(Home) Alarm. Electrical problem

I have just had a Sigma (Toad) Thatcham Catagory 1 alarm system fitted on our Townie, by a very good local auto electricians, however since this was fitted the cassette deck will not switch off with the ignition off as it should, the radio turns off OK, but just the cassette deck stays on, the electricians have been over all the circuits again & there is no return voltage going on, so where is this power coming from. As another very weird thing, whilst the cassette is playing, with the ignition turned off, if you turn on the side lights the cassette deck turns off, when you then turn off the side lights the cassette ejects & the cassette deck switches back off. I am wondering if it is an earth fault, but neither I nor the sparky can work it out. One thought is that there is a facility on the cassette deck to keep it on for when you want to all just sit in the van with the ign off, like on a Galaxy (spit!!!!) when the ign is off, if you press the radio on button it comes back on for an hour. Can anyone please shed some light on this one, either post a message, or e-mail me direct on the address above. Thanks. Regards Rob. - (#1976) Rob Drinkwater, 28 Jan 02

Take it back, Rob!! A toadie installer should do it right first time. It'll be something to do with the sidelight relay perhaps- Toyota have a habit of switching things on the negative side, all very confusing... I think he's using the sidelights for something (alarm active?) and it's connected to the wrong side of the relay, causing a backfeed.
David - (#1979) david miller, 29 Jan 02

David,
Have been scratching my head about this one all night, the alarm flashes the indicators not the side lights upon arm/disarm & also upon triggering, the starter motors & fuel cut off relays are the statutory 2 points of engine immobilisation, they take a live feed from the unfused main live wire from the battery in the fuse box, and a live feed from the ignition live fuse, but don't touch the auxilary fuse, which is what the radio & cassette player are on. So unless it's some kind of earth backfeed via the combined indicator/side/head/main beam lamp switch, I can't see what the problem is. - (#1989) Rob Drinkwater, 29 Jan 02

The switches on the column are all discrete, but I seem to recall that when I disconnected the multiplug under the column to service the indicator switch(worn contacts, sticky grease), the electrics went odd...
Something like if the sidelights are on, the clock/ acc circuit became live. Sound similar? Check the fuses- side, indicator, acc. Then unplug/ replug the connectors under the steering column.
Give that a try.
David - (#1997) david miller, 30 Jan 02

David,
The saga continues, if I remove the horn/hazard fuse (obviously permanent live) the cassette deck switches off with the ignition & loses it's equaliser settings, suggesting that this is where it gets it's constant live, so the live is back feeding via the accessory circuit somewhere. On a different note concerning the same bloody alarm, the central locking has been connected to it, so as to give auto lock/unlock with alarm arm/disarm, but when this was connected it disabled the driver's door pack switch, thus meaning that you had no means of locking the car when in motion, I queried this with the installer, he said that was a fact of life with imports, as they switch on the earth side, not the live side, so I would have to put up with it. Having sat & thought about the wiring, surely he could just put a couple of relays on the circuit so that the controller switches the relays & the relays switch an earth rather than live, thus making the locking work from the switch & the alarm, has anybody got this on their waggon, comments please, I want to get to the bottom of both of these problems, otherwise this could be a £350 white elephant of an alarm system fitted on the car. Thanks for your help guys. Regards Rob. - (#2004) Rob Drinkwater, 30 Jan 02

Rob, re the locking, I put in a remote locking kit, and rewired the door switch to put a feed into the locking receiver to switch each relay as required. Yes, this could be done with a couple of relays, it's even easier if the alarm has changeover contacts for the locking. Just like two sets of switches for electric windows...
The other issue is certainly a feed between two circuits, the only obvious thing is the hazard lights/ indicators... did the installer send the supply to the indicators to the input of the hazard switch, rather than tapping into the wires to the front bulbs, for example? - (#2009) david miller, 30 Jan 02