How to tell a quality car alarm from a cheap one and find an installer

For those of you looking to purchase a car alarm for your vehicle, this guide will help you spot the good from the bad. This guide will also tell you the best way to find a car alarm installer and how to avoid potential problems.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. When looking for a car alarm, most people nowadays look on the web. The internet is filled with website selling all kinds of car alarms and car alarm accessories and you're sure to find a bargain here and there. In the past car alarms were pretty basic. All doors protected with shock sensor and a loud siren.
   Today, car alarms have come a long way. Some car alarms now allow you to remote start your car from the comfort of your home while other alarms will send a page to your key chain remote alerting you of an intrusion and while these alarms max out at 3000 ft paging range from car to remote, New GSM based alarms will call your cell phone and even allow you to listen in. With a push of a button from your phone, you can even shut down your car's engine and talk to the person stealing your car. New advancements in car alarm technology will soon incorperate GPS features that you can track via cell phone.
   To see samples of these car alarms, go to http://www.asianwolf.com/caralarms.htm

2. When looking for a car alarm, some people either buy direct from a dealer, purchase from a car alarm shop, or buy online. There are thousands of different kinds of car alarms with different brands. So how can you tell the quality of an alarm system?
   First look at the wiring or wiring harness. Quality car alarms use thick gauge wires while cheaper one use very thin wires. The thinner the wire the better the chance that wire will burn out. The thicker the wire the better it is able to handle the needed electrical current.

3. Also look at the wiring diagram. Almost all of the high quality car alarms out there use the same universal color coding while cheaper brands have it different. By having the same universal color coding, an experience installer could just about install any car alarm in a short amount of time. If the coding is different, then the installer will have to go back and forth with the installation manual to figure out where each wire needs to go. This wastes precious installation time and will run up your bill if he charges by the hour.
   
   Here how the wiring should be coded:
   Red= 12+ Positive
   Black= Negative Ground
   Yellow= Ignition Wire
   White= Parking Lights
   Brown= Siren
   Blue= Sensor Input or Shock Sensor
   Orange= Negative when Armed
   Violet= Door Lock
   Purple= Door lock
   
   These are the basic wire connections on the main harness. Alarm system have more wires but I listed only the ones you should look for.

Tips & Warnings

• Look at the remote and the alarm brain itself. If it has sharp or rough edges or is made of cheap breakable plastic beware.
• Most alarm shops will carry the lowest quality alarms as it is inexpensive for them to buy and gives them the best profit margin. If your bringing an alarm you purchased online to a shop beware of the old switcheroo. The shop owner may look at it and tell you it's junk or low quality and then try to sell you one of his supposedly better quality alarms. Also, have your alarm installed by a professional alarm shop. Mechanics, electricians, and friends do not qualify as a professional shop so please steer clear of them. Remember, a mechanic can fix you car, an electrician can fix or install your home electrical system, A friend is just friend, but a professional car alarm installer has years of experience and has damaged so many cars and burned so many car alarms that now He knows what not to do. A mechanic an electrician or a friend will not know what not to do.

Resources

• Car Alarm Forum
• Car Alarm Supplier
• Car Alarm Manufacturer
• Car Alarm Blog

[Blackbear]

on 3/8/2008 Good to know! Well done article.