What are your preferences for the OEM alarm dealer programmed memory settings and why... please...

I think there are three settings (enable alarm, disable alarm, and one more I am not clear on)

Do you like having the 'chirp' sound ?

I am thinking of having the dealer program the alarm so only arming it causes a chirp, and disarming it is silient. Logic being if I am near the car, I don't need to draw attention to me or the car, and if I am not near and it somehow disarms, it won't annouce to the world "hey I am unlocked now !!"

what do you people with the OEM alarms recommend...

I am going to the dealership tomorrow to have it activated. (put a post on the beneath the bonnet forum yesterday, but no replies )

Thanks in advance

 

I have the standard settings and like them - chirp on and off, lights flash. In having the chirp activated I took into account the sound/loudness of it and I do not find it annoying loud like some (I hate car horn activations, obnoxiously loud to subject people to esp very early/late hours).

Frankly I think the blinking of the light. or lack of it, is an obvious alarm indicator so I don't think disarming the disarm chirp will serve much purpose but I can see where you are coming from on that so why not? :smile:

By they way, for those concerned with the alarm light relocation to the window side from the other side (the Jan 05s got the washer fluid light which moved it) don't worry, it is just as obvious as before when its on. I was surprised just how far away I could see the light blinking from all around the car.

 

I really appricate it! See you in the 'hood' sometime since we are both in California ...

Northern California is not that far from Southern California, when you are sitting in the driver seat of a Mini !!

Best,

- Charlie

 

Its the least MMC #8 could do for #9 :smile:

And your right, its not that far, perhaps all of us will meet at some event or other

 

Ditto. My other car's OEM alarm uses horn sound for activation/deactivation, many times, it scared the hell of the people walked by, especially when I deactivate it. So, I have to kinda wait for no people are close enough around my car, then I press the button. Luckily, there was a way to deactivate the horn signal, so now I am act/deact it without sound, but thing is I cannot tell many times whether I successfully act/deact from a distance, since that car does not use turn signals for indication.

For my MINI alarm, I just use default setting, the sound is not that bad, not too loud. I don't feel embarass when deactivating the car, except many times, when people are checking out my car, when I am approaching, not sure I should press the key. Guess that is life for owning a MINI.

BTW, anybody has purposely trigger the alarm, I have never done it, but want to, since my alarm never sounds, so don't know if it is actually working.

 

eVal (MMC 8 helping MMC 9, lol ) and fs-mini.

I have never heard the chirp or can't remember if I ever did (!) but I will probably go with the defaults because a non flashing red led housing visible from the window pretty much says... unarmed... like eVal says

btw, eVal, I have put my alarm led on the 'new' left side, yet have a pre Jan 05 build. If it works, I will post how to do this.

 

2003 MC with OEM alarm, if you hear a chirp on activation, something is not fully closed, like the hood, trunk, or a door. This is not programable.

 

I got the alarm activated today at the dealer. They did a great job, and only charged me for 30 mins labor time.

(I had already installed it myself)

The cool thing is I had moved the Alarm LED from the right wiper stalk to the left headlight stalk, and it all worked like a champ!

(I have a pre Jan 2005 car.)

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Were you successful in retrofitting auto headlights and retroing the washer fluid reservoir light to your vehicle?

If so, what was involved?

 

Im kinda confused on this..My car doesn't chirp doing anything?? I have an 03 MCS...when I hit my buttons it just blinks

 

Then it is working. Want it to chirp; try leaving the trunk(boot) open a jar and then activate. As I said before, if it does the chirp, some thing is not fully closed and you should check doors, trunk, hood .....

 

Perhaps it is the programming? If you are saying it does not chirp when you activate and deactivate the alarm I would think it was because it was programmed not to.

 

I have an August '05 build MCS w/ alarm. It always "chirps" when arming and disarming. One beep/chirp when arming and two when disarming (or is it the other way around?)

 

I have an 03 too and it also doesn't do anything unless the door's open. So yeah, it's supposed to be that way (for the older cars....04/03 and earlier), at least that's what my SA told me.

 

Hmm, my '04 (Sept '03 build) chirps on arm and disarm. I'm pretty sure they're programmable.

Vehicle Memory settings for MINI from production date 09/03 on (2004 & 2005 model year)
Anti-Theft System
Acknowledge - Disarm acoustically Active/Not active
Acknowledge - Arm acoustically Active/Not active
Acknowledge - Arm acoustically, lids closed Active/Not active

 

(like Eric Rowland's)

The last option Activate - Lids open is not named well...

What that means is if after you arm the car alarm, you can later unlock the trunk and after you close the trunk, the lights flash and the alarm is again activated automatically.

I saw somewhere a memory program sheet in one of the pdf's you can download from minitechinfo.com that lists the options and what year car alarm they are on... there are definately differences - hence the various comments on this thread...

http://www.americangreetings.com/dis...ath=25200&va=1

happy turkey day people....

 

Yeah i have an '05 that doesnt chirp but does flash the lights when i lock it... i am going to look at minitechinfo.com and my dealer because i want it to chirp and also i want my doors to autolock when i am driving.
P.S.
are these settings something i can do? does the dealer have to do it?

 

Check that minitechinfo.com is a subscription... maybe i won't after all
and just checked my alarm it doesn't do anything when the door is ajar and i lock it the lights dont flash which i guess is right but still no chirp

 

I am a big fan of this site. It is direct access to BMW/MINI tech info, and at $25 for 24 hours of access time, you can download and save to your hard disk the 12 or 14 pdf's that describe in detail the inner workings of the car.

Not extremely technical details but detailed enough to understand the design and function of each overall system.

The interface is a little different to get use to for some aspects, but it also allows you to look at the service bulletins, and repair instructions for all years and types of Mini Coopers.

Saving all the pdf's alone for me was far better cost than paying $60-$80 for the Bentley manual, and yet I am certain that the Bentley is worth every penny... The minitechinfo site does not have a very good electrical schematic section in my opinion, and I have heard the Bentley manual is well worth it from that aspect alone....

andways....

My 2 cents worth...