Security System Installation

I purchased a basic Crimeguard alarm that uses pin switches on the doors, trunk, and hood, and a glass-break sensor. Around the University, car alarms with shock sensors are always going off when pedestrians get too close or a car with loud bass is nearby. I bought an alarm without a shock sensor for that reason. It’s also nice to not have to turn off my alarm if I get to my car and want to lean/sit on it while I talk to someone. Until I get smooth wheels, the pin switches and the glass-break sensor have me completely covered: a shock sensor would be redundant. This alarm came with remote lock/unlock and I added a starter kill option. I’ve programmed the alarm to unlock the doors when I disarm or when I turn off the ignition, and likewise they lock when I arm the system or turn the ignition on. Another pretty nice feature is flashing parking lights that stay lit for 30 seconds after I disarm so I can walk straight to the car in the dark.

I installed the system myself because I like saving money and accomplishing things like this on my own. First I looked around under the dash for mounting spots, good routes for wire, etc. In my first car, I installed a cheapo alarm and I didn’t really pay attention to the placement of things. I learned from that car that little individual wires running every which-way are messy and hard to debug. So I wanted a clean install this time.

I couldn’t find any large space in which I could easily mount the alarm brain, so I did something different—maybe I’m the first to do this, maybe it’s nothing new. I put the control unit in my glovebox. I simply pulled the box out of the dash, drilled two holes in the back, and used plastic ties to secure the control unit. The wires run cleanly out the backside of the box.

Once the glovebox was back in the dash, I ran the wires together (using electric tape every foot or so to bind them neatly together) behind the heating unit and behind the pedals (under the carpet) to the driver’s side kick panel. Mounting the brain on the passenger side requires the purchase of a roll of wire (the 18 or 20 gauge stuff available at auto parts stores), because the wires don’t quite reach.

The siren was also difficult to place. At first glance there is just no place in the engine compartment (coming from the top) to mount. I’m sure it could be mounted from underneath (low on the firewall), but I can't get under the car while it's on the ground and I don’t have ramps, jackstands or even a floor jack with me here at school. There is one more place, however. Take out a couple of the bolts holding the black plastic “engine undercover” on the right side in front of the wheel. There behind the bumper, under the battery, is a big open space completely devoted to housing one of the horns. I was able to drill holes in the slab of metal that holds the battery and mount the siren to it, upside-down. Here’s another place that extra wire comes in handy—it’s probably about a ten foot run from a convenient hole in the firewall to this location.

Connecting other necessary wires for doorlocks, pin switches, and power sources is a trial-and-error process in most cases. I bought an inexpensive multimeter to check wires for voltage (to make sure I had the right wire). For instance, several of the wires that are tapped into run together with a bunch of around 40 wires. One of these necessary wires is a green wire with a black stripe. There are five wires with those colors in this bunch, and only one of them is the correct one. Aside from these wires that connect in the kick panel, some will need to be run up to the steering column so that they can meet wires in the ignition harness. Below is a table of circuits you might need, the color of the suggested Honda wire you can use, and the location of that wire. Once again, you may get the wrong wire even if the colors match, so test the wire before you do any splicing.