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[tomoco]

 :PHello again, i joined up a couple of days ago. Now its time to mention a couple of niggles i have with my omega 2.6 2002.
The first thing is that dreaded sounder horn(the one with the ni-cads in).. It's been going off every now and then but only when i start the car, but it decided to go off all on its own at 4 am this morning(woke half the street up i think). i.ve read in various parts of this forum about disconecting it, so i did. After about half an hour of noise(think it got upset) all seemed fine, but when i tested the alarm on the car(just used the bonnet sensor as it was already up) i.ve got no sound at all. Isnt the main alarm supossed to set of the car horns. the indicators flash but no sound. Any ideas ??.

The second thing on my car is not so important (but still annoying). Its the interior lights (courtesy lights) cant get them to work at all. The roof ones and the door ones just wont come on. checked all the bulbs and door switches and of coarse the fuse(Book says fuse 12). Took out the fuse and replaced it anyway. everything else on that circuit works fine,air con,hazards,radio and information display. Is thier another fuse or relay in that circuit or is it more serious (Trip to vauxhall)

many thanks for any help you give to me.. mark t.

[Kevin Wood]

I've had some alarm hassles recently so I had a poke around. As far as I can see, the "power sounder" which is the battery powered horn you disconnected just connects to the line that feeds the main horn sounder, the battery positive and an ignition switched positive.

It sounds whenever the main alarm sounder is triggered and whenever the supply from the battery fails, if it's longer than 15 seconds after the ignition was switched off. It basically adds Thatcham approval to the basic alarm which has no battery backup.

It was not fitted on some variants of the car so I would expect the main sounder to work without it. Did the main (similar to a car horn) sounder also go off when the power sounder was fitted?

If the indicators are flashing I would wager that someone has disconnected the main horn due to troublesome activation of the alarm. It is down under the scuttle near the power sounder. It could be that the horn has packed up, of course. Maybe no-one noticed since the power sounder would have activated in an alarm condition in any case.

Not sure about the interior lights. An odd one. Do they come on when you pull the headlamp switch?

Kevin

[tomoco]

  Hi Kevin. Thanks for the info.. The main alarm horn you mention didnt come on when the sounder went off. Thinking about it now, i never did check to see if the main horn worked in an alarm situation (only had the car a month) so it could be faulty. I didnt remove the sounder so i could re-connect it then check the alarm again.
When the sounder has been going off it has never set off the indicators like it would if the alarm was triggered.
Going back a bit to when i bought the car. The garage did say they charged the battery up for me. I assume they disconnected it first. Does the sounder need reprogramming because i had to reset the sunroof and windows. Maybe its not faulty at all??

As for the interior lights. No the main light switch doesnt switch them on either. Just a thought, are they part of the alarm circuit too?.

Thanks mark t.

[Kevin Wood]

As far as I can see, the power sounder is a fairly dumb device that raises an alarm if the main alarm goes off OR if the battery is disconnected. It has no control over the indicator lights so if the sounder goes off without the indicators it's an indication that the sounder itself has got the hump, not that the main alarm has triggered. This is probably due to a flat battery or a fault in the power sounder. There is no intelligence in the power sounder so there's nothing to program if the battery goes flat. If the bar battery has been allowed to go flat, the power sounder will have gone flat as well, and it's likely that its' batteries haven't recovered and need replacing.

If the main alarm triggers, it flashes the indicators and sends a signal to the power sounder to activate. It also enables power to the main sounder, which is a horn-like device MUCH louder then the power sounder. As a matter of fact, the main sounder and the power sounder are connected to the same line from the alarm / central locking module so they should be triggered together in an alarm condition.

So, I'd suspect that the power sounder is faulty as it has been going off on its' own without the main alarm activating.
I'd also suspect a problem with the main sounder as this should operate when the alarm activates the indicators. It may have been disconnected or it may be faulty.

For future reference, if you turn on the ignition before unplugging the power sounder it shouldn't go off (power sounder is disbled for 15 seconds after power from the ignition feed is disconnected).

It might be worth reconnecting the power sounder to see if it is triggered with the alarm. Have a look for the main sounder while you're there and see if there are any obvious problems with it.

Kevin

[nixoro]

When you lifted the scuttle to get to the power sounder did you see an alarm horn connected next to it, might be worth checking the connector on the horn if it has a horn aswell.

I tried a horn with my sounder and it made an awful racket, try one and then the other i think they should work independently as mine did when I tested it.

Hope this makes sense and helps

[tomoco]

 :)Thanks guys i will have another fiddle. this time i'm covering my ears up (still ringing)

mark t.

[tomoco]

  :DHi All, just letting you know whats happening about the alarm sounders..

The main alarm sounder(the one that looks like a normal car horn) is Duff and the other alarm sounder(the annoying one that goes off when it feels like it) usually in the early hours is faulty. So its off to get a pair. Vauxhall want £20.30 plus vat for the main alarm horn and £48.35 plus vat for the sounder alarn (battery disconnection siren) is this a good price or are they over priced. Do any of you know where i can get them a bit cheeper.

thanks for the help so far.

mark t.

[Elite Pete]

I would post in the wanted section im sure you will get them alot cheaper

[Kevin Wood]

Sounds like you're getting to the bottom of it. I would look out for a 2nd hand horn as EP says. As for the power sounder, the likely problem is that the batteries have died. A second hand one may well have a similar problem.

The system will work without it with the disadvantage that if a scumbag gets into the car they can pop the bonnet, disconnect the battery and silence the alarm. They'll already have created a fair racket by then though.

I don't know where you're located but I'd be happy to have a look at the power sounder and see if the batteries are easily replaced. Chances are that it can be resurrected and for much less money than a new unit.

Kevin

[tomoco]

 :yHi Kevin and thanks for the advice. I'm in Leicester. I have heard that you need a soldering iron to replace the batteries in the sounder. I'm pretty good with one of those. any idea where i can get the replacement batteries from.

thanks again   mark

[iggy21uk]

I think this company did them ?

http://www.cellpacksolutions.com/

[Markjay]

See also this thread:

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1160221704/2#2