Need advice on uninstall Viper alarm

[Hot shot]

First off Happy Pre-Thanksgiving Day to everyone
I have a 2003 Honda Accord
Bought the car maybe 7 years ago with alarm already on it
If the car sits for 10-14 days it will not turnover
I’m pretty sure it’s the alarm system draining the battery
I’ve pulled 1 battery cable, attached multimeter and don’t remember the exact reading but it wasn’t nothing to worry about
I cut the dome light on and had a 1 amp draw so I know meter is working Alternator is working (14.6 volts)
I want to get this thing out of the equation
Watched a ut video of a guy uninstalling one. He took 1 wire off at a time. All I want to do is the bare minimum to where it has no control over anything
It has remote start also
I have pics of the box and a small box
Any advice would be appreciated because I don’t want to dig a hole too deep where somebody has to throw me a rope to get me out (been there and done that)
Everybody on this forum probably has Lol!
That could be a whole another topic



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[exranger06]

There should be a wire that goes from that box to the car's fuse box. That's where the alarm gets its power from. Just disconnect that wire so the alarm cannot power up. If you open up the fuse box, you'll probably see a "fuse tap" which looks like this:

That's what you want to unplug. Keep in mind your car probably has more than one fuse box, so if you don't see that, check the other fuse boxes.

 

[mike93lx]

Take it to a stereo shop. Uninstall won't cost that much.

 

[aka Larry]

There should be a wire that goes from that box to the car's fuse box. That's where the alarm gets its power from. Just disconnect that wire so the alarm cannot power up. If you open up the fuse box, you'll probably see a "fuse tap" which looks like this:

That's what you want to unplug. Keep in mind your car probably has more than one fuse box, so if you don't see that, check the other fuse boxes.

Not saying this alarm was or was not professionally installed, but I've never seen a professional installer use a fuse tap.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Not saying this alarm was or was not professionally installed, but I've never seen a professional installer use a fuse tap.

What do they use then?

 

[aka Larry]

What do they use then?

They typically cut the wires somewhere behind the dash or steering column and splice the new wires into the existing harness.

 

[mike93lx]

What do they use then?

T taps and if any fuses, they are inline. The system uses very little power.

 

[strutaeng]

You might want to revisit the amperage draw at the battery with ammeter.

I was just doing the same with my Mom's Escape last weekend. She had been having battery drain issues for sometime. I bought and hooked up a Klein MM700 and was drawing 1.92mA. Tried doing several things including locking and arming the alarm, but nothing made it worse. Read that 50mA and below is okay.

I was expecting to see a large draw and start pulling fuses to find the circuit responsible, then try to narrow from there.

I did more digging and it turns out these have a door lock actuator that will randomly report false door openings, causing dome light to come on and alarm triggers in the middle of the night. Apparently, it's a common problem on these.

Just take a more systematic approach, it may be that the alarm is functioning normally.

 

[Bretny]

Have you had your battery checked?

 

[Hot shot]

This problem has been going on for 5 years or so
The cranking over on this car has never been what I think it should be even with a new battery
The starter motor may be weak
I need to find another 03 to compare it with
I definitely want to look at the ignition and starter circuit connections of this alarm
and rule out any poor connections causing not quite enough current going to starter
and take that out of the mix. Probably will replace starter motor anyway
But battery is still being discharged

Strueang. You refreshed my memory
I also read less than 50ma was ok
Mine was around 15 when I checked I will check it again though
I have the mm400 from Home Depot
Alarm has never went off unexpectedly
Put a new battery in 4 1/2 years ago
Had to charge it up several times during that period
Since winter is approaching I went and bought a new interstate battery from Costco yesterday

 

[dogdog]

just put an amp meter on that fuse for the alarm... and monitor the current draw... but OP seems not comfortable working with electricity... so the best thing to do is take it to an installer... not that they are better than you... I have plenty of them F-things up before I decide to DIY but that is a different story...


but I do agree with others, unless your alarm is triggering the horn or something heavy / high load items constantly... probably not the alarm. I have had battery going bad, that if I let the car sits it drains itself in a week. Do what others say test the battery ?

