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Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: sjw on 21 November 2019, 18:46

Title: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 21 November 2019, 18:46
Hi all,

I'm having a bit of an issue with my car alarm going off seemingly at random. I would say it has happened four out of the last 7 nights, between 23.30 and 02.30. This is obviously really annoying as even once the chirping has stopped, the lights continue to flash for about another 15 minutes. SO I have to get up and stop it. Not to mention annoying the neighbours....

Now, I've recently (2-3 weeks ago) installed a JB4 which obviously required disconnecting the battery etc. So I'm wondering if I've knocked something here.

I have a few other ideas -

- The battery wasn't reconnected properly, and the cold is making the connections flaky (I found out the hard way that if you disconnect the battery with the doors locked, the alarm blasts. I've retightened the connections now.
- I've knocked some wiring underneath the passenger side dash, which might be where the wiring for the alarm is? I don't know
- My dashcam is set to be on all the time. This hasn't been a problem up until now, but I've disabled this for now in case it was draining the battery
- There's an insect of some sort in the car!

Any ideas? I really don't want to take it to a garage as I've got the JB4 installed now and it was a pain in the arse! Don't really want to have to take it off again in less than a month

Mk7.5 GTI PP (not that it probably matters)

Thanks people  :smiley:
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Watts on 21 November 2019, 18:49
Seems odd that it only goes off in the early hours. Are you sure no-one is trying to get in? Other than that, not a clue, sorry.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 21 November 2019, 19:22
Yes that's what I thought. That's why I was thinking about temperature.

It's gone off when parked behind my girlfriend's car with no way to take it off the driveway as well. So I'm not sure why someone would try to get in then. I'll have to check the dashcam
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Gnasher on 21 November 2019, 20:06
Complete guess but could it be voltage drop from having the jb4 on the car as well as the dashcam? It'll get colder in the night (as you already suspect) which makes batteries less efficient at a guess.

Try uninstalling the jb4 and see if that cures it would be my next move, just to check.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: mcmaddy on 22 November 2019, 06:39
I've got front and rear dash cam and never had the alarm go off due to battery being low. Saying that mind the dash cam has settings to prevent killing the battery. Why don't you get your battery checked and eliminate that if it's ok.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Rob_benton on 22 November 2019, 07:09
Common problem on my old BMW Z4 was the bonnet sensor.
I don’t know where it is on the Golf but maybe worth giving it a few pushes and lubricating it. 10 second job.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 22 November 2019, 07:39
Common problem on my old BMW Z4 was the bonnet sensor.
I don’t know where it is on the Golf but maybe worth giving it a few pushes and lubricating it. 10 second job.

The alarm didn't go off last night, thank god! I've unplugged the dash cam, tightened the battery terminals, and obviously re shut the bonnet. If it happens again the sensor is where I'll look
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: dean5125 on 22 November 2019, 08:26
… And just something you mentioned in the OP, turn off the internal monitoring for the alarm for a couple of nights, quick job and will eliminate one more possible!

nothing worse than electrical issues..... especially intermittent ones, good luck!   
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 22 November 2019, 09:37
… And just something you mentioned in the OP, turn off the internal monitoring for the alarm for a couple of nights, quick job and will eliminate one more possible!

nothing worse than electrical issues..... especially intermittent ones, good luck!

Yup, that is next on my list after the bonnet sensor!

I'm hoping it is just a coincidence and not to do with the JB4, as there was a couple of days before it started happening. The car is FILTHY though, so maybe it is dirt on a sensor. Fingers crossed I can get it sorted!
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Snoopy on 22 November 2019, 09:42
When ultrasonic sensors ho faulty they trigger with tempurature drop or rise. My first port if call would be to turn off interior sensors and see if that fixes it. Then as said bonnet sensor. You could get it scanned as that would show whats triggered the alarm.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 22 November 2019, 09:53
When ultrasonic sensors ho faulty they trigger with tempurature drop or rise. My first port if call would be to turn off interior sensors and see if that fixes it. Then as said bonnet sensor. You could get it scanned as that would show whats triggered the alarm.

