For any who care... (alarm info)

[Guest SmashPDX]

I finally got all the info I was looking for on the DIP switches in the keyless entry module used in my '95 Legacy. I've gotten a few inquiries asking if I ever got *my* inquiries answered, so here it is. You can find the fruits of my research on my Subie site (link below) under the "Alarm Project" page.

 

Hope folks find it useful! I found out some pretty interesting things about what you can "turn on" that isn't in the manual.

 

And oh yeah... the same module is in the '00 Impreza Sport Wagon (Outback). Go figure. :rollin:

[Guest rcoaster]

Hey Russ,

 

I checked out your settings and listing, and decided that I liked the idea of having my doors lock when I turn the key to "ON" and unlocking when I turn the engine off.

 

Got the keyless entry module apart, exposing the ciricut board inside. The DIP switches were all set to ON. So I flipped #2 to off. (#4 is supposed to be ON). Put it all back together, and gave it a try. The doors won't lock. But, when I turn the key to ACC or OFF, the doors automatically unlock.

 

Hmm.. are you sure you're right about switch # 4? Since all the switches were ON when I took it apart, then my doors should have been locking when I turned on the car in the first place. I've got the same code on the label as your system has. Does your car doors automatically lock when you turn the car on?

 

-RC!

[Guest SmashPDX]

Hmmm...

 

Ok, dumb question, bear with me, were any of the doors open when you were testing the "lock" part of the equation? If so, guess what, mine won't lock if the driver's door is open... some logic in the duhickey, which also made *me* think my autolock wasn't working at first.

 

What's odd is that the same logic does *not* apply on the unlock. It will unlock whether the doors are closed or not.

 

I'm guessing this is what you have cooking, because the unlock on mine specifically could not be *enabled* if the lock was *disabled.* But outside of that idea, tell me what all 7 of your DIP switches are and I'll try to see if there's a hole in my reasoning. But mine and the ones on our '00 Impreza, which both work for the auto lock/unlock, are 2-3 off, everything else on. Note having #3 off disables the passive starter interrupt if #7 is in the On position.

[Guest SmashPDX]

Dude,

 

Bright idea, what year is your car? I'm thinking your "door open" pin is grounded out, making the module think the doors are open all the time, which would not only keep the alarm from arming-- evidenced by a single rather than a double light flash when you lock the doors-- but it would also (as described above) keep the auto-lock from working.

 

What do you think? Do you get a single or a double-flash?

[Guest rcoaster]

All the doors were closed when I started the car. Also, when I unlock the doors, the dome lamp comes on, and stays on until I turn the key to the "ON" position, or after about 30 seconds or so. When I turn the key to "OFF", the dome light comes on, and stays on for about a minute, or until I hit the "Lock" button on my remote.

 

My parking lights flash only once, both for "Lock" and "Unlock". This weekend, I'll take the box apart and set all the DIP switches to match your settings and see what happens. It's still a "keyless entry" system, and doesn't have the security upgrade yet.

 

Could it be that the box detects that it doesn't have all the stuff connected that it prevents the auto-lock feature? BTW, my car is a 96 Outback.

 

Did you sucessfully mount your control box under the dash, in the upper part? I did take a look from underneath, and while there was a protective barrier around the instrument cluster, I could reach up there. The way my keyless entry is mounted, it's right next to the fuse box, hung on a metal bracket by a single long plastic tie. BTW, hope you didn't mount it in a place that's hard to reach, as there's a programmer's switch, or you rewired the programmer's switch to a little more accessible location.

[Guest SmashPDX]

rc,

 

No need to check your DIP switches. I'm almost positive that the issue is tied to the wiring harness. You're on the right track, but it isn't so much that it "detects" that it doesn't have all the stuff, it just doesn't have a connection needed to "detect" the door state; it is instead wired, absent the security upgrade, to assume the door is open. On both my car and on our '00 Impreza, the wiring has been tweaked to enable the security features.

 

Specifically, this means that the standard connection between pin #4 and ground has been replaced by a connection between pin #4 and pin #8. The effect of this is to allow the keyless entry module to "know" when the doors are open or closed. The reason your keyless entry is "just a keyless entry" is because of the difference between these two connections. The thing is actually an alarm all the time, but it thinks a door is open, so it won't arm (one light flash instead of two when locking). As it turns out, the auto-lock also doesn't work if it thinks a door is open (apparently this is by design), and I've verified this with both our Subarus.

