Hey all,

Got an alarm question for ya. I have a Prestige with Shock Sensor on my Acura. (Yeah I know this is XOC forum)
I have turned down the sensitivity of it because it kept going off when birds took a crap on it.

My question is, since its a module, i can see how it hooks up to the brain. I see 2 fuses next to the brain and one seems to be for the shock sensor. If I pull that out, will the alarm still work but without the shock sensor?
Its been thundering a lot lately here in the East and I`m tired of the alarm going off...
I wanna try to do this without going back to the alarm place, it seems like something I can figure out with good advice.
What do you guys think?

Indy

One piece module? I mean, the sensor is built in or not? If it is, you may not be able to disconnect it without hacking it.

If it's an external sensor, the trigger wire will be blue or green (someimtes BOTH in the case of dual-zone) generally... you can cut either or both of them. FYI - The red is power, the black is ground. I'm not sure I've ever seen an external sensor with a fuse on it's power line however, at least not one that came bundled with the alarm module. If you added an aftermarket or additional sensor on to an existing alarm, you would always fuse it however...

If it's internal, you may try taking the brain apart and defeating the sensor. You could possibly clip the wire leading to the piezo chip sensor, or bend a spring back for a standard sensor, or remove the magnet on the rubber support, depending on the sensor technology used.

Tough to say, as Prestige has a lot of different models and the designs change quite often.
-=RB

rb42,

Wow thanks for the feedback. After reading your post I went to check it out. This is what I jotted down.
It's definitely aftermarket because I got it installed after I got the car at some kids house. I asked him to install a motion sensor. I remember when buying it, he said the sensor was underneath/near my stick shift.
Sure enough when I followed the brain, it went to another box that said Shock Sensor on it.
The wires that went from the brain to the shock sensor box were: red/green/blue/black.
It went to some sort of white connection, I dont know how many pins since I didnt pull it out.
But that same connection also looked like it was going to my stick shift where the sensor probably was residing in.
Also, between the shock sensor box and the brain box, I saw 2 fuses, Orange and Blue.
The model number of the Prestige alarm is:
APS25KB.

I know that was a mouthful, but I hope I described the setup enough??
Basically, I just want to disable the shock/motion sensor part as it goes off WAY too many times. I tried turning the knob on the shock sensor box counterclockwise but it was still sensitive.

Will pulling that little white connector resolve this issue? Since I dont know anything about alarms, will this trigger anything in the brain that will cause it to have to be reprogrammed again?

Thanks again for any help!

Indy

rb42,

I was able to find the installation manual in PDF form. I am looking it over right now. Do you want a copy of it too?

Indy

If the shock sensor harness has it's own little plug (4pin usually) you can just unplug it versus clipping the blue/green wires. Judging from the online install guide, yours does, so you can just unplug the 4pin connector from the side.

If the sensor's blue/green wires connect to a larger connector, one that also has wires like Ground (black), +12V battery (red), purple (ford+ doorpins), etc. etc then I would just cut the blue/green wires near the sensor.

The sensor will still have power, but it's a minor amount of current draw. Be sure to leave yourself room to reconnect it later (leave a couple inches of wire on either side), and make sure the cut wires cannot short to ground, which would trigger the alarm.

There is another option... move the sensor to a more solid place in the truck. Something attached directly to the frame is often less sensitive than when it's attached to a plastic bracket. You could also be detecting the shifter vibrating, or something around the sensor. One of the more popular places to mount a shock sensor is zip-tied to the steering column (on a shaft cover around the column that DOES NOT move, of course. ). Last, but not least, sometimes the sensors are directional.. turning them 90 degrees may help improve their performance.

Personally, I like the high dollar ones, like a clifford Intellisensor (uses DSP to analyse detected vibration, triggering on an impact only, not vibration). They were expensive ($100!) but you could park next to a diesel train engine and not false, yet hitting the door with your fist would trigger the alarm. Plus you can change their sensitivity in 30 seconds by doing little more than pushing a button and hitting the car at the level you want it to trigger on...

But, if you monkey with them enough, the cheaper sensors will work just fine.

Good luck..
-=RB

rb42,

I ended up just unplugging the 4pin connector and everything works just fine. Just to make sure I opened the door while unlocked and the alarm went off. But now it doesnt go off if a bird takes a dump on my car! Such a releive, now I can sleep at night without having the alarm button next to me.
Thanks for the help!

Indy

Just remember, next time you hear your alarm, it's time to grab the gun.. cause someone's just opened up your X.

I did a little customization on my other car along those lines... if the shock set it off, it was just siren. If the alarm was going off and the door was open, the horn also honked. That way, from a distance, I could tell if it was a nuisance alarm, or someone screwing with my car. Never got to see it in a real situation, fortunately.

-=RB