Is an OBD11 good enough for that? I've been tempted to pick one up anyway.

The JB4 can read some codes, and there are some, but it just tells me that it doesn't know what they mean
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: fredgroves on 22 November 2019, 11:03
Its not a cat jumping on the car is it?

That can and does set it off...
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: 2007GTI on 22 November 2019, 11:14
Do you live near a main road, I do and my old Golf MK5 and more recently neighbours car's alarm goes off when a certain loud bus or trucks goes past. on the Mk5 VW just turned the sensitively down, and it solved it.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 22 November 2019, 11:20
Do you live near a main road, I do and my old Golf MK5 and more recently neighbours car's alarm goes off when a certain loud bus or trucks goes past. on the Mk5 VW just turned the sensitively down, and it solved it.

No, we've lived here over a year, not particularly close to a busy road, and it's only recently been a problem. Could be, but unlikely
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 22 November 2019, 11:21
Its not a cat jumping on the car is it?

That can and does set it off...

Thought about this as well, not sure why they'd suddenly pick on my car, and you'd think the wailing alarm and flashing lights would be a deterrent!
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: SRGTD on 22 November 2019, 11:29
Its not a cat jumping on the car is it?

That can and does set it off...

Thought about this as well, not sure why they'd suddenly pick on my car, and you'd think the wailing alarm and flashing lights would be a deterrent!

I can remember reading on a forum a few years back that a GTI owner had a problem with their car alarm going off intermittently. They found a large live spider in their car, and presumably the movement of the spider was picked up by the car’s interior motion sensors. The spider was removed from the car and no more false alarms.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 22 November 2019, 11:49
Its not a cat jumping on the car is it?

That can and does set it off...

Thought about this as well, not sure why they'd suddenly pick on my car, and you'd think the wailing alarm and flashing lights would be a deterrent!

I can remember reading on a forum a few years back that a GTI owner had a problem with their car alarm going off intermittently. They found a large live spider in their car, and presumably the movement of the spider was picked up by the car’s interior motion sensors. The spider was removed from the car and no more false alarms.



Oh christ.... that would be my worst nightmare  :sick:
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: dean5125 on 25 November 2019, 13:10
Its not a cat jumping on the car is it?

That can and does set it off...

Thought about this as well, not sure why they'd suddenly pick on my car, and you'd think the wailing alarm and flashing lights would be a deterrent!

I can remember reading on a forum a few years back that a GTI owner had a problem with their car alarm going off intermittently. They found a large live spider in their car, and presumably the movement of the spider was picked up by the car’s interior motion sensors. The spider was removed from the car and no more false alarms.

Don't bet on it, not the brightest of animals some of them. I've seen my neighbours cat sat on his cars bonnet with the alarm screaming and the cat just gave the car a dirty look! Obviously a warm bum is preferable to noise pollution!! :laugh:
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 25 November 2019, 16:56
UPDATE:

The alarm hasn't gone off the last few nights, touch wood. I'm guessing it was the bonnet sensor, could have been the battery terminals. I guess I just have to enable the dashcam now and pray it doesn't start up again!
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: C2K on 10 December 2019, 07:26
Your dash cam was more than coincidentally installed when this started.

My father had this with his Nissan. Went back to the dealers multiple times and ultimately it was his dash cam triggering the internal alarm sensors through temperature. Can only assume it was installed next to the cabin sensor. Seems quite common on some other cars.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 10 December 2019, 11:30
Your dash cam was more than coincidentally installed when this started.

My father had this with his Nissan. Went back to the dealers multiple times and ultimately it was his dash cam triggering the internal alarm sensors through temperature. Can only assume it was installed next to the cabin sensor. Seems quite common on some other cars.

The dashcam was installed long before this started happening. The JB4 was installed a few days before it started.

It seems to be fixed now. I will just leave the dashcam as it is I think, and only set it to motion record if leaving it somewhere dodgy.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 30 March 2021, 14:08
Bumping this, as the bloody thing has started to do it again, probably 3 of the last 5 nights.

