Rep Power: 787

What would I have to do to add up to 2 additional shock sensors and a second siren to my alarm system?

What all would I need for hardware, and how would I go about installing it?

 
Rep Power: 339

you can dasychain all the sensors into one.

lets say your alarm came with door trigger only. its a negative switch input wire on teh alarm.

now buy three shock sensors, two procs, a hood pin, and wire up the trunk pinswitches. you can wire them all up to the same alarm input.

the only benefit to having separate inputs for alarm triggers are separate zones, so you know what got triggered if the alarm goes off, and dual stage shock sensors, so itll chirp or full blown siren.

i dont see the point in installing multiple shock sensors, one is good for the entire car.

as to teh second siren, you have to be very careful. not many know this, but clifford almost issued a recall for their older alarms, the siren would draw lots of current, and in many alarms the brain actually caught fire. Installers were warned ot add a 3 amp fuse inline to the siren to prevent this from happening.

so if you daisychain a second siren, i dont know what will happen. maybe someone else here knows. but definitely be careful

 
Rep Power: 787

I will deal with the siren later then, I will make sure to add a fuse just to be safe. That's good information.

What exactly is the proc that you are talking about? Short for something else I am guessing?

 
Rep Power: 339

proximity sensor.

number of cars saved by a proximity sensor: 3

number of people woken pissed off at 4 in the morning due to a proc sensor set to sensitive: 3 million

why do you want to have three shock sensors? is one not enough?

 
Rep Power: 787

The shock sensor that was installed by the shop was placed under the dash on the left side of the car, making it only acceptably sensitive, particularly to the windows and door handle on the drives side. Have to turn the sensor up so high to get it to pick up any activity on the passenger side or trunk that it is ridiculously sensitive on the drivers side.

I want to install another in the same spot on the passenger side, or perhaps even back behind the door where it would be close to the 2 side windows and the door handle, and then another on the trunk lid near the lock and latch so it will go off when touched.

Proxy sensors would be good, but by the time they are inside it's too late. My alarm would have already gone off if the doors or trunk were opened anyway so it's quite pointless. A proximity sensor would be more suited to a vehicle such as say a convertible or jeep, a vehicle that the interior is easily accessible because of the soft top or whatever else.

 
Rep Power: 787

How do shock sensors connect to the alarm? 1 wire connection? 2, 3, 4, 5, 6?

How would I go about daisy chaining them, would I need something similar to a relay to chain them off of? or just hard wire them by splicing the wires to each other?

 
Rep Power: 339

youd just splice the wires to each other.

I remember my shock sensor was a 5 conductor sensor, there was power and ground, then maybe an arm trigger, then it had two outputs, it was dual stage. chirped when a cat jumped on my hood, and went all out when the car was hit hard.

I would expect three or four wires, three min, two for power and one for output. power is a snap, then output would go to the alarm trigger on the brain, its already being used by the other shock sensor, just splice into it for as many shocks as you use

 
Rep Power: 787

The guy at the shop mentioned something like I would need an isolator or something along those lines?

Any truth to that?

 
Rep Power: 339

maybe.

i have no idea how any feedback into the shock sensors could possibly do any damage to the system or the sensors, but if you want to isolate the sensors, its a simple task. simply place a diode inline the alarm trigger wires of each shock sensor. this will allow the shock sensor to trigger the alarm, but no signal along the wirepath to the alarm could feed back into the shock sensor.

is it required? i dunno. if they say it is, maybe. it certainly couldnt hurt, at any rate, and diodes are cheap at radioshack. itd just be another pain in the neck to physically do it. wasted time.