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550 Alarm siren location

Discussion in '456/550/575' started by cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012.

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  1. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #1 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    My 550 has the dreaded constant red LED alarm light. Dealer replace the siren a few years ago, so this time I just ignored it for a year but recently I felt motivated to work on it myself. Hmm... so where is the siren on a 550?

    Did a search but no answer. Looked up WSM and it shows the wiring loom connector is somewhere near the RH head light. Could't find it the first time around yesterday. The thought of having to take off the front bumper encouraged me to look again today. Voila, finally found it. It's just below the RH head light at the gap below the headlight. BTW I have a RHD car so LHD cars may have the siren in opposite side.
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  2. GaryReed

    GaryReed F1 Rookie

    Feb 9, 2002
    3,127
    Seattle
    Full Name:
    Gary
    #2 GaryReed, Apr 2, 2012
    The siren is also under the right side headlight on USA cars too.

    Just unbolt the entire headlight assembly and lift it up out of the way. It's very
    easy to replace the siren this way.

    Shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes.
     
  3. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #3 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  4. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #4 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Cut open the siren but unlike my old 360 siren, the two OEM batteries looked just fine with no acid leakage and putting out 7.56 volts total. Well, since I cut the siren open already I went ahead and removed the two OEM Varta 3.6V batteries and wired in an external battery pack using 6 AAA NiMh cells.
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  5. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #5 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    Plugged it into the car, tested it once. Chirp is back on arming and disarming. Red LED light went out after start engine. Very happy. Screwed it back onto the car.
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  6. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #6 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Test it again, but now no chirp and red light is on. Hmmm.... don't know why. May be a intermittant bad connection between the plug and siren or the adaptor plug between the main wiring loom and short siren loom. Midnight now, so have to check it out tomorrow.
     
  7. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #7 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Ha ha ha, I guess we work at about the same speed.
     
  8. maranello72

    maranello72 Formula Junior

    Jul 4, 2009
    352
    Munich, Germany
    Full Name:
    Stefano
    #8 maranello72, Apr 2, 2012
    AA cells have a much higher capacity than the small oem batteries (150mAh if I remember right), so they will draw more current from the charging circuit, probably toasting it, hence the red LED....

    Stefano
     
  9. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #9 cwwhk, Apr 2, 2012
    Sorry I meant AAA cells. Nope. Did the same for 360 alarm and worked very well. I can go for months without driving the car and the red LED never comes on. Even AAA cells draw very little amperage to charge.

    The first clue my 550 OEM siren is not at fault is that the OEM batteries visually looked fine and were putting out rated voltage. The second clue is that I measured the battery voltage while the car was running and it didn't show a higher charging voltage. So I suspect the charging circuit on the siren was faulty or the siren wiring connector has an intermittent fault.

    In any case since I had already cut siren open and I had the red LED problem for over a year, I had nothing to lose to do the surgery and cut out OEM Varta batteries and replace with external battery pack.
     
  10. dakharris

    dakharris Two Time F1 World Champ

    Jun 7, 2001
    29,441
    Sleepy Hollow
    Full Name:
    Cavaliere Senzatesta
    #10 dakharris, Apr 2, 2012
    It could be the charger and not the batteries. I cut mine open two years ago, cleaned it, put the same old batteries back in, taped the two halves back together with electrical tape, put the car on a trickle charger and it hasn't acted up since.
     
  11. cwwhk

    cwwhk Formula 3

    Nov 13, 2003
    1,535
    Hong Kong, Tokyo
    Full Name:
    Wayne
    #11 cwwhk, Apr 4, 2012
    Left the car on automatic battery charger overnight and today the alarm worked perfectly. Keeping my fingers crossed it will stay this way.
     

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