Someone mentioned that you can scan to find what triggered the alarm. I have an OBDEleven now, can I use that?


Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: fredgroves on 30 March 2021, 15:03
Do a scan, it will show up if its going to.
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 30 March 2021, 15:47
You have any idea what it would show up as? I cleared all the codes today (there were a few - no idea what they were) so I will see if it happens again and then scan
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: fredgroves on 30 March 2021, 16:12
https://uk-mkivs.net/topic/134120-check-what-triggered-the-alarm-last-with-vag-com/
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: madstaff on 30 March 2021, 16:32
Many years ago someone once told me the best way to get into a car which is alarmed is to keep setting it off, sooner or later you'll be that fed up of hearing it you'll leave your car unarmed and then the next time they try and set it off they'll be in.

Can you manually disable a Golf alarm?





Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Lordie on 31 March 2021, 17:50
Thought I'd jump in as you're getting through some of the options suggested already :grin:. I'd try setting up a camera with night vision just to see if anything obvious is causing it to go off. Doesn't sound like you have one already.

Not sure how tech savvy you are, but you can get a Yi smart security camera 1080p for just under £19 and it runs though a phone app. There are lots available but it's just the one I have and it's fairly easy to use and setup if you have a little tech knowledge. It also has motion notifications so you can mark out a zone on the camera view and a time schedule and it'll send you a notification when it detects motion
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Al1040 on 31 March 2021, 19:19
Thanks Lordie, just gone onto Amazon and bought one.
May need some tips later on setting it up :grin:
Did you purchase the subscription for cloud storage?
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 01 April 2021, 10:44
Thought I'd jump in as you're getting through some of the options suggested already :grin:. I'd try setting up a camera with night vision just to see if anything obvious is causing it to go off. Doesn't sound like you have one already.

Not sure how tech savvy you are, but you can get a Yi smart security camera 1080p for just under £19 and it runs though a phone app. There are lots available but it's just the one I have and it's fairly easy to use and setup if you have a little tech knowledge. It also has motion notifications so you can mark out a zone on the camera view and a time schedule and it'll send you a notification when it detects motion

I've thought about getting things like that before. How are they powered?
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Lordie on 01 April 2021, 16:39
Thanks Lordie, just gone onto Amazon and bought one.
May need some tips later on setting it up :grin:
Did you purchase the subscription for cloud storage?

No worries :grin:. Nah, the cloud subscription really isn't needed. It works like a dashcam where it loop records and saves the new clip over the oldest one. That Yi camera is simple, easy, and cheap. So for anything better/more serious you should be spending a lot more. Hopefully it's easy enough to setup but you're welcome to PM me if you get stuck

One important thing I forgot to add in my last post (sorry!), you need a micro SD card to put in the camera. I have lots laying around so forgot to say, maybe you have one laying around from a digital camera or something?. If not they're only around £6 on Amazon for a 32GB

I've thought about getting things like that before. How are they powered?

It's USB powered. Comes with a wall plug adapter but can be plugged in anywhere then links to your WiFi and the phone app. I've got the ones on a stand so it goes inside in my window. Take a bit of tweaking to get the angle right so the IR night vision doesn't reflect on the glass but works ok. Pretty clear video in the day and night is viewable but you couldn't read a number plate for example. That would require a much better camera, but that hopefully isn't needed in this situation
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 01 April 2021, 18:43
Sorry, I was too lazy to click the link. I thought it was an outdoor thing
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: Lordie on 01 April 2021, 19:08
I didn't send a link. They do an outdoor one too but the indoor one is very cheap just to watch the car and use for a while, see if anything is causing the alarm to go off. Didn't want to recommend an expensive outdoor camera that you have to screw into your wall etc
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 02 April 2021, 16:59
Lol, I was clearly also too lazy to check back and see what I was too lazy to do
Title: Re: Car alarm going off in the middle of the night
Post by: sjw on 02 April 2021, 17:57
So, here's what I can find - it went off again half an hour ago. No one around

(https://thumbsnap.com/i/hgqnGzuU.png)