Viper Alarm Install - Need some pointers

So last Friday night, I took my girl to a movie. Came out of the theater to find that my truck had been broken into and cleaned out. They took my stereo, amp, two 10" subs and the box they were mounted in.

They punched out the passenger door lock cylinder, which effectively circumvented the factory alarm.

This is the 3rd time this has happened in the last 5 years or so, but they never got away with as much as they did this time. Regardless, I figured it's time to get a good alarm setup.

After doing some research and talking with some local installers, I bought a Viper system off ebay (Viper 5701) and am going to try to install it myself.

I do have experience with installing GPS systems that had remote starter disables, but they weren't nearly as complex as what I think I'm getting into. I've already pulled the knee panel thing that's under the steering wheel (not sure what you would call that) and started scoping out wiring harnesses. I also already have printed out all the connector views for the ignition harness and the 3 BCM harnesses that are under there. I'm under the impression that those 4 harnesses are the only things that I will need to tie into. I also got an idatalink transponder bypass (ADS-TBSL PL) from the local shop I had talked to (they said I would need it to communicate with the truck's keyless entry, to make the locks work with the alarm system.) I've also downloaded manuals off the web for each device.

Overall, I feel like I have a basic understanding of what I need to do. I guess I'm looking for some advice or tips from others that have more experience than I do. Is there something important I'm missing? or anything else I might need to know.

I'll be attempting the install early next week (Sun or Mon most likely) and at that point, alot more questions may be cropping up.

Thanks for any help or tips, I'm gonna need it. :lol:

What year is you truck?

The one main thing that I will say is use a tach signal don't rely on there voltage sensing setting even though viper is the best one using that technology, I sill would rather have a tach signal to tell it to turn the starter off rather than relying on voltage.

And soldier all of your connections, no t-taps scotch locks or butt connectors because all of those can make for unreliable performance. Also I would use scotch super 33 tape to cover all of my connections.

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Originally Posted by dropem

What year is you truck?

The one main thing that I will say is use a tach signal don't rely on there voltage sensing setting even though viper is the best one using that technology, I sill would rather have a tach signal to tell it to turn the starter off rather than relying on voltage.

And soldier all of your connections, no t-taps scotch locks or butt connectors because all of those can make for unreliable performance. Also I would use scotch super 33 tape to cover all of my connections.

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It's a 2000 ECSB. As far as the connections go, I had planned on using t-taps for all the small gauge wires, and then soldering the larger ignition wires for the remote start. Enough people have told to solder everything that I may have to do it that way. I don't want to be chasing wiring problems a year from now, that's for sure. I'm under the impression that a lot of wires on those harnesses you just tap into with the viper harness, leaving the original connections intact. What is the best way to tap into these wires and still use solder to do it? I wanted to use the t-taps to avoid cutting the factory wires as much as possible.

Thanks for the help.

I wouldn't cut the wire i would just strip the shielding off of about a 1 inch section and wrap the viper wires around the factory wire and then solider them on that way covered with tape.

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Originally Posted by dropem

I wouldn't cut the wire i would just strip the shielding off of about a 1 inch section and wrap the viper wires around the factory wire and then solider them on that way covered with tape.

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Along the same lines I was thinking just now.

I'm gonna be making sure to read through the manuals really well over the weekend, assuming ups drops it off on time, and will probably have more questions then too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dropem

I wouldn't cut the wire i would just strip the shielding off of about a 1 inch section and wrap the viper wires around the factory wire and then solider them on that way covered with tape.

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Totally agree with this butt remember the physical connection is better than solder. What I mean is make sure the wire is wrapped up good before soldering

Long story short I had a Viper alarm "professionally" installed about 10 years ago, It worked for about a month and then all kinds of stuff started happening with it. We ended up just unhooking it, because I kept having a dead battery. When I took it all apart I found out they used all wire taps on it, there were dozens of wires done like this and boy did it make me mad!!!

Me personally I wouldn't use wire taps on a go kart...Solder solder solder

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Originally Posted by Slowcrewcab

Totally agree with this butt remember the physical connection is better than solder. What I mean is make sure the wire is wrapped up good before soldering

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Right

Solder seems to be the way to go. Now I just need to find time this weekend to brush up on my soldering skills.

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Originally Posted by NAREJEPP

Right

Solder seems to be the way to go. Now I just need to find time this weekend to brush up on my soldering skills.

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It's even funner upside down in dash I use to do it I worked at a audio and alarm/remote start place but ive forgot most of it. It's been highschool days in 05 lol

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Originally Posted by Slowcrewcab

It's even funner upside down in dash I use to do it I worked at a audio and alarm/remote start place but ive forgot most of it. It's been highschool days in 05 lol

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I can imagine, I'm not exactly looking forward to it
Definitely ready to get it done though. I got a new stereo for a deal, but am hesitant to buy or install any other replacements until I'm confident they will be safe

Thanks again for the help

Another thing I just thought of...

What's the best way to mount the shock sensor for the system?

I know it's supposed to be mounted to bare metal, I'm assuming metal on the body of the truck would be best, but does it matter where?

I would just recommend mounting it to the dash frame where the under dash screws into.