 

To further clarify, this wiring tweak is normally accomplished with a part in the security system upgrade referred to as the "dome lamp loop," which plugs into the keyless entry harness. My '95 LSi has no such connection, so I had to actually pull the friction tape off of the harness, resolder pin #4's wire to pin #8 instead of permanent ground, and tape it all back together again. Your '96 Outback should have the correct plug to accept this "loop" but you'll either need a part or you'll need to get creative.

 

I don't know the cost of the part (I'm going to find out this AM if you can even get it separately from a bunch of other stuff) but I think I may have a spare, due to some very odd circumstances...

 

I just rejiggled the alarm page on my site to give you some further information-- specifically, scans of the security upgrade install guide, which will show you the dome lamp loop.

 

On the mounting, I decided to leave it more or less where it is, fastened behind the TCU. The '95 LSi guts are organized a little bit differently, at least compared to the '96 install manual. The '95 install manual doesn't give much guidance on where to put the thing. After some thought I figured, well, if someone wants to get my car, they're already going to have to do a lot of work, or if they already know what to yank out of the keyless module they're probably gonna get the thing anyway. So I'm keeping it more or less accessible, no worse than the factory install on our '00 Impreza.

 

Re the programming switch-- I actually pulled out the soldering iron and some 22AWG wire to extend the thing. On the '95 LSi harness the wire is so short you *can't* mount the switch (and there's nothing in the install docs about mounting it either). As I recall the untweaked harness had about 2" between the switch and the module itself. Not much to work with huh?

 

Take a look at the changes on the site, let me know what you think, in the meantime I'm going to find out if that "dome lamp loop" is even purchaseable as a separate item.

[Guest rcoaster]

Hmm.. I got under the dash last night to take a closer look.

 

I checked out the manual that you had posted on the website, and did show the dome lamp loop. It looks like the dome lamp loop wasnt "jumpered" when it's a keyless entry sytem, and is "jumpered" when it's installed as an alarm system. I figured that I could make my own with some parts from the auto parts store.

 

So I decided to take a look at the harness for the dome lamp loop plugs. This is where things got a bit weird. The plugs for the dome lamp loop would be near the junction where two harnesses would come together from the module, before the two inline 20A fuse holders. I found nothing. I even tried to feel the harness for that little bump that could indicate the plugs. At the connector end at the module, there's some wires. You said it was pin #4 and #8 that was the dome lamp loop wiring, right? They are already wired in, with a yellow wire coming out of #4, and an orange with black stripe wire out of #8. Now this is where things started to get a bit freaky.

 

I followed the harness to the other ends and realized something. There's about twice the wires going into the harness from the connector than there are coming out at the other ends (the harness splits into two after the inline fuse holders)! I guess I'm going to have to remove all the tape that's holding the harness together and find where the heck the wires are going. I'll reassemble it with mini plastic wire ties then tape it up later. One inline fuse has a pink wire, and is nowhere to be found at the other end!

 

-RC!

[Guest Stubaru]

I have a simpler alarm question. Factory keyless/alarm system on a '97 Legacy. Is the dealer correct when he told me that the reason my alarm doesn't trip when I open the trunk is because there is no contact for it? Why wouldn't Subaru design it to work with the trunk light circuit, just as the four doors work with the interior dome light circuit? Can I modify the system to include the trunk. I haven't bothered because my thought is that if the trunk gets pried open, anything in it is as good as gone even if an alarm sounds. But I still think there is merit to drawing some attention to the car if this occurs.

[Guest SmashPDX]

Stu,

 

I'd have to know what module you have to tell if it's the same setup as the '95 and '96, but my guess is your dealer is telling the unvarnished truth. Before I answer the why, though, the quick answer is yes, I think it can be modified, but I haven't gotten this far in my alarm jiggling (yet).

 

Onto the why and how. The use of the room (dome) light is the fast and easy way to tell if a door is open, because just about every car has a dome light that turns on when the doors open. One circuit will tell you whether *any* door is open. Easy. To deal with things like trunk and hood, however, you have a problem because not only do these things not always have lights, they don't always have switches, and they certainly don't light up the whole car interior when you open them.

