Nothing is easy

[Henn28]

I spent yesterday installing my powered 10” kicker subwoofer in the right rear cubby. First I had to pull out all the oil, belts and sticks of various lengths (to support the windows when the regulators and clips crap out all too often). The install went surprisingly well and the sub adds a ton of depth to my bone stock speakers and amp. However, my alarm siren and arm/dearm “beep” isn’t working any longer. Always something with these cars. Hopefully someone may have seen this issue before and can help with troubleshooting, as this stuff makes me nervous to mess with since I feel I could brick my car somehow screwing around with the security stuff.

I tapped into the OEM alpine harness for the trigger (white wire, pin 10) and ran that to the sub across the back of the car with all the rest of the wire bundles that cross from left to right. Then I initially tried to tap into the positive terminal at the battery on the small nut under the removable cap. Not sure if this is the clamping mechanism, although it’s vertical orientation doesn’t makes sense as a clamp. I hope it isn’t because the stud snapped right off with what seemed like 1nm of force. I’ll deal with that somehow later….then I got smart(er) and used one of the positive terminals from the bus by the left rear air suspension reservoir and ran the wire around to the amp in the cubby. Some time later I had a power light on the amp with the key on and the kenwood booted up. The some time being after I realized I didn’t connect the ground, which I fixed by running it to a convenient stud holding the brake light unit to the frame. I was already using this spot successfully to ground my boyo backups camera.

My RCA cables then got hooked up to the amp and kenwood unit outputs (I had run them previously across the roof when I had the headliner out). Voila! Some great base to go along with Yacht Rock Radio on Sirius.

The only things I can think of are either that the alarm somehow needs the alpine OEM amp or somehow I broke a wire or connection running the trigger or power wire. The alpine pins were pretty corroded and I bent a couple trying to clean them. I got them straight enough (I think) to get all the speakers working again. But maybe I didn’t and somehow the alarm needs the amp? Or, there are lots and lots of wire bundles, connection blocks, etc running around the trunk so maybe I screwed one up.

The lights blink when the alarm is set off, but just no siren. Any thoughts on troubleshooting would be greatly appreciated. Also, a new battery positive cable is crazy money so I’m hoping I can just find the right size nut/bolt to fix my snapping the original off. I haven’t pulled the whole mess out yet to see what I’m dealing with though. Anyone seen this as well?

Power bus I ended up tapping into


Excuse the mess of wiring. Plan is to clean it up once I get the amp and speakers installed at some point.

[80stech]

I think the sirens are a weak spot. There should be a code.

[Henn28]

No codes in the foxwell, and the live data looks good to me. Doors, etc all closed. Not sure what the “terminal” data is about, but no errors displayed. No blown fuses either. The emergency siren test acted like it was working, but no noise at all and no codes. Should have mentioned that, sorry.

[Auto Parts Guy]

Nice! Which box is that? I've got 2 of those 10" Kickers in my avalanche and I like them. I need to get my 10" JL Audio sub and box installed in the X5. Been sitting on the shelf for a couple years now..

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by Auto Parts Guy

Nice! Which box is that? I've got 2 of those 10" Kickers in my avalanche and I like them. I need to get my 10" JL Audio sub and box installed in the X5. Been sitting on the shelf for a couple years now..

It’s a Kicker HS10. My first sub that I’ve put in a car and I wish I would have put one in all my cars to date. I’m not a big car audio guy, but the difference in overall sound quality is pretty amazing.

[Henn28]

…back what they took away in this case.

My wife drove the X5 this morning and casually mentioned to me that the alarm beep was working fine. Sure enough the X fixed itself for once. Makes me enjoy the base from the Kicker sub that much more knowing that for once one project didn’t spawn another.

[crystalworks]

Originally Posted by Henn28

…back what they took away in this case.

My wife drove the X5 this morning and casually mentioned to me that the alarm beep was working fine. Sure enough the X fixed itself for once. Makes me enjoy the base from the Kicker sub that much more knowing that for once one project didn’t spawn another.

Awesome. Nice when things take care of themselves. Curious, was it as simple as what I mentioned in the PM.

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

Awesome. Nice when things take care of themselves. Curious, was it as simple as what I mentioned in the PM.

I really appreciate the PM.

I have no idea actually why it started working. I checked all the doors, hood and trunk, and ran the foxwell live data to confirm everything was registering as closed/shut and no codes. It just started working for her when she unlocked the car at the grocery store she said. Won’t be surprised if it fails again soon.

I suspect an intermittent short somewhere and was thinking of checking the continuity and resistance of the siren. Now it’s working so I don’t know if it would tell me anything useful.

I’ve now done all the “easy” upgrades to the sound system so a kenwood amp and kicker speakers are next. I’ve got your excellent write up and pics bookmarked. The car will be pulled apart for a few days, so I’m thinking of combining the sound system work with the seat upholstery and possibly the brush bar fabrication this fall. My third car’s AC is toast and not worth fixing so I’m going to do all this not before mid October when it cools down around here.

[80stech]

I think the siren is actually a module with a backup battery in it. Likely the battery is on it's last legs.

[Henn28]

I was thinking of getting a replacement siren and popping it in, but while they they aren’t too expensive, they aren’t a no-brained in terms of cost. At least it’s easy to get to, unlike the horns. Also, is it as simple as disconnect the battery and swapping out the siren, or will that be interpreted by the system as a theft and set off the alarm?

I have a used battery + cable end on order to replace mine that I snapped the clamping stud and nut off of so will have the battery disconnected soon anyway.