Reverse polarity power locks???

January 11, 2006

I have a 1990 Jeep Cherokee and I'm installing a remote start/keyless entry/alarm and I'm having issues, two to be exact.

First off, I thougt I had everything wired right. Granted I'm not a trained professional, but I have installed many car stereo systems in my time and thought this souldn't be any more difficult. The alarm unit I have is a generic model with no model name but everything is basic, straight forward wiring. There are 6 wires for the remote locks. 1 orange (normally closed), 1 orange/black (normally closed), 1 yellow (normally open), 1 yellow/black (normally open), 1 white (locking), 1 white/black (unlocking). I have a full wiring diagram that came with the unit and I have a wiring diagram for my Jeep. I've hooked up a volt meter the the power lock wires in the Jeep before I tried wiring in the unit. The meter read a full 12v when not activated. I hit the lock/unlock switch in the Jeep and the meter goes to 0 volts. I was told that my Jeep has reverse polarity lock switches and I might need another relay to hook up my remote keyless system. Another guy told me that all I have to do is hook up both normally open wires to the ground and then hock up the lock/unluck relay wires into the Jeeps wires, and cut off the normally closed wires. So I did that and nothing happed when activating the remote. I decide to try hooking up the normally open wires to the 12v source and blew the inline fuse for the unit. I've checked this with the volt meter and found the obvious problem with that stupid mistake. But what other way is there to hook the wires up to get the relays to triger? Does anyone know what I need to do to get the remote to activate the lock/unlock relays in the Jeep??? :thumb

Second problem. When activating the remote start the Jeep starts but then shuts off. Then it tries to start again, starting the Jeep that shutting it off again. It does this 5 times and them goes into safe mode. I was told that the engine sensing wire is not sensing anything. The unit instal instructions say to hook up the sensing wire to the alternator, a fuel injection wire or wrap it around the master wire on the ignition coil. I've done all three and still the unit does not sense the motor starting. There's no tach wire (unless this is the same thing) so I'm at a loss here as well... Any help or ideas on what might be the problem??? :beer

January 11, 2006

The tach wire should be " TACH GREEN @IGNITION COIL" and for the door locks some alarms just let you reverse them green gives out ground when armed blue or whatever gives out positive..when armed or it might have built on relay for the door locks a little jumper inside or outside of the brain also you can try a relay to makes your locks positive or buy a reverse polarity lock module...for under $10.00

:thumb if any of that makes sense

Exact-Oh · January 17, 2006

Yeah, just hook it up so when you push the button on the remote, that the door lock circuit sees a ground pulse, and normally open at all other times. If that's not capable directly from your remote unit, you can use the positive pulse from your unit to drive a relay that momentarily switches to ground.

As to the starting problem, don't screw around with voltage sensing at the alternator, catch a tach wire.

This stuff isn't quite as simple as stereo wiring.

Mr paladin · January 17, 2006

This stuff isn't quite as simple as stereo wiring.

[*]361927

:rollin

January 20, 2006

Thank you guys, this all helps. I've looked into getting a relay for the power locks. I hope it helps. Since I've tried to hook up the wires for the remote locks pretty much every way possible with no luck. I might need some help installing the relay to make sure I wire it in right. I know this isn't like installing a car stereo but I know a little more than the average joe about auto electronics. I've completely rewired a few older Jeep CJ's and a 1965 International Scout. (please, don't ask me why I would do that). I just don't have the right wiring info to find the right wires to get everything functioning correctly. I've thought about hooking the engine sensor wire to the tach wire but I don't know what wire to tap into in the Jeep. Any help here?

January 20, 2006

run it through the firewall and to the green wire at the coil...should work

Exact-Oh · January 20, 2006

I got two different wire colors for that vehicle, depending if the thing came with factory keyless entry or not. If it did have keyless entry, it was positive pulse, lock was light green, unlock was tan, and the relays are located in the passenger kick panel. If it didn't have factory keyless entry, they are the reverse polarity, lock is white, unlock is dark green, and they are located in the driver's kick panel.

Mikeys information jives with the info that I have on the tach wire... green at the coil.

January 21, 2006

Thanks again, I already found the wires for the lock relays, and yes they are white for lock, dark green for unlock. The problem is that the keyless unit that I have puts out a positive pulse when the remote is activated so I have to wire in a relay to reverse that so it puts out a ground pulse to activate the relays in the Jeep. As for the remote start, the wiring info I have said that the tach wire could be green or green/white at the coil. I haven't had time to look to close to find it yet. There's a lot of road grim and mud under the hood from playing around in the wonderful Minnesota wilderness! I'll do some checking this weekend and get back to you,

January 28, 2006

okay, I'm still having issues with the remote start! This sucks! I've found the tach wire at the coil and hooked up the engine sensor wire to it. But nothing happened. The Jeep still starts, stops and tries to start up again. Over and over until it goes into safe mode. This is p1ss1ng me off! I've tired the coil, I've tried a fuel injection wire and now I've tried the tach and nothing seems to work.. AGGGRRRRR! HELP! :nope :hide :nope :nope :inot :wall :wall :wall

wndotint · January 29, 2006

I don't know what kind of remote start system you have (I didn't see any info in your posts) but EVERY system I've installed over the past 17 years puts out at least a negative pulse for the locks. It sounds like your system has built in relays for locks (hence the 6 wires). Both normally open wires should go to 12 volts, the normally closed wires go to the switch side of the door lock/unlock wires (they have to be cut, giving you 4 ends to work with), and the white and white/black wires go to the remaining 2 wires. No additional relays were needed, but at least you got them working. As for the remote start part, it helps to know what brand you have.