Some insurance companies would refuse to pay a claim if they found out about a defective alarm system. Just a tip.
Some US states and cities do not allow audible alarms. Chicago is one city that will tow and impound a vehicle if the alarm is audible! There are others as well. However, most insurance companies here in the US don't care about alarms. Their concern is to be assured that the vehicle is locked!
When I noticed my alarm batteries were dead (the LED stays on), I removed the siren and opened it up to find out the batteries are not only completely dead but also leaked out and damaged some circuits on the board. This was about 4 months ago, and I drove my 360 without the siren till last week. I finally forced myself to drive to the local electronic store and purchased two 3.6V Ni-Cad batteries (bigger than the original batteries) for around $20. I could get the exact replacement batteries from a F-chatter, but the battery holder/contact were corroded so much by the leaked acid, I decided not to go with that route new batteries would not last long with all the bad connections. I fixed damaged circuit and removed the battery holder to make more room for the bigger size batteries I bought. I ended up making a hole so batteries can stick out since the batteries are about 100 mil too tall. After the finishing touch using some epoxy and black spray paint, the newly cut opening is hardly noticeable. The whole process took about 2 hours to fix, reassemble and put the siren back into where it came out. Nice to hear chirping sounds when armed/disarmed, and no more annoying red LED (especially during evening drives).
Just had a new siren installed my 360 at Ferrari of Houston. Part No. 177148. $261 parts, 115 Labor. End of red light/no siren problem.
HEY GUYS ANY BATTERIES YOU NEED, ID LOVE TO HELP YOU OUT I HAVE HELPED MARKY, ARMEN (SADAK) , AND SPEED RACERETTE JUST PM OR EMAIL ME THANKS ALL BRUCE
Bruce, It's truly great of you to make these weird batteries available. I am taking my unit apart on Sunday, and I am hoping I can create a method of externally mounting the batteries. I found at Radio Shack two 3.6V AA size computer batteries that would fit into a two battery AA size holder that is a contained box with a screw cover and a pigtail lead. It's their P/N: 270-408. It was under $2.00! I did not yet buy the batteries. I need to make sure this will work, but the batteries were about $13.00 each. My plan is to glue the battery holder externally to the alarm module. If this does not work, I will have to go with Bruce's batteries. The photo posted shows two Varta batteries that are similar to what was used on early computer circuit boards. So, until I open the box it's a mystery as to which batteries are in there. If my plan works, I'll post pictures and give a description. Again, thanks to Bruce.
So let me get this straight.....my '01 360 spider Euro has the red light that is always on....this means my internal battery inside the siren is dead and all I need to do is replace it? I believe that is the "jist" of this thead, yeah? (and thanks!)
Steve, That appears to be the issue, but replacing it is the challenge! More to come with my experience tomorrow.
Good luck Greg....I sense you are strong, may the force be with you! Just in case, keep a fire extinguisher nearby! Pics would be awesome!
Greg, My recommendation is get the exact replacement from Bruce if the clips (finger stocks) are not corroded and damaged. Anyway, I bought mine at HSC in Santa Clara. I do not have the exact part number but am pretty sure the part number is: http://www.halted.com/commerce/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=15622&czuid=1147586629242 I bought 2 of them and pigtailed to the PCB directly as the battery holder/clips of mine were damaged and removed. They are larger than original button type batteries so I had to alter the plastic housing to fit them in which I did not care since the corrosion damaged the siren PCB anyway (I had nothing to loose) and required some repair works. It seems that Bosh changed siren battery type one point so make sure to know your battery type ( http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=135744842&postcount=16 ) before making any purchase. Mine used Z3A120 button type 3.6V120mAh Ni-Cad, and batteries I bought are Ni-Cad 3.6V280mAh Ni-Cad which are close enough to be charged properly by the charger on the board. I would not go beyond 280maH (i.e. 450mAh) capacity the on board charger will not be able to charge it fully and sustain the charging state. Do not use Ni-MH batteries as they have different charging requirement. Hope this helps and PM me if you have any question. Cheers, - Chris
Steve R, Thank you for sending the 'force". I need it. I do have the extinguisher ready though! Maybe if all goes well I'll get a "charge" out of this! Chris Lee, Great info and good advice. I hope mine has the conventional batteries, but I will check the specs on the RS batteries I mentioned just in case. Thanks to all for the assistance. With great "force" I now depart to the task at hand!