 

[exranger06]

This problem has been going on for 5 years or so
The cranking over on this car has never been what I think it should be even with a new battery
The starter motor may be weak
I need to find another 03 to compare it with
I definitely want to look at the ignition and starter circuit connections of this alarm
and rule out any poor connections causing not quite enough current going to starter
and take that out of the mix. Probably will replace starter motor anyway
But battery is still being discharged

Strueang. You refreshed my memory
I also read less than 50ma was ok
Mine was around 15 when I checked I will check it again though
I have the mm400 from Home Depot
Alarm has never went off unexpectedly
Put a new battery in 4 1/2 years ago
Had to charge it up several times during that period
Since winter is approaching I went and bought a new interstate battery from Costco yesterday

1. You don't need to disconnect the alarm to test the starter circuit. Actually, I can tell you right now that the alarm is NOT affecting the starter. I'll explain more but first:
2. You can test the starter circuit before wasting money on a starter that may not need to be replaced.

There's a thick cable that goes from the positive battery post directly to the starter. That's what powers the starter. The starter obviously is bolted right to the engine, which is grounded. The thick negative battery cable attaches directly to the engine block, which completes the circuit.

As long as those cables and connections are in good condition, the starter is receiving plenty of power. It doesn't matter what the alarm is doing to the rest of the electrical system; it will have NO effect on the starter (unless it's draining the battery, but since you said this happens even with a brand new battery, I don't think that's the case).

Now, to confirm the cables and connections are good:
Do a voltage drop test. Check out YouTube for videos on how to do this. Basically, if you measure the voltage between both ends of a cable WHILE THERE'S A LOT OF CURRENT GOING THROUGH THE CABLE (in other words, WHILE the starter is cranking the engine over) there should be little to no voltage difference. If there's more than 0.5V, you have a problem with the cable or a bad connection somewhere between those points. Do this test for the positive and negative cables.

If your cables and connections pass the voltage drop test, and the battery is still good, THEN buy a new starter.

 

[strutaeng]

This problem has been going on for 5 years or so
The cranking over on this car has never been what I think it should be even with a new battery
The starter motor may be weak
I need to find another 03 to compare it with
I definitely want to look at the ignition and starter circuit connections of this alarm
and rule out any poor connections causing not quite enough current going to starter
and take that out of the mix. Probably will replace starter motor anyway
But battery is still being discharged

Strueang. You refreshed my memory
I also read less than 50ma was ok
Mine was around 15 when I checked I will check it again though
I have the mm400 from Home Depot
Alarm has never went off unexpectedly
Put a new battery in 4 1/2 years ago
Had to charge it up several times during that period
Since winter is approaching I went and bought a new interstate battery from Costco yesterday

Also look at the voltage difference across the fuses to see if there is amperage draw at each circuit. Here's a good video:

I didn't know there are tables for converting voltage drop to mA draw based on fuse size, so learned something.

You likely already know this, but don't crank with DVM connected to battery on ammeter mode, or you'll blow your DVM fuse. I knew this, but forgot about it after I came back from lunch and cranked the engine, LOL.

 

[dogdog]

..........
Since winter is approaching I went and bought a new interstate battery from Costco yesterday

good luck... the bad battery in my case was the "new Interstate" battery from Costco about 9 months in and just dies, kills it self about 7 days parked when charged on a charger...

Also check your water level if it is a regular wet battery (not sealed)... only top it off after it is fully charged or at least when the charger says it is fully charged., or electrolyte say so if you are that old school.

 

[Bretny]

A weak starter could cause a slow cranking condition. Have you measured voltage after a week before you try to start the vehicle?

 

[Hot shot]

I think I may have solved the problem
First I did a voltage drop check on all the factory fuses
All went to 0 voltage
I then put the multimeter (on amps) in series on the negative side of battery
Had a draw of 50ma and spiking to 70ma about every 40 seconds and then back to 50
I then located the in-line fuse for the alarm and did the voltage drop test on it (armed and unarmed)
That tested 0 volts also
I then pulled the alarm fuse and my amp draw at the battery went down to 30ma with no spiking. So hopefully it will be fine. Time will tell
Motor cranks over pretty good. I might still look at starter connections if it’s easily accessible
Thanks for all the advice

Edit I thought I would’ve had a voltage drop on the alarm fuse. Go figure