# Sticky  Alarm/remote start basic information



## jaggerwild

Hello all!
Welcome to the forum :beerchug:
I thought I'd start a thread with "BASIC" information witch is pretty much universal with all car/truck installation of Remote Start/Alarm Systems.

This is a BASIC starting point, please note: NOT ALL cars are the same! Example: I have a 03 Chevy malibu. When I installed the remote starter, the under dash had little room, on this car is was easier to remove the factory radio. Access the main harness witch is on the dashboard not the steering column, I then put the brain behind the radio as well. 

Most cars have the ignition on the steering column(a lot of the newer cars/trucks are moving that), So you will start at the steering column. The alarm has three main wires witch need to be connected here(remote starts have more), but they both need to connect here. An alarm has a "Constant 12 volt" usually a red wire witch will go to the MAIN WIRE HARNESS of the ignition system. Also they have a yellow wire witch is IGNITION that needs to see power while the key is in the on/run position and shows power during crank! And finally the alarm has a black wire witch is ground and needs to be screwed right to the metal part of the dash/steering column. Make sure with a test light the metal shows good ground, as some steering columns are isolated from the dashboard and don't have a good earth(I've had many alarm's come back cause the wire was screwed into metal but the metal showed no ground). Now the remote starters have more wires witch need to go to the ignition systems main harness(on alarms i electrical tape the power, ground, and ignition wires together, make it look factory original) always leave the ground wire longer!!! So on remote starts it starts to get tricky, as the number of wires going to the factory main harness has almost doubled. Not only do you have the ground, 12volt constant, and ignition wires now you also have wires that are going to simulate the factory wires as well. what i mean here is, you will need to find the accessory wire on the steering column/main harness. The way to find this is tricky as it will only show 12 volts power when the heater/Air conditioner is turned on(note: it will never show power during crank of the starter) an easy way to know if you have ignition or accessory! You will need to tape into this wire so the remote stater can feed the car power and warm the car while it is running, or cool the car in the summer months with A/C. Remote starter's we will also run the "starter" wire from the remote unit to the main harness of the car/truck, as it will need to feed the starter with 12 volts. Easy way to find this use a test light, prob the main harness wires for one that only shows power during crack of the stater(note: some auto's have secondary starter wires witch also need to see 12 volts during crack). Some cars/trucks have two accessory wires that need to have 12 volts when running to make the A/C-heater unit work.

OK boys and girls its break time,
Sit back digest what you have learned here. I'm not done by a long shoot, I want to take my time and compile this so that is is of max effect for all users. AGAIN this is a basic starting point and by no means even close to what the real thing is like, but it does give you some idea of what is entailed in doing a remote stater/alarm system.
NOTE: when you work on your own car you do so "at your own risk", we do not ever want someone to get hurt!!!!!!! So know that if you have a $50,000 car and you wanna safe $200 bucks, after it is all said and done you may wanna pay someone that does this type of work all the time to do it for you. Also I SUGGEST VERY STRONGLY if you do want to do this work that you use a quality TEST LIGHT, not just a light that has a bulb some wire and a porb($3 dollars) I mean a QUALITY LIGHT witch may cost you around $25-$50 bucks and is made for working on cars. My test light costs as much as a remote start, I can feed 12 volts with it. When i prob a wire with it, it tells me what the wires voltage is at that given time :example 14.4 volts (witch is 12 volts constant with the car running).
Feel free to ask questions here!! there are no dumb questions, except the one you wont ask! Also if you see any errors or want to help in this feel free, I am by no means a know it all and I too am still learning at the tender young age of 48 :exclaim:


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## jaggerwild

No suggestions, questions? Nothing, a lot of people are reading it, does anyone think photos would help them out? Like some one who has never done one, if you could answer me even if you don't plan on doing one. 

UPDATE: My girl totaled her car, some old guy ran a red light never hit the brakes............ So she has purchased a new car for her, its a dodge 2010 Caliber witch should be fun as I've never touched one(so we can all learn together). This will require a bypass kit witch will enable the factory things like the factory shut down, radio, locks, etc to work while the remote start is in place.


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## boswack

Hey jaggerwild , im currently doing my first alarm install and i got a few questions. I cant seem to find my accessory wire , is it the wire thats only hot when my ac is running? I have found my starter , ignition and constant 12v wires under my dash but confused a bit on which wires from my alarm goes where.

viper 5904 wiring from the alarm

h3/1 pink + ignition 1 input/output
h3/2 red/white +fused 30a ignition 2 /flex relay input 87
h3/3 orange +accessory output 
h3/4 violet +starter output
h3/5 green +starter input 
h3/6 red +fused 30a ignition 1 input
h3/7 pink/white +ignition 2 flex relay output
h3/8 pink/black + flex relay input 87a key side (if equipped) of flex relay
h3/9 red/black + fused 30a accessory/ starter input

for example theres 4 different ignition wires in the alarm harness and i only have one under my dash to hook too. Same with starter wires also.. Also im assuming that i wont need to hook up the ones that say flex relay because i have no relays with the alarm just harness , is this correct? Sorry for the ton of questions and apologize if they seem too stupid but this is my first. Thanks very much


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## jaggerwild

Sorry it took so long to reply, youll need a cheat sheet for the car. They can be found @the12volt.com


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