Alarm problem, can it suffer from electronic interference.

[ChookD2]

I have searched and read and searched some more and can't find an answer.

Background:
2008 D3 V6 4.0L. Bog standard. Bonnet switch bypassed. Battery almost new. NOT at random times.

Problem:
My alarm seems to be an alarm clock. When it does go off, and it is not everyday, it happens at or about 0730 in the morning. Probably within 10 mins either side.
I have locked it with single press and double press. I have shaken and yanked on all the doors. I have rocked the car. Nothing.
Which just leaves me with the conclusion that there is some sort of electical interference. There is a Water Authority pumping station about 100m away with an antenna that points a little over 90 degrees away from my place. I contacted this Autority and spoke to some tech bloke who informed me that it does operate on a government allocated frequency in the 400 Mhz range. However, this commicates every hour with their server so cannot be the culprit.
I have spoken to my immediate neighbours (I live in a cul-de-sac with 6 houses) and none are doing anything with any electronics at that time. I have yet to speak to anyone in the street behind me but thought that would be too far away.

The week before the one just gone it went off on the Thursday, Friday and then again on Monday just gone. It next went off again last Thursday but not Friday and then again this morning (Sunday). Always in the vicinity of 0730.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Tombie]

Sunrise time... so what changes where the vehicle is parked around that time? Flash of light? Heat change?

[ChookD2]

Sunrise time... so what changes where the vehicle is parked around that time? Flash of light? Heat change?

It is parked in the same spot as always, under the carport. The driver's side is exposed to the morning sun but if you were thinking heat, the temp this morning was WAY cooler that it has been in ages. Temps have varied widely, I had thought of that and don't think it is the case but I'll go back over the BOM records for the days I know it went off and see if the overnight mins were near each other. No flashing lights, as I said I live in a cul-de-sac with one street light. I don't know who it is ****ing off more, me or the neightbours, although the neighbours haven't really said anything.

[DieselLSE]

Sunrise time... so what changes where the vehicle is parked around that time? Flash of light? Heat change?
Yeah, but that shouldn't set off the alarm. It would be great to eliminate either the internal or external factors; it's a bit hard dealing with so many variables.
I mean, it could even be a moth or spider or something inside the car on it's daily wake up routine setting off the interior motion sensor (if double locked) or one of the intrusion sensors somehow (if just single locked).
I wonder if ChookD2 can park the car somewhere else for a few nights once the lockdown is over? Are any error codes being generated?

[ChookD2]

So just checked the temps on BOM.

Thurs 23/4 Min 14.8 Max 27.3
Fri 24/4 Min 14.2 Max 28.1
Mon 27/4 Min 13.8 Max 27.0
Fri 01/5 Min 13.7 Max 23.4
Sun 03/5 Min 8.8 Max 24.5

As you can see today was much cooler than any of the other days. And these mins would most likely be in the early hours before this is happening. The 23/4 warmed up very quickly was almost no wind which I took advantage of and went fishing.

I don't have a reader for this car yet, I do have a Nanocom from the D2 but don't have it unlocked for the D3 as yet. There is no indications on the dash. I did find somewhere, I think is was on Disco3.co.uk, a table that listed the number of flashes of the indicators when unlocked after an activation that pointed to the related sensor/switch that caused the activation, but I have been unable to find it again. I seriously don't think it is a moth getting up for it's morning constitutional, because I have pretty much fumigated the thing to rule this out.
I will try moving it though.

[Narangga]

Failed bonnet bypass??? Only thing I could think of but one would assume that would occur at irregular times rather than the symptoms you have.

[matti4556]

Smart meter on the switchboard? Have the same conversation you had with the water authority with your electricity utility. Rule that one out. Matti

[DiscoJeffster]

Can you not just read the codes and see what sensor is setting it off?

[DiscoDB]

In addition to the bonnet switch, there are also inputs from the doors and the tailgate. One of these could be faulty as well. I would suspect the tailgate as the next possible candidate.

Could also be the tilt switch - to disable the motion sensor, press the lock button twice within 3 seconds when locking - this disables the “super locking” (back to front compared to the D4 and probably most other cars where double lock means press twice).

