Connecting the Alarm Module to the Car Alarm Harness

• Below is a diagram of the X13025 connector, taken from 8100.0-02 in the ETM. This is the connector on the car harness, which I'll mate with 61 13 1 378 138.

  

  The pinout of the X13025 connector, found via several diagrams in the ETM:

  • Pin #	Function
    1	hot-at-all-times
    2	ignition 12VDC
    3	chassis ground
    4	(-) driver's door trigger
    5	(-) passenger's door
    6	(-) rear door trigger (not applicable)
    7	(+) siren
    8	(-) parking lights
    9	(+) lock (positive pulse)
    10	(+) unlock (positive pulse)
    11	(-) trunk trigger
    12	supervised dome lighting?

  This gives us the basic triggers, power, lock and unlock, and parking light feedback. The siren pin presumably signals the harness for the alarm siren under the hood, which I should be able to use for the Stellar siren if that's what I choose to install (the alternative is to buy a factory one, P/N 65 73 9 416 245).

  Hood Trigger

  • Connector X10244 in the ETM should be taped to the same area as connector X13025 (behind the glove box). It's a 1-pin black connector. This is the signal from both the hood switch and the radio anti-theft switch.

    

    The ETM shows connector X371 as the hood switch connector. It has pin 1 connected to ground, and pin 2 wired to pin 1 in X10244. This trigger is in parallel to the radio anti-theft switch.

    

  Foot Brake

  • Pin 2 on connector X78 (blue/red) should be wired to the black/white wire on the Stellar alarm. This will let the alarm lock the doors the first time the brake is depressed after the car is started.

    

  Wiring Table

  • Car Connector/Pin	Alarm Wire	Description
    X13025 / 1 (red/yellow)	brown/blue	hot-at-all-times
    X13025 / 2 (violet/white)	green	hot in accessory, run and start (ignition)
    X13025 / 3 (brown/orange)	black	ground
    X13025 / 4 (brown/green/yellow)	diode	driver's door trigger
    X13025 / 5 (brown/blue/green)	diode	passenger's door trigger
    X13025 / 6	UNUSED	red jumper (single wire)
    X13025 / 7 (black/blue)	white	siren
    X13025 / 8 (blue/green/yellow)	orange (from relay output)	Parking lights
    X13025 / 9 (green/white)	blue/white	+ lock
    X13025 / 10 (blue/red/yellow)	green/white	+ unlock
    X13025 / 11 (brown/white)	red jumper (2 wires)	trunk trigger
    X13025 / 12 (white)	???	unused
    X10244 (violet/green/yellow)	brown/yellow	hood trigger
    X78 / 2	black/white	foot brake

Diary

• September 22, 2004
  
  • I drove the car to and from work today. The remote range isn't enough to talk to the car from the office, even though I could see my car from the office window (6th floor, 2 blocks away). Other than that, I'm very happy with it at the moment.

    The timing relay socket shipped today. I may or may not use the timing relay, but it'll be good to have around. I sort of like auto-locking the first time I hit the brake after starting the car, but don't want the windows to roll up in that case. So to do it the way I want will probably require more smarts (one of my microcontroller modules should work fine). The alarm can't be told to use a short pulse for auto-locking and a long pulse for arming; it always emits a lock pulse of the same length (can be set to either .5 seconds or 3.5 seconds). If I had to add another relay to get what I want with the timing relay, I might as well use one of my microcontroller modules; it'll take up less space, and I can make it do whatever I want here.

• September 21, 2004
  
  • I spliced the 2-stage motion sensor into the 2-stage shock sensor wiring. Both will now trigger the shock alarms. I set the motion sensor to trigger if you pass very close the outside of the cabin area with the top down. It triggers full alarm for interior intrusion. This will be the usual pain to get adjusted correctly, but I think it's good for now. The shock sensor still needs some adjustment, it triggers a little too easily for the warn-away (like every time Laura closes her car door in the garage).

    I tucked the alarm in place and zip-tied the mess of wires together, tucked in sort of neatly. I'll have to take it all out again to do the window rollup relay, but it's no big deal. I put the glovebox and underdash panel back in place. It's ready to be tested in the real world.

• September 20, 2004
  
  • I ordered P&B CNT-35-26 timed relay from Mouser, as well as the corresponding 27E123 socket.

    It looks like the warn-away signal for the Stellar 2-stage shock sensor is the white wire on its 4-pin connector. That would mean the blue wire is the second stage (full alarm). It looks like it pulls the voltage down when triggered, and that the alarm brain has a pull-up resistor to keep the signal at 5V when the sensor is not triggering.

    In the harness I made for me existing motion sensor, the violet wire is ground (matched the old CompuStar alarm wiring), red is 12V, black/white is the first stage and white/gray is the second stage. Checking these, it looks like the outputs of the sensor float around .3V until triggered, at which point they pull voltage to ground. This may or may not work with the Stellar. Hopefully the .3V is just floating voltage.

