I looking to install an alarm light, actually a fake one and I was wondering if anyone had found a good location. Of course I'd rather NOT have to drill a hol in the dash andywhere.

Also I've seen two kinds. One that has three wires (ground, 12V always on, 12V ignition). My concern(s) here are finding an easy fuse to wire these to and also what drain the flashing LED may have on the battery. The concept is it goes off when the car is running and on when it is not running.

The second kind is a simple 9V battery that you plug in when you need it...parking in a bad neighborhood or bad location.

I live in an area where I don't really want or need a real alarm so I think the factory ignition disabler is enough but I would like an additional visual deterrent.

Any comments on either or a location for the light?

 

my real alarm's led sits on the piece right behind the steering wheel, centred on the column. that'd put it pretty close to the ignition for any wiring required.

 

Theres a little plastic pop out thing between the defroster ducts on the dash, perfect for a LED. LEDS are extremely low draw, talkin micro amps here, so i wouldnt worry about draining the battery too much. You should really reconsider an alarm for your car, if your good with electronics check out autotoys.com, they have an add on alarm that allows you to keep your factory remote. and by the way if anyone knows where i can get a DEI viper 690 WITHOUT an install please let me know. I dont trust anyone with my cars!!!

 

No argument with the rest of your post, but the LEDs I've dealt with typically draw around 10 milliamps when lit to a decent brightness. Below 1 milliamp (in the microamp range), you won't get enough light output to see the LED from outside the car unless it's absolutely pitch dark out.

That being said, an LED flashing with a 33% duty cycle (such as 1 sec on, 2 secs off, repeat), at 10 mA, will have an average current draw of 3.3 mA. A typical car battery might have 40 amp-hours, so it could power the flashing LED for 40/0.0033 hours, or 12000 hours -- 500 days.

Or to look at it another way, 5 days of flashing the LED will drain 1% of your battery's charge. Not enough to worry about.

 

Damn...thanks jbrennen....I guess that it's nothing to worry about, especially with the battery charging and the light off with the engine running. I'd rather it not be so bright as to draw attention but bright enough on the dash board to draw the attention of anyone peering in the windows. I think it should be bright enough for that.

ill born...I checked it out. Great location if I can get the wires down to the fuse box , whch I'm sure I can.

I plan to pickup the 12V always-on in the fuse box (cigarette lighter?) somewhere and the 12V ignition in the fuse box (that should be easy) and a ground somewhere under the dash. Any suggestions for where to get these wires in the fuse box and how to attach them. I don't want to tap a wire and I do want to be able to easily pull it out.

 

o ****, i have just crossed paths with an EE!
ill born ->IBEW local 53 (broadcast engineers)

Stock stereo? if not i think i would just tap the aftermarket harness, so you dont screw with the factory wiring, you'll have you're always on 12v, switched 12v, and ground. you might be able to slip small guage wire into the back of your factory radio harness connector if your keeping it stock.

 

When my alarm was installed in my lancer they put the LED in the middle above the cd player. I think it was a good place. You can see it from all angles.

 

I do have factory stereo and I have the factory 6-CD changer coming so it sounds like that option is out. I heard there is some sort of fuse attachment that I can use rather than trying to slide the wire down into the fuse pin. Anyone know where I can get these?

 

I'm running 4 LED's
2 in the front pillars
2 in the side markers on the oustide of the car.

 

fuse taps, ummm you might try parts express or or even JC whitney i cant remember where i have seen them before? they are pretty much a strip of copper that goes around a fuse that you can add a lead too. painless wiring might have em? my advice get the full alarm!!!!!! I personally have not checked, but a lot of auto fuse blocks have a couple of empty spaces you might be able to plug in to. good luckl!!

 

Thanks....I know they are the smaller fuses and I hadn't seen any fuse taps yet for them. I'll have to look. I don't live in an area where it's worth the hassles of a non-factory alarm just yet.

I'm going to check out the fuse chart to see if there is an easy 12V always on I can find like cigarette lighter maybe...


Rickfu is it a real or fake alarm?

 

hahaha rickfu...

it's a real alarm.

 

i have 3 lights for my alarm.

i have 2 varad gothic style LED scanners
and 1 single red LED that came with the alarm.

i have on scanner on the back of the rear view mirror
one scanner on the rear windshield
and i have the LED to the left of the cluster.

if you are planning to drill it in, and i suggest you do if you really want it to look real, drill it into a panel that you can get relpaced for really cheap. that way if u want to get rid of the LED, it won't cost that much to replace the panel.

as for the fuse taps, check out the local auto parts store. i've seen them there. radio shack carries them also.

some constant 12v sourves i can think of is the horn, the brake lights, connect it directly to the battery. i have a power wire going to my passenger cabin to take car of all my power for my aftermarket lighting i use that as a constant. but if i were you i'd choose the horn just cuz nothing really bad will happen if you lose function of the horn, opposed to losing something important like the radio or the brake lights.

 

oops...sorry rockfu...but you have to admit rickfu is funnier even though it was a typo...

Thanks for the suggestions on constant power sources and fuse taps. I really like the tiny panel between the defrosters on the top of the dash. It's a perfect location and easily replaceable.

 

heheh no worries, and I admit, it does sound a lot funnier. wish my name was rick.

I ran my own fused wire strait from the battery for wiring all my video/lighting stuff. really not that hard to do. especially if you already have an amp wire running somewhere. feel free to pm me if you have any questions or anything.

my ultimate suggestions is to just run your own convienent switch that you can place in the cubby or wherever. I think that would be easiest.