Hi Guys,

Does anyone know if the Golf Mk4 TDI 130 has some sort of current drain every 24hrs?

The reason for this is, it's the only reason that my car alarm can go off every day at the same time!

I fitted the alarm myself, a laserline, so I know everything is 100%.

Blaupunkt headunit is face removed, so off. And nothing else in the car draining any power.

Because it is at the same time everyday (and the car is parked in diff positions too!) I can only assume it is something in the car that pulls power every 24hr.....

Anyone have an idea?

Thanks

Al.

First of all have you interrogated the alarm to find out what has triggered it,i.e. doors,boot,bonnet,interior sensors or igntion,if not then try this as it will save a lot of guessing?

The only car I've ever fitted an alarm to that has caused the alarm to trigger after an exact period of time has been Porsche Boxsters and the 911s from the same period when the Boxsters first came out.They had a very clever (or so Porsche thought) system whereby the car put parts of itself to "sleep" after preset periods to save power,with a slightly different sleep cycle for the two different models because of their intended use,the Boxster would trigger the alarm EXACTLY ten minutes to the second after you set it when it went into the first stage of light sleep (or gently dozing).I tried everything and in the end the only way to stop it was to take the main power supply for the alarm which I'd taken from the same place as the factory unit (the same as the CCM in VAG cars) which is inside the car,and take power and earth direct to the car's battery,which cured the problem 100%, never had a problem with Porsches after that.I've never encountered this in any of the 100's of different models of Golfs or other VAG cars I've fitted alarms to.

Neither the alarm or car have a real time clock in them,so don't know it's 9.20 AM or any other time of the day (the dashboard clock is self contained and can't send data back into the car),you say it does it when parked in different places,do you mean when parked miles away or just on the other side of the road? My money is still on something external that happens at that time everyday,or despite what I saied earlier,possibly a faulty alarm.I used to fit a lot of Laserline alarms,but when almost every single one I fitted went wrong through no fault of my own,they got the elbow and now I won't touch them with a bargepole.

Chris.

I'll do the interrogation tomorrow once it does off again....

The car is parked within different spaces outside my flat in the car park. So we are talking metres variation not miles.

I must admit, I have used Laserline for over 10 years and never had a single problem....

Al.

You say that your head unit is turned off, silly theory - but is your amplifier turning off as well (may have some wires mixed up...)??

 Yep, everything is off, incl the amp.

Al.

ninjin:

I'll do the interrogation tomorrow once it does off again....

You don't have to wait unitl it goes off again,it stores the last ten or so triggers for as long as needed.

Chris.

 Sorry, didn't know how to do the interogation thing... But anyway, alarm went off again saturday and then again Sunday. Today I actually sat outside waiting for it to go off. When it sounded, switched it off and went to look at the LED. NO CODES! Not a single flash!

So I guess that means rather than going off due to a sensor, it is going off due to the panic button, or a signal the same as the panic.....  Is this possible?

Because logic says that if the alarm is faulty, there is no internal clock, so no reason to go off exactly the same time everyday. Correct?

Help please!

Al.

 Perhaps it is in a "service mode" or something like that and is waiting to be programmed properly or taken out of the service mode - triggering every 24hours to tell you it isn't programmed properly.

You will probably need to let it sound for a full alarm cycle to store a last trigger code (did the neighbours wonder why you were sitting next to your car just after 9.15 this morning holding your breath and looking at your watch?),it will tell you in the users manual how to interrogate it properly,and some alarms will record panic as a full trigger,so that should be stored as well.
Although it won't have a real time clock in it so it won't know it's 9.20 in the morning,evening or what month it is etc,it will have a clock of sorts as it needs to measure the time from first arming it to letting it be fully armed up,normally no more than one minute to let the air in the car settle down so it doesn't trigger the movement sensors,so there is probably something in the firmware that can tell the number of 24 hour periods that have passed as it may go into a power saving mode when you leave it armed for long periods such as when you go on holiday,maybe for seven days or more as I believe some Cliffords do.

Yesterday I had to look at a Laserline I fitted on a breakdown truck a couple of years ago (24 volts as no one else makes an insurance approved one) because it wasn't making any sound when it went off (only the indicators flashed),I found this was caused by VERY,VERY poor quality soldering of where the wires attach to the piezo electric element in the siren,and this is indicative of the quality control (or lack of it) that I've always experienced with Laserline,so my money is still on a fault with the actual alarm itself if nothing external is actually triggering it.

Chris.

