18 replies to this topic

[TSG]

I posted over at ozliberty and only had one active responder. So I will try SubyClub!

Haven't been driving my B4 for like 2 week intervals. And I've noticed that the battery is struggling to hold its charge, I think the brant is draining it a little, over this time. I have a car battery charger... is it safe to charge while it is still connected, I was going to get a new battery, but it doesn't look that old to me.

Which leads me to the other issue. Ever since the test drive before buying the car, the brant has needed me to wake it up from sleep mode (touch the keypad before fuel pump/ignition). Either I have not driven it enough to get the voltage high enough in the battery that the brant is happy with, or its on its way out. Luckily the brant doesn't give me any other problems so far.

I am also interested to know if anyone here knows how to bypass the brant, don't want to remove it from the car, just bypass it in a way that can be hooked up again someday... I live in a quiet area and have no need for the hassle. I have read that the keyless entry is on a seperate system to the brant, and its just a third party addon. Has anyone made a guide, I noticed a lot of talk about it over at rexnet. PM me, obviously we don't want to post about it on a public forum.

[TSG]

This is the charger, an old supercheap one dad used on his boat

Also yeah, that is the intention, as soon as the brant annoys me enough it is being disabled. But I am wondering if I can try charging the battery before buying a whole new battery - even though I probably will get a nicer battery for it anyway.

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[ams]

I also don't drive my B4 for a week or two at a time. Even after getting a new battery after continuous problems, the Brant still sucked ass.

I forked out some cash for an Autowatch alarm.

Not had a single hassle since.

Save yourself the effort man and just change the whole system.

Don't disconnect your battery unless you have the Subaru Master Pin, otherwise you will have to get the car towed to a Subaru dealership and get them to put it in for you.

This is one of the main reasons I changed it. No f'in way Subaru were going to own a code to start my own god damn car. Lucky for me - i made enough of a fuss (after one of the numerous issues I had) that one of the plebs in the service department gave up the code but even still...insane.

[TSG]

Well I am not a fan of car alarms in general, I would just 'unplug' the brant and live without it, like my mate does with his WRX. Obviously it isn't great for insurance reasons, buut, that is why I don't want to remove the system from the car. Just take it offline.

So you don't think it is worth me going into town tomorrow to get a new battery? Hmm... I am going to try and disable the Anti-Hijack tomorrow. Thats the only reason I need my pin at the moment. I basically don't want to have to touch the keypad to start the car. I think it is already in manual arming mode.

Edited by tsg, 07 May 2011 - 01:21 AM.
Removed info that shouldnt' be made public

[ams]

Not a good idea telling people how to disable alarm systems, especially on a public forum

The issue you will have is every time the battery goes flat the alarm will just reactivate itself. It's the most frustrating thing in the world, trust me. Every time I would go to drive my car, I honestly didn't know if i'd need to enter the pin, if it was in valet mode or if it would be flat. I just got sick of it.

Changing the battery will obviously make things a bit better, but as you mentioned as far as insurance - if your car gets stolen and they find out the alarm has been bypassed or disabled, good luck getting any sort of payout.

[TSG]

There is apparently a 14 page PDF someone at rexnet has for the brant. I tried to join but they have some crappy admin approval before being able to post.

I think mine isn't as bad as the original Brant, it is the MY03 model. But yeah, sucks that such a small thing can get in the way of what is one of the nicest cars I have ever driven.

[zanzarah]

There is apparently a 14 page PDF someone at rexnet has for the brant. I tried to join but they have some crappy admin approval before being able to post.

I think mine isn't as bad as the original Brant, it is the MY03 model. But yeah, sucks that such a small thing can get in the way of what is one of the nicest cars I have ever driven.

If battery voltage falls below 10V then the system will go into sleep mode. This protects the Brandts backup battery (located in the key pad)so it can maintain system memory.
So get your new battery ASAP

Edited by zanzarah, 08 May 2011 - 02:09 AM.
Removing info that shouldn't be on public websites.

[Adam]

If your car sits for a couple of weeks without starting then I think most alarms will drain the battery, in your case inthink a trickle charger would be a good option, because unlike normal battery chargers it keeps feeding power to the battery once the battery is fully charged, which keeps it at 100% trickle chargers are compact and cheaper than a new battery. I can take a pic of ours if you are interested

[ams]

Guy's, again.

Stop giving away information on how to potentially start a car with a Brant alarm system.

If you need to share this information, do it via PM but don't post it in a public forum.

[zanzarah]

Guy's, again.

Stop giving away information on how to potentially start a car with a Brant alarm system.

If you need to share this information, do it via PM but don't post it in a public forum.

What the problem?
Both are for sleep mode recovery.
You will still need your "personal code" to start the car.

[ams]

That last one with disconnecting the battery let's you start it without the code.

[TSG]

Results time!

I took my car to battery world. The bloke tested my battery in various ways with his magical testing device. All good apparently, was at 11.5v and the alternator is charging it fine. So not low enough to cause the brant to sleep... I think my brant is just retarded, go figure. I can still drive the car and haven't had a cut out yet, other than in the driveway after anti-hijack was set off. Will look at getting it bypassed and possible replacement in the future. So the end result, no need for new battery. Still had to put in $80 worth of fuel *sigh*

[Hypnotic]

have you tried the battery backup in the control unit(not the siren)?

pulled mine apart the other day and it looks like that 6v battery may be close to flat as its not holding charge, changing mine this week.

[TSG]

I haven't touched it. Basically I have to wake the system to start my car. When it is awake it seems to act pretty normal. Turn off the car, leave it for about 2 minutes, come back, put key in to start, keypad doesn't light up. It actually works fine for a few minutes after turning it off. The previous owner thought this was simply how the system worked and only thought the number '1' worked to wake it. I have been pressing other numbers to wake it the last few days, which confirmed to me that it is entering sleep mode.

I read about a fix on rexnet for strange behaviour like this, you warm up certain solder points in the control unit - much like the heatgun fix I use on PS3/XBOX 360's, but more direct. I am pretty experienced with a soldering iron but... not brave enough to get that deep into it.

[Hypnotic]

Yeah so you appear to have the same problem I have got.

All the solder joints on the main board looked fine, touched up a couple however changed nothing, when this 6v battery gets changed I will let you know if it sorts the problem.
If it doesn't then it's time for a new system for me.

The alarm is 9 years old so surely a battery can not hold a charge for that long, anywho time will tell.

[TSG]

How did you go with the battery?

I got a quote from my local auto electrician today to get it removed - $70. It is steadily getting worse. Pretty good deal, guess he has done a few of them before.

I also grabbed his brochure for the mongoose alarms, reckons it would be about $400 to install a decent system in the future. I can't afford it atm after a carpark incident. When it gets back from the Smash Repair I'll book it in and also get those STi springs under it I have had in the garage for the last month or more lol.

Lucky I got a new job!