Starter killing battery.. help please

[mickyd32]

Ok this is for you guys that install car alarms/starters. I have a compustar alarm start combo. A little while ago I had a problem with the wiring in the siren and I took it back to the place that installed it to get it fixed. Since its summer time I havn't had to use the starter portion of the kit. Last week it was F'n cold here and I decided to try starting my car to let it warm up. I assumed it would start, and when I went to leave, it wasn't started and my battery was dead. I thought it was a battery problem. So I boosted my car. When I went to leave university that same day, I again went to start my car in advance to warm it up, got there and the same problem, a dead battery. I thought there was a problem in my battery grounding or somehwere in my big 3, so I went and purchased some cable to redo that problem this comming weekend. I hadn't used me car starter this week since its been beautiful, but this morning I hit the start button instead of the unlock button in my half dazed sleep. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I hit that, everything went dead. All I have to di to fix the problem is ground my battery to my frame with my booster cables and life comes back to my battery. This is why I thought it was a ground problem in my car wiring itself. But I tested just hitting the start button after bringing my battery back to life and again it went dead. Would I be correct in assuming they f'd somewhere when they fixed my siren and there is a short somewhere in the start function of the unit now? Everything works fine as long as I don't use the command start

thanks

[Einzee]

You're right about being one for the installers. As a retired installer I will assume that you have checked and rechecked the obvious. I've got two scenerios for ya. First, when you had this siren problem. Is it possible that your defective siren may have shorted something inside the alarm? Second (this is more likely the culprit) Since you have discovered that you can "Bring the car back to life" I would recon that you should check the ground wherever the "Box" is located. I have done numerous installs w/ starter alarms (mostly Autopage) and there are three to five grounds, depending on what options were installed, coming from the alarm. While you are down there check all other connections as well. Grab wires and move them around a little to see is there might be a bad connection somewhere. After you have done that and you still can't find the problem, you may want to prepare to invest in another alarm.