I'm not an expert with cars, rather a software engineer, however, Whilst my friend was flying his RC helicopter we noticed that when we walked closer to certain cars whilst holding the control gear, some car alarms would be activated. This worked at a range of around 10 meters or so.

RC helicopter control gear transmits in the 2.4gHz frequency. The same frequency as most home wireless electronics (wireless network hardware). If there is no clock within the car. Given the fact that unless it was first powered on after install was at 9:20 in the morning - this must be a completely arbitrary time within the confines of your car.

It could possibly be someones wireless network (maybe a 108mbps wireless card as they have a larger range than 54mbps), have a look at the area around you, if you park the car further away from your house (over 100metres) does the alarm still go off at 9:20?

If you park your car elsewhere and the alarm still goes off, then its unlikely a wireless signal (unless you sit next to some major uk repeater :) ). If on the off chance it doesn't sound at 9:20..well, theres a change in your reproducible problem... The next question will be, what do you have that switches on at 9:20, and if not you...which of your neighbours :)

This hypothesis is only based on something i've seen once, but for the effort of moving your car 100-150m down the road at 9:15 - its worth a try :)

Good luck!

I've heard of similar interference before.

I work on Building Sites and one contractor has remote controlled machines, pretty big toys - about 40 tonnes so I imagine their signal is quite strong.   Anyway, while they are working, no one can open their Renault or Peugeot vans remotely!   Both my VW's are unaffected so it could be down to a specific frequency.   Maybe some one switches something on at 9.20 that has the same code as your panic button.

Thanks for all the input guys.

Here's the update.

I drove it yesterday 1/2mile down the road and locked it up prior to the daily siren, and guess what, Zilch, peace and quiet!

So to make sure setting the alram on and off does not cancel the 9.20 siren, this morning I switched the alarm on and off at 9am and at 9.20am siren goes off again.

I'm gonna do one more test by leaving the car somewhere else overnight and going back to it for the 9.20am siren, and listen.....

If it is due to 'outside airbourne' interference, then there's not a lot I can do about it right?  Would changing to a different alarm module, so it uses new remotes which I assume will be a diff frequency to my current remotes sort it out again?

Thanks

Al.

 Strange one - go round all the neighbours asking whose heating time clock is set for 9.20. Anyone with small children who have these remote baby speakers? ours picks up conversations of neighbours several houses away

Some house alarms use remotes.

bouncerMk4:

 Strange one - go round all the neighbours asking whose heating time clock is set for 9.20. Anyone with small children who have these remote baby speakers? ours picks up conversations of neighbours several houses away

Al.

what's the condition of your car battery (age/charge) ? e.g. If you're running a big ICE installation, you might be running the battery into a low state without you knowing it!

It could be on its way out, leading to a false alarm around the same time each day?

We have had problems at the radio control car track/club Im a member of with members car alrams being set off by the spektrum 2.4ghz (spread frequency technolgy) tranmitters, recievers and telementary device. The problem is these sytems cyle frequencies available for use out of a possible 80 or so hence the ability in model motorsport to have races without the crystal changes and cross control due to interfernce from days past anymore, but we assume they might test cycle a poss alarm freqency hence setting it off. So this could be down to a domestic implamentaion of a 2.4ghz spread frequency technology being used but it sure sounds like you car is gettign abused over the airwaves some how or as suggested it could be a lack of charge in your battery.

 Car battery is fine.... I park up at various times during the evening, yet the alarm still goes off at 9.20am every day. If it was the battery going low, then it would not go off at a preset time. What I have done now to isloate the problem is to switch of the current sensing from the alarm system, so any voltage drop will no longer trigger it.

I think it was switched off already (default) but no harm in confirming. If it does go off again, then it's definitely airbourne.

Al.

A lot of this guessing could be saved by finding out what's actually triggering it,try to find an instruction manual online if you don't have the original one and interrogate it to find out the trigger causes it has stored.

Chris.

 I done a diagnostic to see what was triggering it....  Got a bit confused over the led pulses but it's either the last 4 were voltage sensing trigger, or the last 1 was ignition trigger......

I don't think it was ignition trigger as there is not one connected so could only be voltage sensing. Hence the reason to make sure it was switched off.  If it doesn't go off today, then it looks like we may have found the reason......

Al.

It seems likely to me that the alarm is being triggered by an external RF source,

One suggestion I would make is to examine the alarm installation and see if any input wires to the alarm are left unconnected and acting as unwanted aerials. Any unconnected input wire should be connected to 0V (chassis) or +12V according to its function.

If that fails to solve the problem then it will be necessary to add RF decoupling capacitors to all inputs and the battery supply close to the alarm module.