I was wondering if anyone else’s alarm is really quiet? and also I am not able to unlock or lock it unless I am literally 5 feet away, is this normal?
not normal… sounds like the battery in your fob might be dying
My car alarm goes off half of the time I lock my car. It wont shut off for about 20 seconds or so either. I love when it happens late at night!
The key fob would explain the distance issue but not that its really quiet when it goes off. Is there another battery for the alarm itself inside the car? If so where is it? and if not is there anything else it could be?
^actaully the alarm could be related to the key as well. Our porsche has one key that will set the alarm off about 50% of the time when you unlock the car, but as soon as you stick the key in the ignition it shuts off. The other key works fine, and it’s not a reprogramming issue. I think the battery is just so old that it doesn’t hold a good enough charge to send a full signal back and forth to deactivact the car alarm.
I think technically when the key is in the ignition running, the car recharges the key battery, but that’s not to say that the battery might be in such poor health that it needs to be replaced. I know BMW keys are charged in the ignition as well. That’s why if you don’t use a key for a couple of months it won’t work remotely at first, but then gets charged after use.
On another note, I think the B7 key also has a better transponder in it to increase useful range. Your key should work at a further distance certainly, but the B6’s range isn’t as good as the B7’s range. Put a new battery in and pair it back up and go from there.
Anyone have info on the alarm siren being soo quiet?
Mine is super quiet as well, originally I first thought that just the arm chirp was quiet and the alarm would sound loud like normal but found out a few days ago that when the alarm is going off it’s just as quiet. I ran into the store to grab some food and left my 13 y/o daughter in the car, well when I left the car I set the alarm just out of habit. About 1 minute later my daughter calls my cell and tells me that the blinkers just started going off. I told her I wasn’t sure why and came out. She had set off the alarm through motion being in the car. When I get out there, I realized it was the alarm going off and the stupid alarm siren thingy was barely making any sound. So quiet in fact that my daughter hadn’t realized the alarm was going off in the car either, she simply though the blinkers starting going off.
I’ve heard other complaints on AZ but I never really thought about it since I had never had my alarm go off before. Now it kind of concerns me.
Yay, my alarm blinkers are going to scare a thief off :
So, I did some reading on this and found the siren for the alarm is located inside the trunk which is why its so quiet. I’ve also read that there is a separate battery for the alarm itself that can be replaced but I have yet to verify this. One option I’ve found is to first replace the key fob battery which helps with distance issues, also switching to the B7 key fob will improve arming distance as well. One option is to remove the rear bumper and trunk liner and re-mount the siren for the alarm so its on the outside of the car.
Sound wise It might be wise to check the condition of the horn. This woiuld ware out quick on the A8 I had. My alarm was very soft. I put in a new horn and issue resolved.
Also I thought that there was two horns. One in the trunk and one upfront for this.
After a lot of searching I have found the solution to this problem…enjoy, I have yet to do it yet tho.
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/306320-Alarm-Beep-Stop-Working-DIY-Fix-amp-Some-Pics
That’s neat. So they were able to chop it in half and get to the battery, but also sounds like he scrapped the project?
The hornblaster idea sounds more rewarding haha!
You gonna give this a shot?
if I can find where to purchase the batteries from, I was hoping someone would be a little more knowledgeable than I am in that area cuz I was not able to find them with a google search like he said.