Steve, The force was what I needed. It worked and all's well now. I plugged it back into the circuit, turned on the battery switch, lights flashed, it beeped, then started the beauty, and the red light went OUT!!! So, without the help of the wizards here I was at a loss to figure why that annoying red light never went out! I remember a post from a newbie 355 owner about 4 months ago inquiring as to whether that constant red light was for his alarm! Well, we all know now. I'll post pictures and respective comments later. It took 15 minutes to remove two panels, pull back the vapor barrier, and to remove the device. It then took more than a 1/2 hour to get the case apart! I used a handy knife rather than a saw. Interesting that my batteries were in molded containers secured to the back of the unit. They were not on the circuit board. I am again most grateful to Armen Sadakian (SADAK) for being so gracious to send me his spare batteries and not take any $!! Many thanks to all the wizards. Have to run. Rifledriver is on the phone! He wants me to do all his. No Way!
You'll need a torx bit to remove the screws. First disable the battery current. There are two panels in the trunk that must be removed. The one to the right covering relays comes out first. Those screws as well as the ones on the bottom of the main panel to the passenger compartment are the same. Keep them separate. Removal the main panel (towards passenger compartment) will reveal a plastic material which is a vapor barrier. Very carefully remove the upper right section of the barrier about 8" along the top to the left and 8" along the right side going down. This material must be taped back into place with duct tape, etc. You will see the alarm device just to the right of this main panel. You'll need a 10 mm wrench. Just loosen both bolts. Don't remove the nuts. Slide the unit out, and remove the connector. I carefully cut along the glue line of the unit with a handy knife. Be patient as it takes a bit of doing. But repeated cutting with increasing force uniformly all around will weaken the bead. Some modules differ internally. My unit had the circuit board held in place by 4 plastic standoffs two of which I broke trying to open the case. So, again be careful about inserting the knife too deeply into the unit. I did glue that standoff. Fortunately my batteries were the round ones that were within plastic retainers in the back of the case. Others are soldered to the circuit board. I removed them, thoroughly cleaned the case with water and qtips. After thorough drying, I lightly sanded the metal contact fingers with #400 wet sand paper that was kept dry. I then put in the two batteries. Make sure all the contacts have been cleaned and go over gently with #400 paper. As a precaution, I put a rubber band around the unit, temporarily connected it to the system, turned the battery switch to hear the chirp, checked the light as flashing, started the car, and the red LED went out! I then epoxied only the 4 corners as another stated here holding it together with heavy duty rubber bands from asparagus bunches. If it happened once it could again. After it dried, I wrapped the joint with a very high grade and thin 3M electrical tape, put the unit into place, and re-placed the panels. It now works fine, and I am very pleased and grateful again from all for all the assistance. I have tried to make the pictures sequential. The sharpness is not the best, but it gives you an idea of what is involved. What I did find interesting behind that panel was parts labeled from Delphi and TRW. Just can't make a good Italian car anymore! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Greg, Thank you VERY much for the outstanding job in detailing & photographing this project. In the days to come I plan to do the very same to my car....one less red-light is always a good thing! Should I call Bruce and get the batteries in advance, or could my unit have different batteries then yours? Btw....not a very well thought-out design having inaccessible batteries and the such...makes ya wonder what other fun & surprises we have laying ahead of us as time passs
STEVE WAIT TILL YOU KNOW WHAT BATTERIES IT IS IT COULD BE MANY TYPES AS I HAVE SEEN IN THE 355/360/550/575 BOSCH ALARMS... MOST ARE THE 2 COIN CELLS AS MENTIONED BEFORE, BUT SOME MIGHT ME THE 3.6 VARTA BATTERIES.... YOU BEST OFFENSE IS YOUR DEFENSE...WAIT TILL..... BTW, GREAT PLAY BY PLAY GCALO...KUDDOS TO YOU.......... YOU KNOW HOW TO FIND ME IF NEED BE............. REGARDS ALL BRUCE