[Tombie]

You could also try a simple orientation change for a few days - back it in vs forwards etc.

[scarry]

You could also try a simple orientation change for a few days - back it in vs forwards etc.

Good thought.

And put it in off road height just for something different[bighmmm]

I didn't think they had motion sensors in the D3,that is sensors inside that a moth would set off.

The D2 definitely had them,if we left a window down,they would often set off the alarm.

If it keeps up a code reader,such as GAP tool is what you need.

[ChookD2]

Went off again this morning BUT it was EXACTLY 1 hour later than yesterday (it is a public holiday in Qld). No cars went past the house (on the adjacent street) so I went out and around the corner to the street behind and there was no movement there either. I'm still thinking interference of some sort. There is another street to the north across vacant park land that I can see the backs of the houses so maybe it comes from that direction but that's 200+m from my car.

[DiscoMick]

Could there be a rat sleeping in your vehicle?
I only ask because the other day I opened the bonnet of our Mazda for the first time in several weeks and found a rat's nest and some chewed wiring.

[ChookD2]

Could there be a rat sleeping in your vehicle?
I only ask because the other day I opened the bonnet of our Mazda for the first time in several weeks and found a rat's nest and some chewed wiring.

That was one of my first thoughts but I have been in under and around the thing and can't find any evidence of one (or more).

[ChookD2]

Things they are a changin'. This morning it was 8 o'clock. I have parked it the other way round and will see what happens in the morning.

[matti4556]

Hi Ray, To further explain my spurious thought earlier...... Did you rule out anything with the electricity utility. Hot water and load control signals to switchboards have caused issues with car alarms in the past. Vehicles parked close to a switchboard with an activated ripple control signal (1050Hz) have been known to suffer problems with fitted electronics being activated by the frequency. I think we had a member on this forum who's ecu's "woke up" every time his hot water relay received the signal. Ran his batteries down. The load control signals happen at various times of the day and night depending on what loads they want to control. Usually on the hour.

Park the car further away from the switchboard for a bit to see if the alarm behaves.
Ask the utility (Energex in your case) what times over the past week has your off peak load been switched. Or worse still, if you have signed up for a load controlled air conditioner, then that may be the issue as well because they are switched in the same way but the control receiver is in the outdoor unit in those cases, with less shielding in most cases as it's an EMC afterthought and the shielding the aircon factory engineered has been compromised by the addition of this receiver.
I'm still thinking ripple control Interference. Rule out the easy stuff first.
Matti.

[DiscoMick]

Also, not sure if you have one, but solar inverters also connect to the wifi. It hasn't caused us a problem though.

[ChookD2]

I have a solar inverter not far from the car that is wifi connected but between that and any smart meters that would have started the day I brought it home in late Jan. this only started in late March early April.

Also spoke to neighbour behind and they are not doing anything but do hear the alarm. The bloke next to them is a FIFO worker and is not home just now, so nothing going on there.

So.....

Yesterday and the day before I parked back in instead of nose in. Yesterday and today, no alarm. Also yesterday, I had to go to the shop and opened the RH rear door to place somethng on the seat and when I shut door and went to leave, dash showed right rear door open. Was definitely closed. Got out and shut again, same, tried again, same, tried again, shut, well nothing on the dash.

This little misbehaviour has me thinking that Tombie maybe on the right track with temp changes in the morning. So I think I will get a replacement door latch and see what happens from there.

Assuming that the latch also encompasses the alarm and door closed indication, because I can't find anything else in the door frame to activate it such as a swith for the light.

Thanks for the help I'll let your know how it goes.

[DiscoJeffster]

Assuming that the latch also encompasses the alarm and door closed indication, because I can't find anything else in the door frame to activate it such as a swith for the light.

Thanks for the help I'll let your know how it goes.

It does. There are microswitches in there for that.

[DiscoMick]

Maybe just replace the microswitch?

[scarry]

Maybe,if you are going to keep the vehicle for a while,get a code reader such as a GAP tool and all will be revealed.