. Supposedly they keep the wiring diagrams under lock and key so to speak, and are very hard to get ahold of unless you are a dealer. Where as the other companies send the wiring diagrams with the alarms.

The dealer I talked to said they had to login into compustar's site to see the wiring diagram, and they had it so you couldn't print it out or anything. Also the company is right down the road from me as well.

I can't remember which one I looked at, but it was a 2-way with the long range paging. Was like $675 out the door with door locks, horn beep and a few other things.

Just to let you guys know, theses systems can be easily defeated with an amiante car cover. Thoses block GPS transmission signals, at least this used to work with the ¨unbeatable¨ Boomerang GPS tracking system.

Sure they are nice alarm systems, and they will help track the thieft's location, but if he bring your car to, let's say, an empty parking lot, put it on a trailer with an amiante car cover, it's checkmate. But again, you sould only worry about this if you have like a ferrari or something like this, as 99% of car thieft are amateurs people trying to make some fast money, so no big deal...

Just though i should let you know...

clifford matrix 50.7 here

I was starting to look around at some different squak boxes and found a decent viper 350....... Not too hard to install so I'm told as long as I just follow the old wires and drop in acouple pins front/back........ Not too big a deal right........ I've never installed an alarm before and niether have any of my kohorts...... I've installed pins but that's just plug-n-play really.....

Any input is greatly appriciated............

Originally installed an Avital 4300, replaced with Clifford Matrix 50.7x

I was installing profesionally for almost 2 yrs before I got into security installation. It is not for the faint of heart and unless you have someone directly behind you to help tell you what not to do. A great alarm with a bad install on the best case scenario will mean that your shit gets stolen and the alarm never goes off but remember are working with the vehicles critical wiring so it could leave you stranded or worse. If you have never done an alarm and do not understand how to wire relays then I would really recomend that you go to a pro.

As for the wirng compustar wirng diagrams i got one in each of the sytems I bought, no different the it would wit DEI or any of the others.

There are a million ways to get around an alarm if you really want to bad enough but I rest peacefully every night knowing my shit is as safe as I can make it.

Always been a fan of DEI/Viper. Compustar makes some nice products as well. My favorite alarm of all time would be the AvantGuard IV by Clifford (pre DEI). We would charge in the ball park of $1200 for one of those bad-boys installed about 10-11 yrs ago. I had an Alpine sea-8081 in my first civic. Loved that alarm. Two-way lcd remote long before this new gen stuff. You'ld have to change the battery in the remote about once a month tho

My summer toy has a DEI ESP1500 remote start/alarm, My daily has a CompuStar 2W900FM-AS-2nd 2 way LCD Alarm Remote Start

god advantgaurd......... I am not sure how I forgot that I did one of those but I did and it was the biggest pain in the ass I ever did. I also got to do one 8081 and that was the shit when it was hooked up to the cva1000. It was sooo freakin cool to start the car up, have the deck flip out and tell you what and when was set off, not to mention programming was so much easier with the deck.

I spent most of my alarm career with DEI And had great luck with them. I also did some crimestoppers, code alarms and omegas and the omega is the only one I would have stayed completely away from.

So far the compustar has impressed me and it has been a great unit. It is so nce now to have both vehicles with one remote.

How many here do not have any alarm? The factory alarm does not count either...........

ttocs wrote:
As for the wirng compustar wirng diagrams i got one in each of the sytems I bought, no different the it would wit DEI or any of the others.

Maybe that's something new then in the past few years? Or maybe I confused it with something else, I looked at it about a year ago.

I think the one I was going to get was the RF-P2WSS. The guy didn't write the model number down for me, just that it was a 2-way 900Mhz version I could add a start to. I added a few options like a mag switch for the rear sliding glass, the door locks, horn honk. It also came with some "rap" feature, where you could set a number code, and if you locked your keys in your car, rap the code out on the window, and the doors would unlock. I was on the fence about getting a backup battery for the alarm itself.

Still plan on getting it this summer hopefully. Right now I don't have shit.

An alarm is one thing I would try to install myself no matter what.