Steve, Here are the all numbers on the back of my unit. I neglected to include those. It is a Bosch part: Bosch 906 Made in Australia 000817 F005V00088 Ni-Cad 177148 (Ferrari P/N) Ver 1.1 The numbers on the inside circuit board were PSW1.1 3.1 I noticed on the front part of the housing that there is an area where four (4) bolt holes could have gone. The circuit board could have been made slightly smaller, and four screws from the back could have held the case together. What a lousy design. Also, when you take out the large panel and see the white viscilline material, it would be advisable to duct tape a 5-10 mil plastic sheet over the whole thing before you put the panel back. There is daylight coming into that area, because there is access to the outside of the vehicle in that area. So, if you want a good seal to the trunk, I would advise doing it. There is no way to can pull back the white OEM material w/o damaging it due to the intense glue they used to seal it. I tried many ways and gave up. I am taking that large panel out again to finish the design of the new audio system I have for the vehicle, and at that point I will put in an additional sheet of plastic. As to which batteries it takes, who knows? I will, however, through my parts sources attempt to determine by assembly # or VIN the differences. Remember, we could not be successful with this if Bruce had not chimed in with the battery source! They are the oddest batteries I have seen. What I do not understand is whether there is no charger on that circuit board for them. It does not appear there is, because there were four (4) puny pins on the circuit board that poke throw the back of the module to connect to the system plug that is there. Also, those pins do not seal, so why would they not make this part easily openable. Be patient getting the unit to slide back into the bracket. Visibility is not great, and I had to get into the trunk to feel it.
There must be a way to identify battery types in advance of one doing this in oreder for one to do the job all at one time as I was fortunate enough to be able to do. Maybe all who do this can post the numbers on the back of their module and in particular the Ver #? Might find your production # and VIN as well and post.
My alarm horn says V1.2 on the back and has NiMH batteries that are soldered to the circuit board. I see from your pics that yours in V1.1 and has the round NiCad (I think) batteries. Hopefully we'll find through comparison with others that this version number is sufficient for determining which type of batteries are inside. BTW, my car is a 2001 360 Spider, #125933, build in Sept 2001. My batteries had started leaking and damaged the green photomask on the board. Luckily the copper traces were still OK. I repaired the unit by desoldering the old batteries, running wires external to the box, and attaching 3.6v cordless telephone batteries to it. I housed the batteries in an external project box that screws shut and is tie-wrapped to the side of the horn. Batteries were $26.00 at Radio Shack. Lou
Maybe the round batteries were used only in the earlier versions (1.1) having been replaced by the board-soldered batteries such as used in yours (ver 1.2). My car is a M/Y 2000 #0121696. Build month I believe is Sept, 2000, but I have to check. I'll try to verify with Bruce on this one if he might have insight. What you did with the R/S batteries is quite clever as well.
I WOULD NOT USE THE TELE BATTERIES TO REPLACE THE OLD ONES THE MAH ( MILLI AMPERE RATING) IS MUCH LOWER THAN THE O.E.M. BATTERIES AND MIGHT CUT LONGEVITY / AND OR GIVE FALSE ALARMS. I CAN GET THE ORIG 3.6 VOLTERS ( YOU NEED 2) FOR ABOUT 22.00 EACH ( WITH TABS OR LEADS) FOR MY FCHAT BROTHERS.. AGAIN, I WOULD NOT USE THE TELE BATTERIES, YES ITS 3.6 VOLTS , BUT THE MAH RATING IS OFF... TAKE IT FROM ME..26 YRS EXPERIENCE IN THIS FIELD BRUCE
The mAh rating of the originals was 140 mAh. The mAh rating of the telephone batteries is 220 mAh. They are available in much higher ratings as well, but I chose these to stay close to the original. So far, no false alarms.
My recent parts search shows the 430 using a similar part. It's a different P/N, 186593, and it's about $110.00 less costly-$290.00 Vs. $400.00. It's possible it's the same item with a different P/N, but I cannot yet confirm that. No information about versions either. It is located in the same spot as the one in the 360. I have to believe that a non-accessible battery compartment has been designed to keep Ferrari's service departments busy. Based upon the comments form this posting, there are many others sharing the same difficulty! My guess is that Ferrari went to a solder on battery to ensure that the item had to be replaced! Correct me if you think I am cynical!