    So, I can splice into the 2-stage shock sensor wiring:

    Shock sensor wire	Motion sensor wire
    black	violet
    red	red
    white	black/white
    blue	white/gray

• September 19, 2004
  
  • I removed the split loom on the smaller harnesses for the alarm, and replaced it with braided sleeve (takes up less space and is more flexible). I installed an Apem IP pushbutton in a blank in the rear of the center console; this will be my valet button. I need to test for the LED status wires in the remote paging sensor, so I can tap/splice to get LED alarm status in my center console. On the Apem IP, the red and blue wires are for the LED and the black wires are the momentary contacts.

    Hmm, it seems as if the LED wire for the remote paging sensor is the green wire, it's the only one that oscillates when the alarm is armed. My meter shows it going from 5V to 3.3V or so, but that could just be the meter (display for DC is damped).

    For now, I've wired only the valet button momentary contacts. I'm out of male tab disconnects, which I'd like to use for wiring in status LEDs. I put braided sleeve on the 4 wires for the Apem IP, and ran them under the center console. It's wired in to the valet button input on the alarm. I did not remove the center console to run the wires under the carpet; I've had my center console out 4 times, it's a lot of work. I'll do that the next time I have a real cause to remove my center console.

    I installed the siren under the driver's headlight. There was already one hole in the aluminum, I drilled a second one. Right now the siren is just zip-tied in place, since I'm not sure I want to keep it in this location. But for now it will do. I wrapped the wiring with silicone splicing tape.

    I am going to wire my motion sensor in parallel with the shock sensor. On the shock sensor, the red wire is power (12V) and the black wire is ground. The other two wires would be warn-away and full alarm signals. I don't yet know which is which, but it won't be hard to figure out.

    I need to pick up some 5A fuses and some male disconnects from the hardware. I should also get some 30A fuses, since I'm almost out of them. Might as well pick up some fasteners for the siren too, in case I want to keep it where it is. The hole I drilled is 3/16" diameter.

    I should also order a timed relay so I can get full window roll-up each time I lock with the alarm. The P&B CNT-35-26 from Mouser will work, though overkill.

• September 16, 2004
  
  • I changed the tape on the extended range antenna to some black VHB tape and mounted it on the windshield. I also mounted the remote paging sensor on the windshield. I don't really know if I want either of these mounted where they are now, but they'll do for testing. I want the range I get using the antenna, but it's pretty ugly on my windshield. It'd be nicer to have it on the back of my rear console or the like.

• September 15, 2004
  
  • I removed the split loom from the main Stellar alarm harness (which plugs into X13025), and documented the wire colors so I can pull the pins from the connector (easy with the Hazet tool I got from ZDMAK) and run the harness through some Halar braided sleeve after shortening it.

    For now, I shortened the main alarm harness by about 2 feet, and used some of the split loom to cover it. I don't have any 3/8" or 1/2" braided sleeve on hand. I soldered all of the wires I cut, and used heatshrink tubing to cover the joints. I also trimmed a mounting tab off of the alarm brain so it would fit in the factory location. It fits nicely.

    I need to figure out what the extra wires are for, and how to wire up remote windows and convertible top. The manual doesn't cover the VTXC, only the VTX and VTXR. I sent email to Stellar, but don't expect a response since I know their support sucks. I need to document which wires are unused, then start checking them with the voltmeter.

• September 14, 2004
  
  • The VTXC alarm arrived today. I started the installation by happily removing the CompuStar 2WSS brain, antenna, shock sensor nd remote paging sensor. I then realized that Stellar didn't include the relay to operate the parking lights. I stole an unused one from the CompuStar (it was still in the box in the basement). plugged in the basics and did some rudimentary testing. It seems to work fine. The Stellar alarm uses an orange wire to pin 8 on the 12-pin alarm connector for parking lights, which gets grounded via the relay output when the alarm puts 12V on the other half of the orange wire (relay input).

    The remote paging sensor has white foam tape on it. It'll look terrible on my windshield if I leave that on there. I have some black 3M VHB tape, but it's only .5" wide. I ordered some 2" diameter disks from McMaster-Carr, gray in color. We'll see how they look (I'm hoping it's a dark gray). The extended range antenna also has white foam tape on it. I'll replace that with the black VHB tape I have. Sigh, Stellar apparently buys tape at Wal-Mart.

    I tested most of the alarm functions, it all seems to work fine. I wired the brake pedal wire, so I can use auto door lock control. I routed the wires for the extended range antenna and the remote paging sensor.

    I need to fit everything in where I want it. The harnesses on the Stellar need to be shortened; they're long enough to cross the car, probably because they're the same ones used for their alarms with remote start. They also used big ugly split loom, which I'll replace with Halar braided sleeve.

• September 6, 2004
  
  • I ordered a VTXC alarm from Stellar (again).

To Do

• Order 4-pin connectors like the DSC button uses, along with pins and sockets. I need a disconnect for the Apem IP button in the center console.
• Order a replacement pager remote, since mine got dropped on ceramic tile and the LCD cracked. Stellar warranty/returns: 503-693-1918.

Links

• Stellar
• McMaster-Carr
• ZDMAK
• Stellar VTX User Guide (PDF)
• P&B CNT-35-26 Multifunction Digital Time Delay Relay/Counter (PDF)