Grey wire mod (extend alarm remote range) (1 Viewer)

[Ebag333]

Replacing my remote battery got me from 5' to 20'.

Good enough for my general purposes.

-KK

With my nearly dead battery I easily have 20'-30' range.

I'll be curious to see what a fresh battery gets me, but now I'm in no rush to get one.

 

[Ebag333]

Update on this mod.

Drove the rig last weekend (for 4 days) as we were going up to her sister's wedding, and I was playing taxi. She does not have the extended antenna (yet).

With my remote (which probably does need a new battery) I had to practially stand at the drivers side door to un/lock. I had trouble un/locking while standing at the tailgate (very irritating).

After coming home and getting to drive mine, I'm very happy with being able to trigger the alarm from 10+ feet away (easily, I can still hit longer ranges with LoS).

So this mod will actually save a bit of money and headache as:

1) I won't have to replace batteries as often because a "weak" battery can still trigger the alarm from a reasonable range.

2) I won't have to hit the button 10 times trying to it to un/lock. First or second try nearly every time.



Additionally we blew the fusible link in the back of the cigarette plug, and while "fixing" (*cough*bypassing*cough*) it I noticed that the grey wire was terminated on the wiring harness directly behind the alarm LED light. Mine was not terminated there, but my guess is that it was a shorter wire and is probably still terminated on the bundle, just somewhere under/around the steering wheel.

So if you simply want to extend it up instead of bypassing, it might be worth while to pull that and see if yours is terminated there. It would still be more time consuming to run it back up the A pillar as you'd have to double back or extend past the glove compartment, as opposed to running it up the B pillar or up the seat.


HTH

 

[hkimsoft]

Awesome. Now I can lock/unlock10+ feet. Took 30mins as described though B pillar...

 

[RavenTai]

The grey wire runs up to the LED on my 80,

I have always been annoyed with the poor range of the alarm/keyless, some time ago I tried adding an extension to the existing wire, little improvement, I even took apart the transmitter thinking maybe I could add to the antenna there no such luck, It sounds like the key is bypassing the factory antenna,

Gonna give that a try, thanks

 

[calfj60]

went to do this today and found I don't havethe grey wire or the four pin plug?? maybe my truck is too old...oh well did discover the seat bolts were really loose..

 

[Ebag333]

went to do this today and found I don't havethe grey wire or the four pin plug?? maybe my truck is too old...oh well did discover the seat bolts were really loose..

Do you have the alarm box under your seat?

You may have one of the other types of alarms or an aftermarket alarm.

And loose seat bolts = bad.

 

[RavenTai]

went to do this today and found I don't havethe grey wire or the four pin plug?? maybe my truck is too old...oh well did discover the seat bolts were really loose..

there are a couple of different "factory" alarm/keyless systems, most were actually port installed , the RS300 is the most common and has the grey wire.

 

[Ebag333]

RT, did you ever get around to trying this?

 

[RavenTai]

no not yet,

 

[calfj60]

I have the alarm box under my seat but with just one big connector...

 

[Ebag333]

I have the alarm box under my seat but with just one big connector...

Picture of it?

Do you know the model type?

 

[calfj60]

here is a pic...

 

[Ebag333]

here is a pic...

No pic.

 

[calfj60]

can' t upload pic...but it is a NO MW 8480...

 

[Ebag333]

can' t upload pic...but it is a NO MW 8480...

The goal of this mod was to extend the range of the "factory" alarm. This applies to the RS3000 alarm.

Doesn't sound like it's gonna work then.

 

[calfj60]

Oh well atleast I get to tighten the bolts on the drivesr seat...thanks for the idea...wish it would have worked for me..

 

[98 SNAKE EATER]

Finally got around to doing this today


First off, what are these extra wires I found under the seat

Looks like a coax and some sort of conduit cable with 8 microsized wires (tele?)




Anyhoo, I traced the gray antenna wire as far as I could up into the dash, but after I got a cramp in my neck, I said screw it and just soldered up a new wire

Ran the new wire up the B-pillar into the headliner and fished it over to the passenger side and ran it all the way back to the C-pillar

Before the mod, I had to use the chin method to get 10ft.

Now I get about 300 ft. and I have yet to replace the old battery that's been in the remote since I bought the truck 2 years ago

Here's a test video

YouTube - FZJ80 RS3000 Alarm Range Extension




Ebag, you tha man!!

 

[VanGo]

SB,

Good work on this mod! The video reinforces my need to to do this repair. This past weekend is a perfect example, e.g ... walking to the truck after ice skating with the kid-o's and they want to "race" to the truck- straight line very few vehicles, no worries, except daddy-o can not unlock the truck from a distance greater than 3 feet!! Anyway, great work, killer horn....

 

[450 DUDE]

Big thanks to Ebag.. on posting this........
Its been on my list for a while and finally got around to it.
Pretty much did it the same way but it took a heck of alot longer than 5 min.

It was like 2 hrs after I cleaned and vacumed the crap under the seat , Performed the driver seat belt service , put the battery on the charger , inspected my rear sway bar mounts that are about ready to break and adjusted the parking brakes..

I ran it up the B pillar to the headliner and forward about a foot along the roofline.
Now I wont get strange looks from people in the parking lot while working the chin method ( UCM )

Thanks again,
ken

 

[Atoyot1031]

Yup, five minutes (with putting tools away).

I spliced a brown 12 gauge wire in to the grey. Then I run it under the carpet by the rear left leg of the driver's seat, up behind the trim for the DS seat belt, and tucked it under the molding around the driver's door. I ran it to my gauge cluster on the A-pillar.

I tested it at the farthest side of my garage (60 yds), and it works!

I wonder if it will be tough adjusting to having an alarm that I don't have to activate and deactivate while peering in my Cruiser.