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VW Alarm - seems not to work

Eber123

Eber123

Lifetime VIP Member
Messages
1,181
Location
Kilcock, Kildare, Ireland
Vehicle
Grand California 600
Since we had the the van (November 2017) we never had a failed alarm (in fact no car alarm whatsoever). I was impressed how good the VW alarm is (I had a car alarm in a Renault witch caused false alarms all the time).

Now, after almost 4x years I wanted to check the alarm before we left off for a few days to Killarney. That is where I detected that I was not able to trigger the alarm.

Scenario 1:
  • VW California standard alarm
  • Camper will be locked with remote control (one push on lock button)
  • Small LED on the drivers door blinks (quickly)
  • Kept the sliding window open - reached inside the van and waved my arm - nothing
  • Checked that the button on the A pillar is not activated (which will switch off the internal motion sensor). It was not activated
Scenario 2:
  • VW California standard alarm
  • Camper will be locked with remote control (one push on lock button)
  • Small LED on the drivers door blinks (quickly)
  • Opened the driver door with key
  • Didn't put the key into the injection for about a minute - nothing
At that point I believe there is something not right with the alarm (maybe it never worked from the beginning?). Did you come across this? I will search in the Forum for the fuse for the alarm. Maybe the fuse is not working. Because it is out of warranty I won't bring it to VW (For EUR 105 / hour a potential repair would cost me several hundreds of Euros).

Maybe somebody has some idea what I could check. Maybe it is a only a small thing.

Thank you for your help.

Happy secure California,
Eberhard
 
I didn’t think mine worked until we left the dog in their for a few minutes and then it went off.

Lock it and stand on the rear tyre, hands on the roof bars, rock the van & the alarm should go off (or it did last time I washed ours but forgot to unlock it!)
 
Since we had the the van (November 2017) we never had a failed alarm (in fact no car alarm whatsoever). I was impressed how good the VW alarm is (I had a car alarm in a Renault witch caused false alarms all the time).

Now, after almost 4x years I wanted to check the alarm before we left off for a few days to Killarney. That is where I detected that I was not able to trigger the alarm.

Scenario 1:
  • VW California standard alarm
  • Camper will be locked with remote control (one push on lock button)
  • Small LED on the drivers door blinks (quickly)
  • Kept the sliding window open - reached inside the van and waved my arm - nothing
  • Checked that the button on the A pillar is not activated (which will switch off the internal motion sensor). It was not activated
Scenario 2:
  • VW California standard alarm
  • Camper will be locked with remote control (one push on lock button)
  • Small LED on the drivers door blinks (quickly)
  • Opened the driver door with key
  • Didn't put the key into the injection for about a minute - nothing
At that point I believe there is something not right with the alarm (maybe it never worked from the beginning?). Did you come across this? I will search in the Forum for the fuse for the alarm. Maybe the fuse is not working. Because it is out of warranty I won't bring it to VW (For EUR 105 / hour a potential repair would cost me several hundreds of Euros).

Maybe somebody has some idea what I could check. Maybe it is a only a small thing.

Thank you for your help.

Happy secure California,
Eberhard
Try sitting inside and locking the van with a single push on the fob, wait a while and then try releasing the drivers door. If no alarm sounds you definitely have a fault.
 
Similar problem here.

 
@Eber123 Try locking van with sliding door window open reach in and try and open the door from the outside sets ours off. Putting arm in did not set it off but as soon as I tried to open the door it activates.
 
I think I read somewhere that the internal motion alarm has a delay, after locking, before becoming active.
 
Try sitting inside and locking the van with a single push on the fob, wait a while and then try releasing the drivers door. If no alarm sounds you definitely have a fault.
I did this and it triggered the alarm. That was the first time I heard the alarm.

That is good so far.

I am only puzzled why the motion sensor won't work.
 
Similar problem here.

I saw those posts as well, but there was no real outcome.
 
I need to check where the motion sensor actually is.

In June 2020 VW replaced the knob on the upper display. Maybe something went wrong there?
 
I did this and it triggered the alarm. That was the first time I heard the alarm.

That is good so far.

I am only puzzled why the motion sensor won't work.
I think the motion sensor is likely to be on a delay?

edit - sorry repeated what has already been suggested.
 
I need to check where the motion sensor actually is.

In June 2020 VW replaced the knob on the upper display. Maybe something went wrong there?
There are 3 fuses related to the Alarm

30 amp fuse in Central Dash fuse box

2 x 15 amp fuses apparently under the L hand Passenger seat in RHD vehicles.

There are T6 Fuse diagrams available in the Resources section.

Motion Sensors.

Just below the Control Panel display. The 2 little grills.E086E32A-1FCE-4384-8E4C-8C376E8713B8.jpeg
 
Last edited:
There are 3 fuses related to the Alarm

30 amp fuse in Central Dash fuse box

2 x 15 amp fuses apparently under the L hand Passenger seat in RHD vehicles.

There are T6 Fuse diagrams available in the Resources section.

Motion Sensors.

Just below the Control Panel display. The 2 little grills.View attachment 80666
Dear Welshgas,

Thank you for the picture. I wasn't quite sure where the motion sensors where. I started to look up the fuse box to find the fuses for the alarm. It seems it works (see my test before) but not the motion sensor part.

Before I spend more time whit that I will check the manual during breakfast tomorrow.

Eberhard
 

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