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