 

If you could find such a switch for the trunk and its wire under the dash (like the one for its light, maybe?), and and if its electrical characteristics are the same as the dome light wire (i.e., it shows no voltage until it gets a connection to ground when the trunk is opened open), you could theoretically connect it up with the previously discussed pin #4 or #8. The side effect of this, though, would be that every time you opened the trunk, the room light would come on (because both wires, by virtue of their connection would get a path to ground).

 

Another approach is based on the fact that the the keyless entry module is a rebadged Code Alarm. I have a Code Alarm install manual that covers what may or may not be the '98 module (I don't think it applies to the Subie, actually, but it's still informative), which is slightly different inside but has the same physical connectors. While not everything on the harness pinout is identical to mine (some functions are moved around), every function on my module is accounted for in the manual, and many of the additional functions correspond to unused connections on my module.

 

The manual has a reference to two of these unused-on-mine pins as additional trigger sensors, (one for positive and one for negative input). So I'm thinking that if you find the wire from the trunk, you could quick-splice a wire onto it, and connect the other end to the relevant terminal on the module and bingo, you've wired it to detect your fifth door.

 

So that's my thought. I'm actually looking into doing something similar on my car just for fun, this is a hobby project at this point; I'm going to try wiring my hood switch (the LSi has one for its factory alarm) into one of said spare triggers and see if it works. I may try it this weekend if I can find time. I'll advise how it goes and put the details on my site.

[Guest SmashPDX]

rc,

 

Sounds like your harness is essentially identical to mine. I figured as much, as Subaru doesn't sell the security system upgrade for the '95. Now we know why-- the harness is wired against it!!! You *need* that dome lamp loop or equivalent jiggling to enable any alarm functionality, and I guess that means the automatic locking too.

 

Re how pin #4 and #8 get connected when the loop sockets are on the harness, the plug itself is prewired, but things get connected to each other "uphill" at the dome loop connectors.

 

First let me clarify, the pins I'm talking about are on the 18-pin plug, not the 5-pin. The 18-pin is the "accessory harness" and the 5-pin is the "door lock harness," with the first controlling alarm and lights and such, and the second controlling the power locks.

 

The fuse with the pink wires handles the door lock stuff. The other fuse, I think, effectively ties to the 18-pin plug.

 

All that said, the yellow wire on your pin #4 you saw corresponds to pin #4 on mine. However, according to the '95 keyless installation manual (I have that too), your pin #8 should be black. The orange/black wire on mine goes to pin #12. Before you get to splicing I'd confirm this.

 

The next thing is how you make the connection and where all the wires go. Half of the wires on the module end get reattached to each other and/or to ground inside the harness before they get out of the other end. That's why you have more wires "out" than "in" (with "in" being the vehicle side). One of these wires is the yellow #4. Further up the harness you're going to find it soldered to the white wires in the bunch, which go to ground. This connection is why your autolock doesn't work *and* why the alarm never arms, per my previous post. To fix the problem, you reconnect the yellow wire to the wire coming out of #8 (which again, should be black).

 

I'm going to put the pinout on my site in a few. Hopefuly it will help...

[Guest SmashPDX]

Ok, I've got new stuff posted at the site, '95 - '96 keyless install manuals and pinouts, you know the place! It should answer a ton of questions and I can stop putting these huge posts up...

[Guest rcoaster]

Thanks Russ!

 

It's really informative. Today, I decided to cut open the wiring harness, up to the junction where the two harnesses from both plugs meet. Found the splice-in where pin #4 goes to ground. Cut the yellow wire at the splice (rather than removing the solder), stripped some of the insulator off the end, and jammed the exposed end into pin #8 at the connector.

 

Voila. Now the doors lock when the ingition is in "ON", and unlocks when turned to "OFF". I now get the double flash when I hit the "Lock" button on my remote.

 

There. Dome Lamp loop all taken care of. Now to work on that programmer's/ emergency override switch. When I reconnect the connectors to the module, the lights will flash, so to stop it from flashing, I have to press the "Unlock" button on my remote, or press the programmer's button for one second. Pressing the programmer's button doesn't work. Hitting the "Unlock" button on the remote usually does it. I'm going to test to see if all doors have to be closed in order for the button to work.

