Who installed a car alarm into their GS?
05-09-07, 10:24 PM
#17
Possibly 
It's gonna have to wait a little while though. Gotta come up with the funds for the alarm lol. I just bought a ton of engine upgrades for the turbo, so funding is a bit short...heh. I'm debating the same exact thing as you too, 5900 SST with badass remote range or 7900 with the color screen lol
It's gonna have to wait a little while though. Gotta come up with the funds for the alarm lol. I just bought a ton of engine upgrades for the turbo, so funding is a bit short...heh. I'm debating the same exact thing as you too, 5900 SST with badass remote range or 7900 with the color screen lol
05-09-07, 10:27 PM
#18
I was an installer for 5 years at a high-end shop (as in not a circuit city/best buy etc...) and have been Mecp certified since 1998.
Here is the deal. I totally understand you wanting to save money on the install. Thats why I got into it myself (and because I liked cars of course) way back when. You need to ask yourself though is the risk factor on this particular vehicle low enough that it's worth $200 and alot of your time.
Bottom line, if you feel confident go for it. Just be warned you are far away from a Civic when doing your Gs. It is going to be quite a bit more work, especially with the functions like windows/sunroof. I could bang out civics in under 2 hours including soldering everything and hiding wires, a Gs would take me much longer to do in the same manner.
You just need to realize, while it's nice to save money if you burn out any modules on your Gs (multiplex etc..) you are going to be looking alot more than $200 to replace it. Having a pro do it you get a lifetime warranty and the comfort of knowing that if anything is screwed up they are going to pay for it.
In MY opinion, if I was in your shoes I would let a pro do it. I am in no way insulting you or doubting your skill but your Lexus is not the best place to attempt only your second alarm on. If you attempt it and can't get it to work and take it to a competant alarm shop they are probably going to charge you even more to go back and remove everything and start fresh.
Here is the deal. I totally understand you wanting to save money on the install. Thats why I got into it myself (and because I liked cars of course) way back when. You need to ask yourself though is the risk factor on this particular vehicle low enough that it's worth $200 and alot of your time.
Bottom line, if you feel confident go for it. Just be warned you are far away from a Civic when doing your Gs. It is going to be quite a bit more work, especially with the functions like windows/sunroof. I could bang out civics in under 2 hours including soldering everything and hiding wires, a Gs would take me much longer to do in the same manner.
You just need to realize, while it's nice to save money if you burn out any modules on your Gs (multiplex etc..) you are going to be looking alot more than $200 to replace it. Having a pro do it you get a lifetime warranty and the comfort of knowing that if anything is screwed up they are going to pay for it.
In MY opinion, if I was in your shoes I would let a pro do it. I am in no way insulting you or doubting your skill but your Lexus is not the best place to attempt only your second alarm on. If you attempt it and can't get it to work and take it to a competant alarm shop they are probably going to charge you even more to go back and remove everything and start fresh.
05-09-07, 10:30 PM
#19
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Possibly
It's gonna have to wait a little while though. Gotta come up with the funds for the alarm lol. I just bought a ton of engine upgrades for the turbo, so funding is a bit short...heh. I'm debating the same exact thing as you too, 5900 SST with badass remote range or 7900 with the color screen lol
It's gonna have to wait a little while though. Gotta come up with the funds for the alarm lol. I just bought a ton of engine upgrades for the turbo, so funding is a bit short...heh. I'm debating the same exact thing as you too, 5900 SST with badass remote range or 7900 with the color screen lol
I'm leaning more towards the 5900. I installed a Compustar with SST into the previously mentioned Civic and it has some badas$ range. The downside is that I'm getting some glitches from it, so I'm staying away from Compustar. It was still good money spent though.
Only thing I don't like about the SST is the delayed reaction between car and remote, but its only a second or 2. I think I could live with it.
I'm trying to get a installed deadline by July 4th, just for personal goals. Its gonna be my first major mod to the car besides the ccfl trunk lights and little things like that.
