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VIDA Reading off alarm cause - help!

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Old May 4th, 2021, 00:08   #11
ShadeTek
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If the car horn sounds, this means the ECU has lost connection to the siren and as a failsafe, it sounds the car horn, assuming it has been deliberatley tampered with in attempt to disable the siren.
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Old May 4th, 2021, 13:37   #12
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Originally Posted by ShadeTek View Post
If the car horn sounds, this means the ECU has lost connection to the siren and as a failsafe, it sounds the car horn, assuming it has been deliberatley tampered with in attempt to disable the siren.
Ah - thanks for that. I should have been more precise...

When I said it went off with "horn", I am not sure if it was horn or siren.

IIRC it was horn (but I would not swear to it) so maybe there is a problem, if it has lost connection between ECU and siren. But I would not expect such a problem to actually trigger the alarm in the first place - which is my 'first level' problem.



Anyway, it will be off to the dealer for a check/diagnosis soon enough.
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Old May 4th, 2021, 23:08   #13
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Just chipping in 'cos I've had the same - several false alarms, mostly silent, but a couple with horn. Over half of them overnight.

And today I had a phone call from Volvo On Call to tell me it had gone off last night (I already knew that!). None of the previous false alarms were registered by Volvo On Call, so I need to get to the bottom of that, too.

Soooo..... I'm interested to know why the alarm siren replacement was proceeded with when it seemed to be an internal motion sensor that triggered the alarm eachtime? Am I failing to understand some part of this?

I'm planning to take mine in to get the dealer to tell me which sensor keeps triggering my alarm (assuming it is the same sensor each time).

I had the same problem many years ago and it was almost certainly some insect activity in the car - probably a spider being nocturnally active. A good clean-out of the car and the problem went away.

So if I know which sensor is triggering, maybe a good hoover around that area might fix this. We'll see. But I don't expect to have to replace a siren unit on a 6 or 7 year-old car.
Maybe not, but the battery in the siren could be iffy & that could trigger the alarm randomly.
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Old May 5th, 2021, 11:23   #14
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But I don't expect to have to replace a siren unit on a 6 or 7 year-old car.
Sadly your expectations are not realistic when dealing with the Volvo siren unit. The unit is not a repairable item but the rechargeable battery sealed inside it has a life of about 6-7 years according to Varta who make them. If you are handy with a craft knife, drill and possibly a soldering iron you can buy the Varta battery as originally fitted and replace it for a fraction of the cost of the new siren unit that Volvo would have you buy.

The problem lies in the fact that the back up battery has to be protected from interference to maintain the security status of the alarm system and so the unit is sealed with no open/close system but there is no battery which will last the lifetime of the car. It's not a plot by Volvo but it is an expensive predictable nuisance. Mine failed after only three years and the Volvo dealer who sold me the car replaced it fee of charge under the Volvo Selekt warranty but 6-7 years isn't going to get you any special treatment.
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Old May 8th, 2021, 21:57   #15
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My son had the same issue with his s60 2010 model . Always went off at night when temp dropped. Fitted a replacement and all sorted.
Opened up old unit all looked well with no corrosion and battery seemed to check out. Think fault developed in circuitry probably age related( built in redundancy ?)
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Old May 8th, 2021, 23:14   #16
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Presumably other OEMs ( apart from Ford/ Volvo/ Landrover/ Mazda cars of the early 2010's using common parts ) use sirens with rechargeable batteries as well, do they not fail? It's not that widely reported as an issue. Strangely, the siren on my my wife's 2012 Mazda 3 has not failed either.

If a new siren is fitted by a Volvo dealer, it may well have 5 year old batteries in it already on the cusp of failing. Seems a pretty stupid design feature. Yes, I have such an issue with my 2015 V60 Polestar !! Taking the fuse for the siren out in February stopped the alarm ( flashing indicators only) triggering. Putting it back in last week, no such problem but still with an alarm malfunction message .
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Old May 9th, 2021, 00:07   #17
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Originally Posted by Stu B View Post
Hi All,

Just a quick one, I'm sure this is user error but I'm sleep deprived from my alarm going off at 1am and waking me up....

I'm trying to diagnose why my V70 occasionally flashes it's hazard lights in the night, and then last night sounded the alarm. It doesn't show on the dash that the alarm was triggered, shows no 'alarm service required' message, or flag any DTCs in VIDA.

I did some searching and can see how you use VIDA to 'read off alarm cause' in CEM / advanced so tried it quickly at lunchtime. However, I just get this screen with no further options when the posts I've read indicate I should get an activation to run and bring back the last few alarm trigger reasons.




Anyone done this recently and able to confirm please? I've tried double clicking, restarting VIDA, ignition off and on but always get this screen rather than the VCT2000 icon to click and start the process. VIDA works fine in all other aspects as far as I can tell.

I suspect the alarm siren battery of course, but would like to confirm it's not something else first before I remove the SCM fuse for the night....

Thanks!
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Well it looks pretty straightforward , its listing the last 5 causes as the mass movement sensor . ( Interior Motion Sensor in the ceiling ) which will need a new unit ...
or there is a bird in the car or something like that ...
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Old May 9th, 2021, 00:15   #18
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I vaguely remember posts relating to those roof sensors; a certain batch failing
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Old May 9th, 2021, 00:34   #19
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Quote:
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I vaguely remember posts relating to those roof sensors; a certain batch failing
yes especially around 2009 ... that's why volvo changed them from radio waves to conventional ultrasonic ..
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Old May 9th, 2021, 14:22   #20
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Thank you Stu! I have exactly the same issue and will see if I can replace the battery to fix the siren. When you say the siren is to the left of the main battery, do you mean near side or offside ( mine is a RHD 2015 XC70 UK version) and is there any chance you can post a photo of its location and a little on how you got it out?
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