I don't have an alarm per say, but I have remote start that has a starter kill in it, so if you open the door with out "unlocking" it from the remote (if you locked it with the remote as well), and try to start the car, it won't start. You have to push the valet button and do a dance to get it to work. I could hook up the horn to it as well, so it will flash the lights and honk the horn if you try to start it. So it has alarm features, but it's not an actual alarm.

I also drive a 1990 subaru and keep all my stuff covered up, so who wants to steal anything from my dump I also keep it looking trashy on the inside to deter people as well. If you looked into my car, you would think, who would have a system in this junker

ttocs wrote:god advantgaurd......... I am not sure how I forgot that I did one of those but I did and it was the biggest pain in the ass I ever did. I also got to do one 8081 and that was the shit when it was hooked up to the cva1000. It was sooo freakin cool to start the car up, have the deck flip out and tell you what and when was set off, not to mention programming was so much easier with the deck.

Avantguards were a bit of a pain. Mainly because they did just about everything!!! Glass-break sensor, fuel pump kill, windows up & down, R-start and more all in one package...awsome!! We would book two days just for one install

The 8081 was definitely sweet when mated with a cva1000! They could also mate with a cda-7949 and Alpine even had their very own car phone way back and it to would run with the 8081. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the car phone could/would make a call if the alarm was triggered. I got my hands on one, which were extremely rare, but unfortunately it didn't work Great alarm for sure. It's still working to this day in that same Civic which I sold to my brother. The alarm was installed in 99' BTW: I installed the brain to that alarm in the cavity between the b-pillar and rear quarter panel, and you could not see a single alarm wire when looking up under the driver's dash

my biggest bitch about the advantgaurd was that I had to tap 8-10 constant power wires to give power to all of its seperate circuits. They could have slimmed that down a bit to make it easier.

The RPS feature on the compustar is a neat feature. If you wanted someone to meet you after work for examply at your car, you could tell them to go and knock on the window flashing led 2 times and the alarm will page me. And as he said you can also program a 3-4 digit code that you knock on the sensor to turn the alarm off.

All around on the compustar I have been impressed. I was running the spread spectrum remotes which gave a freaking amazing range but had to switch remotes so that I could get both cars on one remote.

ttocs wrote:my biggest bitch about the advantgaurd was that I had to tap 8-10 constant power wires to give power to all of its seperate circuits. They could have slimmed that down a bit to make it easier.

LOL....true

I've had an alarm sitting in a box waiting to be installed for a loooong time. I got it from Tom.

While there is significant auto crime in this city, it's smash and grab kind of stuff around where I'm living. I park in the apartment garage where the most auto crime is a result of sketchy residents or residents sketchy friends/assholes they let in. People's windows get broken for whatever crap they might have in the car (change, etc.) but I've yet to hear of anyone having their whole vehicle stolen. It also seems to be limited to "nice" (new) vehicles getting smashed. No one with a bum rig like mine has had any problems.

As far as full blown auto theft, my truck just ain't worth shit. No one running a chop shop is going to pay a cracked out idiot who can't drive stick any money for my truck. I know there's always the chance but it's not like I drive a civic or anything.

I'd hate to have my amps and other audio goodies stolen but I'm more lazy than paranoid. Hence not yet having installed the alarm I already have.

tempe has been leading the nation for some time in auto thefts which is why I was big on it before I moved back to the midwest. We can leave our doors unlocked here but it is still the peace of mind that is worth the time and money. Which alarm do you have fuzzy?

ttocs wrote:tempe has been leading the nation for some time in auto thefts which is why I was big on it before I moved back to the midwest. We can leave our doors unlocked here but it is still the peace of mind that is worth the time and money. Which alarm do you have fuzzy?

I don't recall the model but it's a Viper alarm.

see if that were me holding an alarm to install, my car would get broken into the night before I planned on installing it....

I can't understand why if you have it you have not installed it yet, peace of mind...........

ttocs wrote:see if that were me holding an alarm to install, my car would get broken into the night before I planned on installing it....

I can't understand why if you have it you have not installed it yet, peace of mind...........

My mind is already at peace