Guide to Remote Car Starters by The Sound Connection Staff
Dispelling Myths with remote car starters
Remote Starters DO NOT harm vehicles, improper installations and under qualified installers DO.
Remote Starters DO NOT void a vehicles factory warranty. The Magnuson-Moss warranty act established in 1975 protects your rights as a vehicle owner pertaining to aftermarket installed equipment. But, if an improperly installed or faulty remote car starter has an adverse effect on your vehicle, the manufacturer may deny your claim because it is technically not a manufacturer defect. In this case the liability would fall upon the shop that performed the installation. This is why it is extremely important to have highly trained technicians from a long standing reputable shop perform any work on your vehicle.
Quality Remote Starters
As we just discussed with the quality of a remote starter installation, it is equally as important to have a high quality remote starter for the exact same reasons. The two main differences that set remote starters apart are: Quality of parts used and research and engineering. Although two remote starters may look the same on the outside, it’s the inside that matters. A remote starter of lesser quality will use components with much lower thresholds and tolerances. This means that if too much power is being ran thru a component it may literally burn up. As in fire… This is where the money spent on research and development comes in. A company that produces quality remote starters will invest time and money into the testing of their equipment under all conditions to ensure the proper components are used. Is your safety worth saving a hundred dollars? How about your children’s? Your parent’s?
Picking out a remote starter
As technology evolves and becomes more financially attainable, it allows for more remote starters options than ever before. Having your pick between 8 to 10 remote starter options is now the norm.
We’ll start with the basics of a One Way system. One Way remote starters were the first to hit the market and still maintain some of their popularity today. Once the command is sent from the remote control, the vehicle confirms it has received it by flashing the parking lights or having the parking lights illuminated while the vehicle is remote started. For you to know that the vehicle has: received the command, started the vehicle and is currently running you will need to visually see the vehicle.
The introduction of Two Way remote starters (and alarms) has opened a whole new world of electronic information available on remote car starters. The commands are still sent a similar way to the One Way systems, but now, instead of having to visually see your car all you have to do is look and listen to your remote control. After the vehicle starts, the care will actually send a confirmation to your remote control. It will normally do this by way of a LCD (liquid crystal display) on your remote control. Featured on the display will be various icons that may include: remote start indicator, signal strength, door lock, door unlock, clock, countdown timer, timer mode, battery life, temperature, vehicle battery voltage, mute, hood open, door open, trunk open, shock sensor, car call, siren, passive arming, drive lock, valet, parking meter time, alarm clock and many more. These icons will give you information pertaining to your vehicle. For example, once the car starts your remote control will beep, vibrate and an exhaust icon will appear to let you know your car has started. In addition to this your remote control will even let you know how much longer the car will be running for, the temperature in the car, your cars battery voltage and any other status that you need to be aware of. From the features listed above you can already see the advantages to owning a Two Way remote starter. But, there is even more. Since your remote starter has a built in temperature display you can now have your car start dependant on the temperature. The remote control can automatically check the temperature in your vehicle and start it multiple times throughout the day or night to help maintain a healthy battery and ensure that your car will start when you need it to. You can even set a timer on your remote control to have it start at a specific time, just like a coffee pot in the morning. A Two Way remote starter is one of life’s little pleasures that you will wonder how you ever lived in Minnesota without it.
Vehicle Network Systems
Today’s vehicles are dependent upon a variety of operating systems. Similar to those of your computer. No longer does a wire have a single function, instead a single wire may do multiple functions, even hundreds. The same wire may be used for: lock, unlock, ignition, start, arm, disarm, trunk release, heated seats, sliding doors, horn, etc… How does this work you ask? One of the more common systems uses varying voltages on this wire to communicate with the computer systems inside of the car. Confusing? Yes. Complicated? Yes. But, this is the most elementary of all vehicle network systems. There are multiple other types found in cars you see on the road every day that are far more complicated. There is a good possibility that you are already driving one.
Wiring the Vehicle
Today’s remote starters are not a “plug and play” system like most people are led to believe. Every wire on a remote starter needs to be physically connected to the mating wire inside of the car. This means physically running the wire throughout the vehicles interior until the point of termination while avoiding any obstacles along the way that may cause harm to the wire. Once at the termination point the vehicles wire will need to be stripped of the insulating material and the remote start wire will need to be wrapped and soldered onto it, black taped and zip tied into place. This occurs for each and every wire ran from the remote starter. On average a remote starter will have between 25 and 30 wires that will need to be ran and attached to the vehicle.
Computer Software and Security Interfacing
We have already discussed vehicle network systems, now it’s the remote starters turn. A remote starter IS a computer system and has to be treated as such. This means actual firmware downloads and computer programming is needed. In total we have over 2500 applicable firmware’s depending upon the year, make and model of a vehicle as well as any security interface needed. A common found security system in a vehicle is a small computer chip, usually buried in the head of the ignition key that sends a signal to your vehicle. If your vehicle does not see this signal it will not let the vehicle start. When we install a security interface we are programming a computer chip of our own with the same code as your key to trick the vehicle into thinking the key is actually in the cylinder being turned.
Tools Needed
With the advance in vehicle technology also comes the advance in tools needed to install a remote starter. The days of a flathead screwdriver and a ½” socket are gone. Today, tools are needed that are sensitive to the mobile electronics environment. On an average install we will use over $2,500 worth of tools. Besides the basics of hand tools, drills, solder guns and the like, we also need digital multi meters, oscilloscopes, specialized test leads and the aforementioned computer programming software.
Installation Time
After a review of all of the information you can see how a remote start install can take an average of 4 hours, even with an experienced installer. A “Bench Prep” consists of downloading all of the software onto the remote starter and bypass, printing off all related wiring instructions, reviewing wiring information and determining which wires will be needed for the install. An average of 30 minutes is given to remove the appropriate panels to access the wiring in the vehicle. The physical installation of the remote starter and bypass is normally 2 ½ hours and then the reinstallation of the panels at another 30 minutes. After everything is completed and back together a checklist is then performed to check all functions of the remote starter.
