**alarm**

[kris]

hey olks i have a 316ti compact 2002 plate i used the car today everything was fine untill i got home parked it and locked it about 3 mins later the alarm started going off then stopped by the time i got to the car. jumps in the shower comes out and off its going again and back off itself i get ready go down stair and whey hey it starts again go outside switch it of come back inside and again its driving me nutts ive had to leave the car unlocked! anyone had this or any ideas what it could be thanks.

[Tommo]

Hi there. I had the same sort of problem with mine a few months ago where my alarm kept going off for no reason. After a bit of investigation I discovered that it was caused by a faulty Alternator. The alternator was draining power from the battery when the car was not running. Since replacing the alternator I haven’t had a problem.

Tommo :)

[kris]

cheers for the reply mate how did u manage to figure out it was that? if u get me cheers

[acrybb]

That makes sense kinda. I was reading through the manual today (sad I know but just got it) and it says if the alarm detects a break in power supply from the battery the alarm will sound. I assume the alarm must have a power storage system to allow that to happen.

[Tommo]

No problem we are here to help. As with any electrical problem its always logical to start at the beginning. First thing was to check the battery. When I did this the battery was drawing 2.3 amps when the car was not running. It should only be about 0.6 to 0.9 amps. This is for things like your clock and alarm as they continually draw a small amount of power. I put a new battery on it and it was just the same. As you can imagine 2.3 amps is a lot of power (for a car) to be losing while the car is not running. So the next logical step was the alternator. When I replaced the alternator the problem disappeared. It was on its way out. It was still charging the battery when the car was running, however the minute you switched the engine off it would start to draw power back into the alternator.

Tommo :)