How can I fly like an eagle when I work with turkeys???????? Friday our other "installer" put in an alarm/remote start. It worked. Miracles will never cease. Monday the customer came back and wanted the dome light supervision to work. No problem right? Wrong. The owner immediately tells our installer to hook the white wire (dome light supervision wire on the alarm) to the white wire (dome light trigger in the car) One problem, the alarm can only handle 200 Milli amps, the dome light passes at least 10 amps. Thats 50 times more than the module can handle. It fried. Is reading a lost art? It clearly shows a picture in the install directions of the domelight supervision hooked to the car via a relay. A Picture. No real reading needed. There was a picture in the install manual, a PICTURE. I have a headache. The owner doesnt know any better, the installer doesnt know any better, I need a vacation.
There are just some things an installer should know. The owner has an Associates Degree in electronics. No excuse
I have my alarm's trigger wire tapped into an interior light under the dash, it has been like that since i got the car and installed the alarm. I've had no problems with it, lucky i guess. Where else could i hook that trigger wire though? I wanted it that way because it used to work when you just lift the door handle the interior lights would come on and trigger the alarm. Now it does sometimes and other times you have to open the door to trigger the lights.
The trigger wire only looks for a ground (negative trigger) or a voltage (positive trigger). Current in this case does not matter. But when we want to turn on the dome light, then current matters. Many (most) alarms do not have built in relays that can handle the current. Something any professional installer should know.
Ok, well the light i tapped into hasn't had a bulb in it so maybe that's why it's working for me. But where would a safe place be to hook this trigger wire to? I do hear a relay kicking on and off in the alarm module. I'm pretty sure it needs a positive 12 volt trigger, it's written on the module.
A trigger wire is not a control wire, two completely different things. A trigger wire only looks for a specific thing, a ground or voltage for example. On a trigger wire current does not matter. On a control wire current matters. If I am trying to control the dome light, I need to take into account the current going through the circuit. You would think so.
My alarm also has a shock sensor and it detects any drop or spike in voltage when it is armed. So if any wire is cut while it's armed in pretty well the whole electrical system it will go off. It's just a cheap alarm but i thought that feature is descent!
