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What's a good remote car starter and easy to install.
I'm looking for a good reliable remote car starter that can be installed by a novice car person. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Maybe give some free advice about: Cars?
Hi there,
For quality, it is hard to beat AstroStart:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
... or Viper:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
... both are products of Directed Electronics.
... BUT, I sincerely urge you to avoid doing this yourself.
A little background, if you don't mind: Once upon a time I had my own automotive electronics company specializing in installation of higher-end vehicle upgrades.
I have done quite a bit of automotive wiring in my time and consider myself qualified to install alarms, remote start systems, etc.
Please consider my history when I tell you this: People die from amateur do-it-yourself installations of remote vehicle starters. This isn't an internet rumor, this is fact.
Even if a person managed to get it installed without deploying the airbag and launching a tool through their chest... if all the sensors aren't accounted for, someone could be hurt or killed down the road.
You have to tie into the state of the transmission, so that it knows when it is in park. If this is done wrong, my goodness do you have trouble. You can blow all the electronics in the transmission. (Expensive!) If the connection fails, you can remote start the car and launch it whatever direction it is facing.
Most vehicles now have what is called a transponder key. It has a little chip in the key, that is coded to a special number which your car understands. When you install one of these systems, you have to install a bypass for this feature. If you didn't, then you would always have to leave the key in the ignition if you wanted to remote start your car.
There are three ways of doing this. One, captive key method, involves a special adapter that holds a duplicate of your key in a special box under the dash. When it is time to start your car remotely, this adapter relays your key's encoding signature to the sensor in the ignition lock area by way of a coil wire antenna.
If this is done poorly, you will have incredible trouble with your starting. When the problem develops, usually the car only starts at certain temps, and you have to completely disassemble the dash and the ignition lock area. This is something you don't even really want to do once, but if it has to be done twice, I promise you that whatever you paid someone else to do this will instantly feel like money well spent. :-)
If it is done by an amateur, who doesn't take good security precautions then you have another problem: All a thief has to do is look up under your dash, and they will find a nice little plastic box with a factory made key for your car.
They crack the box open, which doesn't usually even require a tool, and they use said key to steal your car.
There are an ocean of things to go wrong with this, and any one of them has the potential to cost you several thousand dollars.
I don't want to scare you off of doing your own work... just this one project.
Shop around for a place that has a proven track record, and will provide references. You want to SEE work that they have done. Most shops have a demo vehicle for just such a reason.
eHow has a nice article on choosing a shop to install your system:
"How to Buy a Remote Start System:"
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
... This contains some excellent guidelines that will help you along the way.
A couple last bits of advice: If you ever intend to have an alarm system... get it as a combination with the remote start system. Combining security and remote starting saves a tremendous number of complications down the road.
Make sure that you buy a "two-way" system. This lets the started talk back to the remote. It will show things like if the car is actually running or not, and what the interior temperature is.
You can even remotely start and manage your car's functions from your Android device or iPhone if you pick the right models. :-)
If you have any related questions, Please feel free.
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