Aftermarket IForces alarm with remote start installation in D2

[ainarssems]

I bought several of these alarms at the beginning of last year looking to install 1 in the S8 and 1 in A6. The main reason I choose this alarm was the timer function for remote start. There are many cheaper and simpler remote start kits either with start only on pressing a button or with a time delay, i.e. 1,2,4 8 hours after locking car or periodic start like start every 4 or whatever hours, run for 15min and shut off the start agian after the same amount of time. I am not bothered about alarm functionality, what I wanted was a real time clock and possibility to set a time when car starts so that it is de-frosted/demisted and warmed up when I want to use it in the cold time of year. For example I work night shift and finish work at 6am so I want to set start time every day around 05:45 so that it's nice and warm when I come out of work. So I found these IForces alarms that did what I wanted and was not too expensive getting directly from supplier in Singapore. Well the time went past, summer arrived and the project was put to the side as the functionality was not needed during the summer. I have sold couple of them and offered 1 as the prize for annual meet which David won. I promised David I will do the installation on mine and do a write up on the forum so I feel a bit guilty for delaying it this long, but now finally with the cold weather arriving it is time to proceed with installation. The first up is S8 to receive the system as it is not the daily driver and can sit without use for a while if something goes wrong or if I need to source some extra components.

Before I attack the car I need to do some planning:

1.Getting wiring diagrams and doing some research on installation.
Car wiring diagrams are available in ElsaWin, some good information and wiring diagrams also available on http://www.bulldogsecurity.com/ Also some interesting videos on youtube to watch.
2.Decide the location for main unit and running wires.
Most of the wires for alarm side need to be connected to central locking system and remote start functionality to the ignition switch. Remote start wires will be running higher current so need to be thicker and shorter while there is very little current going through the wires for alarm/central locking. So the unit will be mounted somewhere in the front. The wires for the alarm part could be kept shorter and connected at various parts for but I have decided to create long harness to central locking unit in the boot and connect as many as possible of wires there to keep things simpler and avoid lots odf single wires going to different places.
3.Adress the immobilizer issue.
Obviously immobilizer will be blocking engine from running if there will be no key in the ignition. There are several ways to address the problem: disable immobilizer altogether in engine ECU, use immobilizer emulator, or use immobilizer bypass with an extra key or transponder from the key. I have not decided what to do With S8 yet but I can address it later as long as I get it working with the key in or ignition first as proof of concept. For the A6 I will use immobilizer bypass like this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TRANSPONDE...item2c709b4168
with extra transponder. What you do is put extra key(or transponder coded to the car) in the case, and the coil ring around the ignition switch so that when the alarm does remote start it powers up the bypass unit and it sends the signal from the spare key or transponder to the immobilizer coil. In other situations there is no power going to the unit and signal form spare key is not passed on so you need to use key as normally to run the engine. This would be my preferred method for S8 as well but I only have 1 key for S8. I have coded spare transponder for A6 but my tools unfortunately do not work on 1997-1999 A/S8 with black immobilizer box and the cheapest of the ones that does work cost in region of £200. So I will have to think about what to do. The ones that I have do work on 1994-1996 A8’s with white immobilizer box and on newer VAGs with immobilizer built in the instrument cluster, not sure about FL A8’s as I have not tried.
4. Prevent starting in gear.
This is not an issue on automatic A/S8 as it will not start in gear anyway but A6 will need to be addressed with extra unit like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DIRECTED-M...item19d8e71368
5. Get the supplies
I have bought 10 different colors of wires, 10m each to extend the harness from alarm unit to the central locking pump. Also bought immobilizer bypass and manual gearbox unit. All wires will be soldered for more reliable connection so no extra plugs or connectors needed. Various diameter heatshrink tubing also purchased for isolating connections. Isolating diodes will be needed to isolate door switches and might be needed for something else as well so bag of 100 1N4007 diodes bought but should not need more that 10 anyway so happy to post some for you David.

So it’s time to get a start on it. First I need to decide which functions and which wires I will use from the alarm unit and remove unneeded wires to reduce the clutter, extend the wires that will go to the central locking pump and wrap them together and then I can proceed to the car and start taking it apart to enable acces to the cabling needed and to route the wires.

This thread will be updated with comments and pictures as I go along and hopefully it will be installed by the end of week if weather permit and everything goes as planned. Any comments or advice will be appreciated in the meantime and any questions welcome.

I also have GPS/GSM add-on for these which enable tracking and remote lock/unlock/start/stop etc from smartphone app but that's to come later, first I need to get basic functionality.