05-09-07, 10:34 PM
#20
I agree with macd7919. Don't do this unless you have a thurough understanding of the cars electrical systems. Me...I've rewired ecu's, done engine swap wiring on other cars, and pulled entire dash+interior and done wiring in the GS. I'm not saying you need to have done all this to be able to install an alarm, but you DO need a good deal of experience with car wiring and electrial knowlegde to correctly install a car alarm. Personally, I'm a electrical engineer(well almost...another year of school left 
) that's worked the GS inside and out
) that's worked the GS inside and out
05-09-07, 10:35 PM
#21
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I was an installer for 5 years at a high-end shop (as in not a circuit city/best buy etc...) and have been Mecp certified since 1998.
Here is the deal. I totally understand you wanting to save money on the install. Thats why I got into it myself (and because I liked cars of course) way back when. You need to ask yourself though is the risk factor on this particular vehicle low enough that it's worth $200 and alot of your time.
Bottom line, if you feel confident go for it. Just be warned you are far away from a Civic when doing your Gs. It is going to be quite a bit more work, especially with the functions like windows/sunroof. I could bang out civics in under 2 hours including soldering everything and hiding wires, a Gs would take me much longer to do in the same manner.
You just need to realize, while it's nice to save money if you burn out any modules on your Gs (multiplex etc..) you are going to be looking alot more than $200 to replace it. Having a pro do it you get a lifetime warranty and the comfort of knowing that if anything is screwed up they are going to pay for it.
In MY opinion, if I was in your shoes I would let a pro do it. I am in no way insulting you or doubting your skill but your Lexus is not the best place to attempt only your second alarm on. If you attempt it and can't get it to work and take it to a competant alarm shop they are probably going to charge you even more to go back and remove everything and start fresh.
Here is the deal. I totally understand you wanting to save money on the install. Thats why I got into it myself (and because I liked cars of course) way back when. You need to ask yourself though is the risk factor on this particular vehicle low enough that it's worth $200 and alot of your time.
Bottom line, if you feel confident go for it. Just be warned you are far away from a Civic when doing your Gs. It is going to be quite a bit more work, especially with the functions like windows/sunroof. I could bang out civics in under 2 hours including soldering everything and hiding wires, a Gs would take me much longer to do in the same manner.
You just need to realize, while it's nice to save money if you burn out any modules on your Gs (multiplex etc..) you are going to be looking alot more than $200 to replace it. Having a pro do it you get a lifetime warranty and the comfort of knowing that if anything is screwed up they are going to pay for it.
In MY opinion, if I was in your shoes I would let a pro do it. I am in no way insulting you or doubting your skill but your Lexus is not the best place to attempt only your second alarm on. If you attempt it and can't get it to work and take it to a competant alarm shop they are probably going to charge you even more to go back and remove everything and start fresh.
05-09-07, 10:39 PM
#22
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I agree with macd7919. Don't do this unless you have a thurough understanding of the cars electrical systems. Me...I've rewired ecu's, done engine swap wiring on other cars, and pulled entire dash+interior and done wiring in the GS. I'm not saying you need to have done all this to be able to install an alarm, but you DO need a good deal of experience with car wiring and electrial knowlegde to correctly install a car alarm. Personally, I'm a electrical engineer(well almost...another year of school left ) that's worked the GS inside and out
) that's worked the GS inside and out Yeah, I haven't even touched the GS electrical system yet besides running an amp. I've done electrical work before, but not on my own belongings. Hah I used to work at an aircraft repair shop and we used work on Cessnas, KingAirs, Learjets, etc, but that was with detailed manuals and step by step instructions pretty much. LOL
05-09-07, 11:25 PM
#23
Damnation. That coming from an experienced installer, I'm getting 2nd thoughts. Thats why I posted up though, to get opinions and to see if anyone else like me has done the install yet by themselves. Oh well, I guess its time to shop around to see how much it'd cost a shop to do it.
When I was going to do a side job for a friend or whoever to make extra money I basically used the same logic as I mentioned above. I would always take into consideration the complexity of the install. You need to ask yourself IF I mess something up am I prepared to pay for it and how much will it cost.
In this case you are still pretty new to alarms it seems and the Gs isn't a super hard install but it's not a pushover either. Civic's are a dime a dozen, and they arent very complex. IF you messed something up it would be easy to probably get a used part for not too much $$$ from a junkyard or ebay.
Your Lexus is a much more expensive vehicle to find parts for, if you were to mess something up there...your probably going to be out at least a few hundred $$$, and thats saying you can pinpoint what went wrong without having to take the car to the dealer.
Funny story (sort of) A shop I was working at had a guy from Best Buy get hired. Seemed like an ok guy. A jaguar came in for a whole bunch of stuff, stereo, alarm, remote start etc.. the works. We worked on commision and I think this particular car had over $1000 worth of labor which would make for a good check. Since I was the senior installer at the time, I had the choice of what jobs to take and what to pass on. I ended up just taking radios, basic alarms etc...for the next few days and let him have that job.
So...after awhile he gets the alarm done, he was very careful only using a meter to test etc... Tests out the alarm everything is going well....Hit's the remote start...car starts...then dies. Hmm...Ok time to check ign. wires make sure everything is getting powered up etc...Looks like eveything was good but...no start..Ok..try it with the key.. Uh oh....crank crank crank, no start. Check fuses...everything is good...now he is getting worried. Check everything he could find, nothing visually wrong. Car ends up needing all the ecu's replaced (2 in this car) to the tune of $4500 at the dealer. I honestly can't comment on what he did wrong BUT I know this much...I was glad I didn't take that job. The amount of trouble it was to do that car was no where near the headache for the nice commision.
Moral of the story - Sometime's it's just better to let someone else deal with it, know what I mean?
BTW - Whats up my fellow near EIT! Didn't know you were an EE Jeff, I'm an ME got a little over a year left to go myself.
Last edited by macd7919; 05-09-07 at 11:30 PM.
05-10-07, 07:35 AM
#24
Here's some pix from when I installed my CarPC. Make sure you're comfortable with doing wiring of this level before you try to do your alarm. Just be sure to check, recheck, and check a third time that the wires are in the correct places and you should be good to go 
05-10-07, 07:55 AM
#25
I did not even want to look at my car apart lol... Authorized installer is the way to go.. My cousin who is an authorized DEI installer did the alarm in my Rav4 here in NYC prior to moving to Florida. I had my GS done by another installer who worked with my cousin years ago, and has his own shop too. My cousin opened shop in Florida now. He did some cars for some hip hop artists.. Here is is site http://ultimateautosoundandcustoms.com/index.html
Viper/Clifford/Hornet and other DEI alarms are the way to go
Viper/Clifford/Hornet and other DEI alarms are the way to go
09-15-07, 12:09 AM
#29
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i am an installer as well and have been mecp certified since 01 listen to macd this is not something you want to do, (especially if you are inexperienced) on your lexus. its time consuming on this car is not something you just wanna slap in it should take a lil time to do it correctly like using a multimeter, soilder and tape. just to do the locks on a gs you have to wire 2 relays in the drivers door and run the wires in to the car which is a pain. so good luck to anyone who thinks they want to try thats a newb on alarms
Last edited by j0xxx; 09-15-07 at 12:13 AM.
09-15-07, 08:50 AM
#30
i am an installer as well and have been mecp certified since 01 listen to macd this is not something you want to do, (especially if you are inexperienced) on your lexus. its time consuming on this car is not something you just wanna slap in it should take a lil time to do it correctly like using a multimeter, soilder and tape. just to do the locks on a gs you have to wire 2 relays in the drivers door and run the wires in to the car which is a pain. so good luck to anyone who thinks they want to try thats a newb on alarms