Ok, I'm stuck.

Got most of the wiring done, and am at the testing stage.

I'm having 2 problems. One is that the door locks do not engage/disengage with the arming/disarming of the system. Looking at the manual, the output wires for locking and unlocking from the viper unit are small, and do not supply the 12VDC that I need at the BCM where I hooked them up. They are hooked up to the first (left side) BCM harness. the unlock output from the viper to the white (A3) wire on the harness (labeled: Power Door Lock Relay Feed - Unlock Coil). The Lock output is connected to the light blue (A4) wire in the BCM harness (labeled: Power Door Lock Relay Feed - Lock Coil)

The only other possibility I can see is on the second (middle) BCM harness, there is a wire (A4) labeled: Power Door Lock Relay Control - LF. Any help here would be great.


My second problem is with the remote start.

I've hooked up a tach signal wire, as well as changed the engine checking method and still have the same results. The truck will crank, and just as it starts, it dies. I get the same result if I turn the key on and try to activate the remote start. If I use the key to start the truck, it starts right away and runs just like normal.

The only thing I can think is that it has something to do with my Remote Start harness. My wiring is as follows.

Viper---------Truck
H3/1 (PINK) Ignition 1 Input/Output----------A2 (PINK) Fused Ignition Positive Voltage
H3/2(RED/WHITE) Fused Ignition 2 / Flex Relay Input 87-----------A4(ORANGE) Fused Battery Positive Voltage
H3/3(ORANGE) Accessory Output--------------(ORANGE) Ignition Positive Voltage
H3/4(VIOLET) Starter Output-----------------------Truck side of starter crank wire
H3/5(GREEN) Starter Input-------------------------Starter side of starter crank wire
H3/6(RED) Fused Ignition 1 Input-------------------B1(RED) Fused Battery Positive Voltage
H3/7(PINK/WHITE) Ignition 2 / Flex Relay Output------------(ORANGE) Ignition Positive Voltage
H3/8(PINK/BLACK) Flex Relay input 87A key side (if required) of Flex Relay-------------Not Connected
H3/9(RED/BLACK) Fused Accessory/Starter Input--------------B1(RED) Fused Battery Positive Voltage

Also related to the remote start

H2/9(VIOLET/WHITE) Tachometer Input-----------------(BLACK/WHITE) Injector Signal (I wired this to the signal wire of one of the fuel injectors, just not sure which number the injector is)
H2/17(BROWN) Brake Shutdown Input-------------------Wired to brake pedal switch (gets 12V when the brake pedal is pressed)
H2/18(BLACK/WHITE) Neutral Safety Input---------------Common Ground

I've been using the install manual plus the following link to determine some of my connections.

http://forums.trailvoy.com/showthread.php?t=65742

Also, all connections are soldered, so everything should have a good connection.

Any help would be great, I'm gonna keep playing with it today, and see what I can come up with.
Thanks

PS, can anyone tell me where I could find the controller for the factory alarm? As of now, there are 2 wires on the viper unit ( oem alarm disarm output and OEM alarm arm output) that are not connected. The guide shows using a relay with each wire to send the 12V signal to each wire (the disarm wire and arm wire) of the factory alarm system. I just haven't found where to hook those up.

bump

anybody?

Had the same alarm on my truck, after about 4 months the 2way feature quit working

Alot of the door locks had to have a relay added to them I I remember right. And on the starting does it start then die or almost starts while cranking?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Slowcrewcab

Alot of the door locks had to have a relay added to them I I remember right. And on the starting does it start then die or almost starts while cranking?

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Hard to tell the difference here. It fires like it is going to run (like if I was using the key, I would let off of it) but then doesn't actually run. That is when I set it to no engine checking, and it is just running off a programmed crank time.

Using the Tach signal, it will fire the same way, not run, but keep cranking until I shut it back off. I'm thinking that it is something to do with the factory security or something like that. If I use the key, it fires right up, no problems.


Anyway, I talked to a friend of mine, and he knows a guy that works at a different audio/alarm shop here in town. I called and talked to him, and he is double checking my wiring for me...(basically for free)
I should get it back from him in good shape, and I'll post what the problem was, and how he fixed it.

I believe on a viper system it should be able to trigger your door looks straight out of the brain of the alarm. AS far as the truck Almost starting it is your VATS (Vehicle Anti Theft System) kicking in because it is not seeing the electrical resistance of the key cylinder being turned with a key in it and it is shutting off the fuel pump.

Here is how to disable that.
http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/o...erado/Vats.jpg


AS far as the door locks what wires are you tapping into and where are they located?

Ok, I got everything sorted out.

The guy that fixed me up said that I had everything right, I just hadn't bypassed the VATS (as mentioned above) and the door locks were trying to trigger on a negative charge instead of a positive one. He swapped out my bypass module for one that was set up with the right door lock configuration. Not sure what kind it is, but apparently the other bypass module that I picked up was less specific to my truck year and model, and to make it work I would have had to run a pair of relays (one for each door).

Thanks again to those who helped out, glad to be done with it.

Now I'm going to start shopping for a new audio setup! :lol: