Well folks, I decided to upgrade my alarm system because I'm getting paranoid. I've got too big a pile of junk in my hunk of junk.

So....without getting into brands here, I just had one bitch of a day working on my car.

For this install, I've actually paired up with a professional local installer, as I've never done an alarm/starter combo in a BMW. Well neither had he to be honest, but he knew a lot more than I did about how to prepare for, and actually intall the alarm.

So with my expert hands dismantling the dash and locating multicolored wires, he was able to get a lot done....in the first 9 hours.

Then we pluged in the brain, and things went down hill from there.

Just to backtrack for a moment, BMWs require a lot of extra work. I was amazed at how many phone calls to tech service, and how many wiring diagrams and color code sheets were printed off the net. What really amazed me, was that many of the wire colors were different from information source to information source. It just made the whole process more tedious, as we had to test all kinds of wires for functionality before soldering in a new wire, relay, or switch.

So...at about 530pm we plugged in the brain,(or attempted to) and we started noticing funny things. As a start, the supplied antenea connector didn't match the connector on the brain. An optional proximity sensor also had a connectivity problem. An installer from another local shop (friend of my installer) was called, and he brought spare connectors from his toolbox. So we got the brain connected finally, and found that both the remotes worked. For those that don't understand this, I'll explain. The alarm brain has to recognize the remotes, in other words, someone had already programed the brain for the provided remotes. Then we noticed that the provided remotes were not new....

So at this point, there are 3 of us at 6pm in a shop scratching our heads....(this is the top alarm model from this brand...and these were not things you want to be finding out)

Then we started trying to setup the brain...

This lead to troubleshooting every wire, connector, power source, and relay we'd spent the previous 8-9 hours installing. At about 10pm, we concluded we had a bad brain.

So, to review the facts.

It appears the distributer sent the shop a used/defective brain for a BMW. It was in fact the wrong brain model # as well, meaning the model # on the packaging box didn't match the model # on the brain. The remotes were both used, the wrong FM antenea was in the box, and the wiring codes from the manufacturer didn't match my car. (or after checking with another installer in another province, no 3 other series BMW)

After spending 14 hours with 2 experienced installers trying to install my alarm, I am one pissed off customer of one brand of alarm.

Did I mention I'm moving to another province tommorow, and my car is still in pieces at the shop?


Going for a walk,

Adam

 

Just got back from the shop.

I'm calmer now.

 

Yup

 

I know this is a really frustrating situation, dude, I've been there myself. I sincerely wish you the best in getting it straightened out.

That said, I found this pretty funny:

 

Well Adam this should be old news, has it been resolved?

 

Adam...............Compustar ?