Alarm battery upgrade on 360 - killing the red dash LED :-)

Just wondering how this worked out?

 

Sometimes they're just too far gone to recover. Mine was anyway. I opened it up, there was considerable damage to the circuit board, I cut our the old batteries and soldered in the tails for a new external 9V and it didn't work. I had to replace the module.

I understand many people have sourced alternative supplies and much more reasonable cost. See my post above to a user who may have had a good experience with an alternative item.

 

The alarm system everything okay after changed the new battery, only the LED light keep on when the engine starting.

 

I also have this same problem - LED still lit after engine starts. I have previously asked for help on this problem from members of this forum but have had no suggestions. My alarm module is new.

 

Makes me wonder what the manufacturing date of the module is, and if they go bad on the shelf waiting to be purchased.

 

Does the alarm actually sound? Leave window open, arm car, wait and then open door by leaning inside and operating the inner handle.

When mine went bad everything seemed fine except the constant red light but on further examination I realised only the central locking and immobiliser was functioning - not a peep from the siren when called upon.

 

Bill if you look on the back of it it should have a date of manufacture on it. How new is it?

 

Everything is functioning correctly - one beep on lock and 2 beeps on unlock. It is just that the LED stays on. Maybe I will have to check the internal battery????

 

I think I'd be inclined to do that. The LED staying on is generally the failure sign by which time often the circuit board is toast. If yours is still working fine I'd recommend changing the battery to the external one and hopefully save the unit before it fails.

 

Has anyone had this happen?

Ever since I bought my 2000 360 several years ago the alarm light has stayed lit at all times. It doesn’t seem to cause any problems and doesn’t bother me so I have left it as is for now. Yesterday I was giving her a thorough cleaning (something that I do regularly) to get her ready for supercar Sunday (pouring rain today so all dressed up and nowhere to go). When I finished, I noticed that the alarm light is now blinking when the car is locked. I moved it into my garage thinking that it would probably go back to its constant-on state, but no, it still blinks happily away.

How can this be? I assumed that the battery was dead and had probably leaked in the module, killing it as well. How can it magically start working again after several years of being always lit? I mean, I know that I cleaned her very well and she was purring, but how can an electrical/mechanical system just fix itself and start working again?

Any ideas?

Jim

 

The batteries in that module are weird! They surface oxidize at times and can cause this.

The charger circuit for those batteries is w/in the module.

You still should remove it, and replace the batteries with an external one.

 

So it could have recharged itself after all these years?

I just can't imagine how cleaning my car could have caused the alarm battery to reset itself...but then a Ferrari is no average car...scarily more similar to an animate than a mechanical object!!

Jim

 

Cleaning the car had nothing to do with it.

Can be change temp, etc, and just a quirk.

However, don't be fooled. It will crap out again!

 

Ain't that the truth!

I was kidding (more or less) about it being associated with cleaning her...ghosts in the machine is more like it!

Thank you for your replies,

Jim

 

Hi Greg, Ray, Taz and everybody else
I am new here and what a great Ferrari forum this seems to be.
I have same problem with my 355 F1 Spider siren.
Would this Varta-battery do the bussiness?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

That looks to be more of a computer battery.

I would not try that unless you were sure of it.

 

Ok, I will stick with the Ni-Cd replace then.

One more thing. When I lock the car it will blink once and then it blinks another 4 times.
Im afraid that maybe the car thinks some door or something is not closed and if I fix the alarm then I have just make bigger problems when the cars alarm will start all the time in the future. Have we got any experts here that knows what will happen if I make the battery change? Car is stored in a facility were I should have big complains from neighbours if alarm keep going off.

/David in Sweden(sorry for my bad english)

 

I would make sure the vehicle's main battery is OK and kept on a battery tender while in storage.

 

Greg

My main car battery is OK.
Why does car blink once and then 4 more times? when I larm car.
Is there a possibility that the cars alarm will go off on and on in the future if I "fix" the Alarms siren?

Sorry if I dont fully understand everything i english.

Best Regards

David

 

David

I do experience the "red light problem" at my 360 F1 2000 right now. At the moment i am thinking of doing this battery change or trying to get a completely new siren.

Maybe we could get in touch as I can see that you are also from Sweden? I'll try to send my e-mail in a private message to you.

 

I have had the LED-problem on my 360 for a while and my plan is to fix it just before I put the car away for the winter. Unfortunately I cannot wait anymore because the alarm has been acting really strange during this weekend:

Earlier the car alarm has beeped two times every time i put the ignition on. I belive that the car is trying to tell me that the battery in the siren is out. Today it got totally crazy, it starts to beep one minute or so after I have turned the alarm on. It is not a "full" alarm with beeps all the time. The sirens beeps three times then it hold on for 2 seconds, then it beeps agan. It does this cycle again and again.

Do you think this is the same problem or is it something else? My plan was to buy a complete new siren but now I concider to go to my Ferrari dealer right away instead and let them do the job and hopefully they can find the problem. But ofcourse this will cost me $$$!

 

Can the alarm and LED simply be disconnected so the problem goes away or will the car not start?

 

I did it a little bit different as I choosed to replace the batteries inside of the siren. In my opion its a quite easy job to remove it every fifth year or so.

I used a small metal saw to open the siren, it took only 10 minutes and was a simple operation. When I closed it I used the same tape as for mounting windshields.

It was quite easy to remove the old batteries and put the new ones in place.

In Sweden the batteries can be found here:
https://www.elfa.se/elfa3~se_sv/elfa/init.do?item=69-304-16&toc=0

Everythíng works perfect afterwards and the alarm is acting totally normal again.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Tried this mod today and nothing changed. I am confident I got polarity correct. Does it matter which terminals I solder onto?

What happens if I don't replace the siren? Will everything else continue to work?

Cheapest place to get a replacement siren?

Thanks!

 

Possibly the fix wasn't done properly, but I would bet that the board got damaged, and couldn't be saved. I don't know what would happen if you leave the siren out, but I think everything else will work fine.

When I did mine, the board was obviously fried so I just bought a new siren and installed it. It was an easy fix. The cheapest place I found (probably still the cheapest) by far is:
http://www.awautoparts.us/product.asp?pid=1232

Good luck!