Alarm System install

hkpierce

'02 140 Hi BlueBlk Pass
Last Labor Day I was broken in and, between repairs and stolen items, about $1000. So, a believer in closing the door after the horse has gone, I finally got around to installing an alarm system.

But I do not have the technical knowledge nor time of Jogger and his fantastic DIY Alarm system, and I didn't want a superspy such as BikerJoe. So I looked for something that didn't have to deeply integrated into the Sprinter's electrical system - I could ignore the locks as I already have the remote locks, and the chipped key takes care of immobilization.. I needed a bit better than normal transmission, as the Sprinter is always parked on the street. Most car alarms systems, regardless of the brand name seem to be from a single supplier. So I went with ASTRA 777 - basically throwing out most of its capabilities, but getting shock and glass sensors, small flashing strobe, and two remotes.

To avoid all the wiring back and forth from the dash to the seat pedestal, I decided to mount the module and wiring in the lower left DIN slot. There is a lot of space behind the bin:

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Removing the driver's seat, find the boot for the wiring harness and cut the zip-tie.

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I wanted to use two of the three unused slots in my fuse block - but they did not have the bus-bar installed (I guess Daimler was saving money). I tried ordering the buses, but ended up with strange stuff. So I bought a block from the local Advanced Auto. By cutting off the tabs on the sides and using a hacksaw to thin out the flanges, it exactly fit both the space available and the flanges in the existing fuse block. As the install requires both a constant and keyed power, I cut the bus in two.

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By looking at the back of the existing fuse block, it is possible to see whether there is a shared bus. With that, I found empty terminals for both unfused battery and keyed power. There are special Daimler terminal connectors for tapping onto these buses. A connector and its Dodge number is shown below, and the picture above show 2 black wires tying the two fuse blocks together.

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Then I ran 2 wires from the seat to the dash - here is the loom from the seat. I actually ran 2 other lines just in case I needed them in the future.
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hkpierce

'02 140 Hi BlueBlk Pass
I ran a power line to the console for the cut-off switch (a Sprinter fog-light switch), then back into the DIN slot.

Lots of wires.

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The antenna wire was quite long, so I ran it up the A-pillar, pushed the wire above the headliner, and put the antenna behind the mirror. The light strobe is high on the A-pillar fascia. I put the shock sensor on the frame - the visible white on the left side of the DIN slot. There is enough room to use a computer screw driver to adjust the sensitivity.

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There was no room for the glass breakage sensor. So I put it below the hood release. The microphone is located between the door and the dashboard - there is a surprising large gap there that hides it well, and just enough finger room to tape the wire to the A-pillar at that point.

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To go through the firewall, I used an available grommet behind the vacuum booster. Under the hood there are surprising few options as to where to put the horn and not block access to something. I eventually decided on putting it right next to the radiator overflow tank.

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hkpierce

'02 140 Hi BlueBlk Pass
Thanks to SIKwan's instructions, popping up the switch console was easy. I used a Sprinter fog-light switch for the alarm power cut-off. Great help here to figure out what to do with Pins 1 and 10. It might be possible to get connectors to stay attached to the pins. But the switch-connectors really need the pin-block that attaches from the back:

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But the pins come in two flavors - I got two versions from the same order, and they do not behave the same. The one on the left does not go all the way down into the block - but still works. Whereas the right one goes all the way down and looks like the OEM when installed. Darn if I know why the difference, and I do not know if there is any way to control which one you receive when ordering.

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I had to order new blanks because of damage from the break-in. One I converted to hold the alarm light. So this is how the finished dash looks:

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And the finished DIN slot.

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The instructions on the ASTRA 777 where horrible - I am very happy that I didn't have to do a full install trying to figure it out using their instructions. The glass sensor came wih no instructions on how to integrate with the module, and strobe light came with instructions that made no sense. I called up the distributor and got a well informed Indian (located in LA) who answered questions without any apparent consultation. They worked. But my questions were for only the simply install described above. This is not a DIY if you were to want more features and not screw up the Sprinter's electronics in some way.
 
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