REMOTE START-for the winter?

[BLueBeast]

I've been looking into getting remote start for my car, but I know in Colorado its illegal to have it on a MANUAL trans.

I went to Car Toys & Drive-IN Auto sound & they both told me the same thing. But one guy was pretty koo and said "ya we can just hook up the alarm & then you get the wire for the remote start & if you hook it up, thats on you."

SO what I'm asking is who has experience with alarms?

-What is a good brand to go with?

my REq's in an alarm:

-built in TURBO TIMER

-Remote start

-Back-up battery and silent alarm



I heard DEI & Clifford are the two main ones (DEI,hope I spelt that correctly, owns all the animal sounding ones, ie, viper, etc.)

Any info or opinions would be appreciated.

[FabzDSM]

They own clifford too. Go with viper awesome brand. Has many more plus the features you want to go with. I'd install it for you if you needed too. I am an installer and have a rem. start on mine as well. Again it is illegal but its on you if your car creeps through your garage door because you forgot you left it in gear.

[Spyderking99]

i have a remote start and i never had any problems and i second the viper its a wonderful alarm

[drcustom]

DEI = Directed Electronics Incorporated. They're the '800lb gorilla' in the auto alalrm/accesory industry. They have a huge market share, and generally make a decent product.

I'm not familiar with the law in Colorado, but I'm guessing that the car being a manual transmission isn't the problem...I'm guessing the system needs to have failsafes that prevent the car from starting in gear.

If that's the case, there are two ways around this legally (and if you still want to break the law on this one, I still think you should do this for safety...cars have ended up inside buildings, and people have been run over by a car in gear that was remote started).

1) There are remote start systems made for manual cars. I may have an extra pre-DEI clifford Solaris that I think has this feature, but I'm sure other DEI brands have this available now. Usually, there's a process you have to go through before you turn off the car - something like, clutch out, foot brake off, and e-brake on with car running when ignition is turned off, or the car won't start remotely - or something like that.

2) A sensor to be sure the car is in neutral. You can use microswitches, or a home alarm door magnet sensor. The same way the alarm won't go off if the door is closed, the car won't start unless the shift lever is in neutral. It's easy to install something like this even if the remote start isn't for a manual transmission - you just wire it up in place of the Park/Neutral trigger that would be used on an automatic transmission.

Legal or not, you don't want to damage your car, or someone elses property, or run someone over.

[BLueBeast]

sounds good, thanks for all the good advice.

Hey FabzDsm, I went on Best Buy's website & they only had 3 alarms listed? is that all they carry?

Seems Drive-in Autosound has a better selection.

Any particular model of Alarm that anyone recommends?

who has tried the built in TURBO TIMER?

[99mitsuspyder]

Usually if you go on ebay you can find a very good alarm with everything you want. Don't just buy for a name. Then either install yourself or you can have someone do it if you need that.