Adjusting sensitivity of Alarm

[Limited Edition]

Hey..
I think most people would want to lower the sensitivity of the perimeter alarm. It's terrible. Last night my friend and i went out for dinner and both parked far away from the crowded parking lot. His A4 1.8T with full 2 1/2" exhuast all the way out set off my alarn constantly when his car is at IDLE!

I want to lower the senstivity but i can't seem to find it in the manual or in the security system manual. All i found was the 'override' button but nothing to do with the sensitivity.

As expected when i had came back from dinner, my alarm honked 4 times. It has went off again, maybe because of a drive by.

Where is it located?
Thanks!

 

[Sir Nuke]

I will take a shot at this.....IF your alarm is like the ones that were installed in the '02's' and its made by CODEALERT.....

take the drivers seat and move it all the way back.....take a flashlight and lay on your back in the floor....look up and to the OUTSIDE of the steering column and you will see a little box that is ZIP TIED to the harness up there....you may even be able to see the CODE ALERT sticker on it....near one corner there is a small knob sticking out of the box.....if you turn it COUNTER CLOCKWISE it decreases the sensitivity of the shock sensors input.....back when I got my car it seemed that EVERY alarm was set at its MAX sensitivity.....

its worth a look....

 

[Adam3482P]

Yeah I had to tell my brother to quit parking next to me. He has an old 80-something yoda truck and if he just idles next to me it sets it off. Dont really have much of a problem other than him.

 

[Limited Edition]

I will take a shot at this.....IF your alarm is like the ones that were installed in the '02's' and its made by CODEALERT.....

take the drivers seat and move it all the way back.....take a flashlight and lay on your back in the floor....look up and to the OUTSIDE of the steering column and you will see a little box that is ZIP TIED to the harness up there....you may even be able to see the CODE ALERT sticker on it....near one corner there is a small knob sticking out of the box.....if you turn it COUNTER CLOCKWISE it decreases the sensitivity of the shock sensors input.....back when I got my car it seemed that EVERY alarm was set at its MAX sensitivity.....

its worth a look....

Sir Nuke..
Thanks for your detailed instructions, i'll take a look tonight to see if i can turn the thing down...you might just be the master of all things. i'll keep asking you questions then, if you don't mind!?

there's gotta be something that will stumble you....hehe

 

[Sir Nuke]

Sir Nuke..
Thanks for your detailed instructions, i'll take a look tonight to see if i can turn the thing down...you might just be the master of all things. i'll keep asking you questions then, if you don't mind!?

there's gotta be something that will stumble you....hehe

well SOME cars got a different alarm in them.....made by a different company...and they don't have the adjustment knob on them.....if they don't....your just out of luck.

 

[MP3skaterNC]

i remember when i first got my car it was really sensitive, so i layed down and looked for an adjustment knob, looked for about 5 minutes and couldn't find it. then i noticed something with a flashing red led about 5 inches from my face. yes i am a dumbass.

 

[Dexter]

hey Limited Edition,
if you go down there and change the sensitivity, do you think you could check where the alarm LED (if you have one, i think u do)hooks up to? I disconnected mine accidentally and i cant find out where the LED hooks up to now.
lol

 

[Limited Edition]

Dexter.....
I didn't know there's another LED light under the dash?. I thought there's only one LED light on the guage cluster to notife us or others that the alarm is full armed.

I'll take a look today....

 

[Limited Edition]

Dexter..
I have no idea what LED light you are talking about. I crawled underneath there and i didn't see any light what so ever. I did however, manage to find the little ( 1 1/2" x 2") black box located about 6 inches from my eyes with 2 black snap-on ties on it. There's a really small white knob, and only knob under the dash. I turned it COUNTERCLOCKWISE to decrease the sensitivity. I armed the car and hit it a few times. The alarm is less sensitivity and it works.

Sir Nuke, I saw this Black box with a white 'Mazda Security sticker' on it, I'm not too sure what that is. There is no CODEALERT marked on any of the boxes. Maybe the perimeter alarm that we got isn't by CODEALERT.

 

[Dexter]

Limited Edition,
i am in fact talking about the LED near the gauge cluster. it has 2 wires, one red, one black, that connect somewhere down there, possibly to the little black box, although i cannot find any connectors to connect the LED to, but when i first got the car, the LED wires were snap-tied around the black box.
was it like that for you?
thanks man

 

[Limited Edition]

This is like a workout to see how flexable i am. The only possible way to look under there is to do what Sir Nuke says. I probably looked like the biggest fool doing this, but it's true.

Anyway, Dexter, the next time i look into that, i'll probably borrow a digital camera to take a nice shot of it down there for you. There's a lot of wires and boxes under there..i didn't even realize. You can learn a lot by looking down there...I'm sure professional thieves, know exactly which wires to cut to dis arm the alarm once they enter a car.

 

[Sir Nuke]

Dexter..
I have no idea what LED light you are talking about. I crawled underneath there and i didn't see any light what so ever. I did however, manage to find the little ( 1 1/2" x 2") black box located about 6 inches from my eyes with 2 black snap-on ties on it. There's a really small white knob, and only knob under the dash. I turned it COUNTERCLOCKWISE to decrease the sensitivity. I armed the car and hit it a few times. The alarm is less sensitivity and it works.

Sir Nuke, I saw this Black box with a white 'Mazda Security sticker' on it, I'm not too sure what that is. There is no CODEALERT marked on any of the boxes. Maybe the perimeter alarm that we got isn't by CODEALERT.

GREAT....you found the box that I was talking about...and its just like mine....I am pretty sure your alarm is made by CODE ALERT....but the sticker is probably on the OTHER side of the box...or UNDER the Mazda Security System sticker....either way its of NO consequence, could just be the difference between my 2002 and your 2003.....the important thing is you FOUND the adjustment knob! lol ( stash)

 

[Newf]

this is great info guys, thanks. At least we know now that there is a way to adjust it. I'm sure the machanics won't know.

 

[Limited Edition]

yeah Great thread..i agree!
Thanks to Sir Nuke...I would have never put myself in that position just to look for the sensitivity adjustment.
I'd probably NEVER find it.

Wait 'til i get a digital camera..

 

[Sir Nuke]

yeah Great thread..i agree!
Thanks to Sir Nuke...I would have never put myself in that position just to look for the sensitivity adjustment.
I'd probably NEVER find it.

Wait 'til i get a digital camera..

well we had this same discussion with someone that was from NJ on another board...and he claims that his alarm box does NOT have the knob...and its bigger.....thus leading me to believe that its possible that there is more than one supplier for the perimeter alarms....that is IF he was in fact NOT overlooking the box you found...

and although I originally answered this thread...and led you to the answer.....I will give all the credit to someone else....I don't remember who.....but this topic came up about 10 months ago on one of the mazda boards....and that is where I learned of that boxes existance.....and at that time I was on the same boat YOU were.....hell....if I even TOUCHED my car with a towel to wipe a window off it would set the frickin alarm off! lol

its one of the reasons these boards are so wonderful.....we can learn ANYTHING about our cars here.....the amount of information we have with our collective experiences and knowledge is stagering.

 

[oliver2000]

To bring this thread to the top.....people are asking about the sensitivity adjustment

 

[Fins]

the dealer told me the way to test the proper setting of the per. alarm is the bang your open palm on the windshield....if the alarm starts blowing then its too sensative... If it does nothing, its not sensative enough....if it chirps then its just right.