my car alarm melted down today, what should replace it with?

wash with gasoline · Post by **wash with gasoline** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:48 am

it was a python with the 2 way 1 mile range paging key fob. it was around 2 years old, not very impressed at this point. dont know if they suck or i just got a bad one. first the remote stopped comunicating and wouldnt resinck with it, then a few days later it just started making clicking noises out of the alarm box itself. i have it all unplugged at this point. im not sure if i should just buy another of the same model and plug it in, or go with a diff. alarm. i dont know jack about alarms, so before i melt into google for hours what would you guys suggest?

pnyryd · Post by **pnyryd** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 4:26 am

Python is a product of DEI the mother company of a lot of alarm names like Viper,Clifford,and Stinger ECT.

In my opinion I would go back to the shop that did the work if you can and have them see what went wrong there should be a warranty to cover it.

Post by **ttocs** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:22 am

The early versions of the 2-ways from the manufacturers were touchy at best. They have now gone through a couple of revisions of them and they are much much better now. DEI does normally have good warrantys on thier products and the wiring should have a lifetime gurantee if it was put in by any self respecting shop. I would go to them first and see what they say. If it is a bad unit they may swap it out or make you a deal on a new one.

Earlier this year I replaced my older DEI alarm with a compustar 2-way pro series and I have been super happy with it. The range is just amazing in both transmitting and recieving(the remote has recieved signals almost 2 miles away) and it has not had a problem. The remote can sometimes get out of sync with the alarm requiring that you will need to push the disarm button possibly 6-8 times but I have never had a problem with it re-syncing. My old alarm was one of the first with code hopping and would sometimes do the same thing, this is the only way to keep the code repeaters from taking over again.

Now with this being said, a great alarm is only as good as it is installed. If a poor job on instalation is done then on the best case scenario it will not work, worst case scenario it will keep you from starting the car or even catch fire. I would ask around to see which shop in town specialized in security or has an installer that does specialize in security. I was lucky enough to work for one of these shops and these shops are just more experienced and know more tricks. Ask how they make their connections, crimp is acceptable, solder is always prefered and t-taps are a no-no. Ask if they take the time to hide the module and wiring and let them know that you will be poking your head up and around to check their work. A perfectly installed security system will not be able to be seen, nor its wiring....

gridracer · Post by **gridracer** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 1:38 pm

My python 1500esp has probably been in my truck for over 10 years no problems at all. You might have got one of the only pythons that I have ever heard of being bad maybe it was built on a friday.

wash with gasoline · Post by **wash with gasoline** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:17 pm

i would go back to the shop that installed it, but they are 2000 miles away. had it put in in wa. state by the shop i have been going to for the last 15 years. When i started going there the guy that owns the shop now had just started working the sales floor

they always take care of me, but now i live in la. The alarm is up in the bowels of the dash board, the wiring that i can see looks good. I guess its time for me to get into alarm installing

it just doesnt have the same payoff as when you put in a sound system

I just checked and i have a model 990, is this one of the early ones? Im going to give the shop a call and see if they can do anything for me, not expecting much as they cant check out the car ...but who knows.

wash with gasoline · Post by **wash with gasoline** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:35 pm

well it sounds like they are going to take care of it

they are going to call me back tomorrow when my guy is in the shop and send me to a local place the dei rep recomends to have it checked out. ...the lady at the shop had to look threw like 50 invoices on the computer to find my alarm one

i have spent way to much money on this hobby...

Post by **ttocs** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:48 pm

dei and its dealers are generally pretty good about taking care of their people. It was tough for me to switch to compustar but I have been hearing more good things about them so I decided to switch over.