 

-RC!

[Guest SmashPDX]

rc,

 

For the button to turn off the "alarm" (aka the flashing) you have to turn the key to the "on" position first. I can't recall whether this is true under the keyless-only setup, but now you've effectively got an alarm system with no siren, and this is definitely how it works when the alarm functionality is active. It's on page 7 (step 9) on the Security System Upgrade install instructions.

 

I gotta tell ya, it's rewarding to hear that this worked for you. It took me over a year to figure this out... great to see it helped somebody!!!

[Guest ratboy]

Hey Russ,

 

You really need to add an email link on your page, otherwise these topics will get longer and longer and never die!

 

Anyway, got my auto-door-locks working thanks to your instructions, and now am eyeballing the ignition cut-off. What I'm wondering is how the T-cable is wired. Since the connector on the security module has only two pins, one would think that only the +12 V (pin 1 on the black ignition connector) wire is used, and the rest simply passed through.

 

I might just remove the pin inserts from the black connector, and extend them into the security module.

 

What ya think?

 

Also, from the keyless docs, what does the extra relay (LSI only) do?

 

ratboy

[Guest SmashPDX]

I'll get you a pinout on the T-Harness, as I have a spare. However, you can pick one up (along with the LED, they come together) for $35-ish plus shipping at http://www.subaruparts.com, I'll have to dig up a part number.

 

No email link on the page because I'm still getting spammed to blazes from the email link on my *last* website, which was pulled down over 2 years ago. <G> Besides, if it's on the boards, even the lurkers get to benefit.

 

Re the extra relay on the LSi, I haven't figured that out just yet, but it has something to do with the factory-installed alarm system.

[Guest rcoaster]

While you're at it, can you get the part# for the shock sensor? Or do you know some alternative sensors I could use in place of the shock sensor. I'm going to get a siren with a built in battery back-up. If the theft cuts the wires, the siren keeps on shreiking.

[Guest SmashPDX]

Ok, before I go on, the first thing you should know is that it may be more cost-effective to pick up the actual Security System Upgrade kit. www.subaruparts.com has it, H7110AS600, $42.00 plus shipping. When you look up the individual components I'm sure you'll understand why.

 

All of the parts listed below are "officially" '97 - '98 but they work on the '95 - '96 Legacy.

 

Starter T-Harness & LED: H7110AS650

Shock Sensor: H7110AS640

Siren: H7110AS610

Dome Loop (not usable on '95 - '96): H7110AS670

 

-Russ

[Guest rcoaster]

What's even more strange and also screams, "RIP-OFF!" is that when you navigate the catalog to Older Body Styles> Legacy> Utility and Convienence, you'll find the Security Upgrade listed as $117.00! That's over a 275% mark-up! But, when you go to the Impreza page, You'll find the very same Security Upgrade for only 78 bucks. Eh? They're essientially the same thing.

 

But thanks for the part number! The siren with the battery back-up alone costs $35 bucks. 42 bucks is a lot cheaper! The lowest I've seen was $60 bucks, and that was Teague's Auto.

[Guest SmashPDX]

Ya, essentially the same kit on the old Legacy and the Impreza, except for the starter harness is different and the LED blank is different.

 

Haven't forgotten that t-harness pinout for ratboy, will have the pinout up later today.

[Guest SmashPDX]

The T-Harness pinout is as follows. To get your orientation square, look at the connector from the wire end, with the plug's release tab (or corresponding receptacle if female) at the top.

 

Male plug

1 - open

2 - #2 female

3 - #2 keyless

4 - open

5 - #5 female

6 - #4 female

 

Female plug

1 - #1 keyless

2 - #2 male

3 - open

4 - #6 male

5 - #5 male

6 - open

 

Keyless plug

1 (bottom) - #1 female

2 (top) - #3 male

 

Basically the T-harness puts the keyless module in the middle of a single wire, that being the run between contact #3 (male plug) and contact #1 (female plug). If you were looking at the plugs on the vehicle, the gender would be reversed, i.e., the connection is between #3 on the vehicle's *female* plug and #1 on the vehicle's *male* plug, if I've got my head screwed on straight.