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The Crap Cobra Alarm Has Gone



  Carrera 4S. Clio 172. M5
DEEP JOY :D I FEEL CLEANSED.

I have deep sixed the Cobra cat 2-1 alarm system on my Sons 172.

He had to borrow a car to get to work today, after finding his battery was flat when he finished work last night, then having to drive all the way home from work with the hazards flashing. How embarrassed was he then. :mad:

I found the cause this morning, water in the siren. sending the module mad, as well as the driver. It has been playing up since he got the car, and Renault were about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

The problem seems to stem from the fact the dockside fit at Southampton was done badly. There is a plastic protection cover clipped on the wiper motor arm which is supposed to keep the siren dry. This was not fitted properly and water running down the windscreen had made its way into the siren unit which has the back up battery, anti tamper and charging module inside. The result was predictable.

Having removed the siren, the alarm and ultra-sonics modules, the car still works as it should. The doors lock the transponder immobiliser works and the passive locking and drive-away locking all still work. So as I suspected this is just a cheap and nasty cat 2 to cat 1 upgrade using the cars locking module to signal it. :dead: YUK! Bloody frogs...

The alarm is a Cobra 0144 and the siren is a Cobra 5370.

All the postings about pulling fuses and moving the ultrasonics I am afraid are based on wishful thinking as the system is basically poor quality components, badly installed.

I measured no less than 10 mtrs of loom that was in excess of the installations requirement, simply bundled up and taped right under the moving parts of the wiper motor. The same amount again under the dash and a hole drilled between the engine compartment and the dash area that didnt even have a grommet in it. There are two fuses one close to the module and one on it, and you will never get to them without removing the dash. They are under the passenger airbag, the ultrasonics sensitivity adjustment is in the same place.

The installer should hang his head in shame. CHEAP AND NASTY.

THE GOOD NEWS is that all the wires are in place (and when shortened up are easy to) connect to a Clifford alarm module to provide a better all round system with control from the Clifford fob which gets round the problem of someone banjo-ing the locks and turning the alarm off, which I proved I could do before I ripped it out..(using the key)

It is a very simple job and the Clifford siren fits the bracket where the old Cobra unit came off. I will of course be fitting a better rain protector before refitting the covers.

This is not a job for the faint hearted, as you need to remove the wiper motor assembly and the dash top and passenger air bag, but it can be done if you work carefully and methodically.
I will work up a chart giving the colour codes and functions of the wiring loom so you can convert to whatever make of alarm you want to change to.
The space for the alarm module is limited as it sits under the passenger airbag, so dont buy anything with a module bigger than 35mm deep and 150mm by 100mm.
The clifford unit fits with room to spare. The siren needs to be a compact type.

If anyone is interested in how I did it, I will be happy to write a report when I have finished. I will try to take some pics of the major steps and post them.

If you even THINK you might want to have a go, then get out there now with the PlusGas and soak your wiper arm fixing nuts. It took me more time to get those off than the rest of the work.

I have fitted, (nearly, got rained off and tired and cold and p----- off with phonecalls) a Clifford Matrix RS2 with a glass break detector, microwave unit and window closer.

If you wanted to, you could just use the alarm part of the Clifford and not bother with the alarms immobiliser circuits as the oem transponder system is very good and not prone to failure like the Cobra crap alarm. This makes the job very easy.

I went the whole hog, belts and braces and also fitted the remote start option of the RS2. A pair microswitches on the gear lever to detect the neutral position, is really important if you do this.

MORE ANON......:cool:
 

MRBILLYUK

ClioSport Club Member
  FF Jeden Osiem Dwa
Seems like you've been busy . Hope your son appreciates all your hard work :)
 
  R5gtt, 182, volvo...
strange, i'd not let a clifford near my cars EVER again while you hate the one i like and have no trouble with.. my clifford was poop and went of at a gust of wind, but a tyre firm ripped all my locking wheel nuts off with punches, locker removers and hammers, while the clifford (armed) did nothing.. also ran the battery down in 2 days of not using the car. people say the fitting might have been the problem or the sensitivity but i have my doubts..

my cobra was great and problem free while i had the car.. it was fitted by a very good mate so i expect it was a top job.

alarms are great when there doing there job, but worse than useless when not.. if you have an alarm that goes off all day and your neighbours WANT it stolen and turn a blind eye..

good to hear yours is sorted as there a bugger..
 
  Carrera 4S. Clio 172. M5
dangerous dave said:
strange, i'd not let a clifford near my cars EVER again while you hate the one i like and have no trouble with.. my clifford was poop and went of at a gust of wind, but a tyre firm ripped all my locking wheel nuts off with punches, locker removers and hammers, while the clifford (armed) did nothing.. also ran the battery down in 2 days of not using the car. people say the fitting might have been the problem or the sensitivity but i have my doubts..

my cobra was great and problem free while i had the car.. it was fitted by a very good mate so i expect it was a top job.

alarms are great when there doing there job, but worse than useless when not.. if you have an alarm that goes off all day and your neighbours WANT it stolen and turn a blind eye..

good to hear yours is sorted as there a bugger..

I think you are right Dave, its down to the installer.
I know from visiting both the Cobra and Clifford production lines, that the component count and quality on Clifford is far better than Cobra who havn't changed much in 20 years.
Its a bit like taking a nice fast car and giving it to a complete dickhead to drive and having a boring old family car with THE STIG behind the wheel.
:cool:
 
  clio rsi!
my mk1s got a after market cobra cat1 alarm/immob, the alarm goes off every other night (normally between the hours of 1am and 6am) ive disconnected the bonnet switch etc all windows are closed, locks and unlocks fine, although i have noticed occasionally after locking the car sometimes the immob lights doesnt flash/arm itself......looking at it the whole alarm is within the siren (not a seperate ecu?) therefore i cant just unplug the horn.......how easy it is to take out as both i and the locals are a little annoyed with it.......!!!!!!!

any advice much appreciated!
 
  Carrera 4S. Clio 172. M5
If it occasionally doesn't arm, then you might have a problem with the door switches or the ignition feed.

The door switches, signal that the car is closed and thus the alarm can be set, if the alarm doesn't get that signal because of a faulty switch telling it a door is still open, it wont fully set. Then when the switch does make contact, late at night when the temperature drops, off goes the alarm, because it now thinks its a tamper detection.

The Ign switch thing is peculiar to some French cars that don't have an accessory only position, before full Ign on.
They tend not to show a ground condition on the line, when the Ign is off. Cobra and some other alarms need to see this as part of the set sequence and "alarm set while driving" prevention.

The only way round this is to insert a 5 pole change-over relay into the Ign input on the alarm.
 
  Carrera 4S. Clio 172. M5
Tell me you took pictures!


Ha Ha! Not this time Tom, these are all pictures in my mind from years gone by.

I have a picture of my Granny in the Gurkha's if you would like to see that !
 
  ValverInBits
im not sure what alarm is in my 172 but it went off all night after i cleaned the interior fabrics.


Gutted
 


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