wondering if anyone can help me out here....i'm installing a clifford alarm in my 2002 TL right now...everything works fine right now except the trunk release...all i know is that it's a white with red stripe wire behind the glove box connected to the passenger MUX...whatever that is....i tapped into the only white with red stripe wire i saw back there and it doesn't work...can anybody help?

i dont know much about current...polarity...stuff like that...but the only problem i can even think of is....the wire i'm tapping into is supposed to be positive and the alarm provides a (-) 200mA current when the button is pushed...so do i need to switch the polarity of the white wire with red stripe? with a relay or something? or do i have the wrong wire? or do i just have no clue of what i'm doing? haha, please help if you can... thanks

 

Yes, you need a relay.

Do you have a test light or voltmeter? First you need to verify that the wire you found DOES pulse positive when you press the trunk release button. Use one of those tools to do that.

If you verify that you ahve the right wire and that's how it behaves, you take the relay and:

85 (-) negative OP from alarm
86 12V(+) constant power fused (the alarm brain constant is where this one should go)
87 12V constant power fused (the constant hot to the switch should be fine for this one)
30 to the white/red that pulses positive with a button press.

The reason that 86 and 87 aren't tied together is so that if the alarm brain fuse ever pops, the relay won't get held on forever... and 87 needs more current than the alarm brain needs to have.

 

Wait... in the info you have does it sa (+) pulse or "5-wire" for trunk release?

 

thanks for the help elduderino....
my info just tells me the polarity of the wire...nothing else

 

plus...ive never messed with relays before from scratch...can i get one at radio shack? or where do i? do i just grab any relay? are they all the same? plus...i'm sorry...i've never hooked up my own relay to anything before...so, i understand 85...i just tap the brain constant to 86....i also understand the tap on 30....but what is 87 from again? a constant from the battery?

 

Get a relay from an install shop - the Circuit city roadshop can usually sell them worst-case. YOu want a "Bosch-style" or "VF4" type relay. They are not all the same, but isntallers pretty much only use one type.

IF the trunk switch has two wires on it, and one pulses (+) when the button is pressed, then the other wire has (+) on it constant (i.e., ) all the time. In that case, the other wire (the constant (+) one) is a good choice for the place to tap 87. If you can't find that wire for some reason... you're OK tapping it to the alarm (+) as long as you tap on the side of the alarm power wire fuse AWAY from the brain. (86 goes in between the brain fuse and the brain). But the first way is preferrred.

 

thanks again for the help...i shall go try it

 

How'd it go?