Just a heads up for people, as this may be useful in case is happens to anyone else!
This morning on my drive to work, I'd been on the road about 30 minutes and stopped for coffee at a garage. When I returned to my car I pressed the button on my key fob, the car unlocked as normal, but the alarm sounded.
The indicators weren't flashing and the immobiliser wasn't active. I was able to start the car drive away. The alarm continued to sound for about 30 seconds then stopped for about ten seconds and then carried on sounding for another 30 seconds and then stopped for ten seconds again. This repeated for about 10 minutes. Then it stopped and stayed stopped.
I was sitting in a traffic jam the whole time and it was somewhat stressful. I called my Honda garage and spoke with mechanic there, alarm going in the background all the while. He said the alarm system has its own battery system, which like the normal car battery charges as it drives. If/when it runs flat, it charges up next time the car starts. Until the unit has a satisfactory level of charge, the alarm will continually go off in it's usual sound cycle. I don't know if this is an intended design or a glitch in the design. Either way it's seriously annoying! It stopped going off while I was on the phone to him. I will see if the alarm does this again when I leave work. I hope it won't!
However, this throws up a few questions:
1) I'd been driving for half an hour. Why did my alarm's battery run flat?
2) Did it instantly discharge itself while parked up at the garage? If so, there's a problem!
3) Is my alarm's battery at fault, if so this will keep happening until I get it replaced - apparently not too expensive???
4) Is the whole alarm unit at fault? Apparently they're very expensive to replace!
I'm obviously hoping it's a one off. Perhaps it was caused by moisture ingress? We have had unusually heavy, wet weather this last couple of weeks.
Obviously, if there's more to report I'll keep the thread updated, but just in case anyone else has the same issue, don't instantly panic, it's likely to be the alarm's battery recharging. It could point to another underlying problem, but in the instance it happens, just keep the engine running and drive around a bit to charge the alarm battery, just like you would a normal car battery.
This morning on my drive to work, I'd been on the road about 30 minutes and stopped for coffee at a garage. When I returned to my car I pressed the button on my key fob, the car unlocked as normal, but the alarm sounded.
The indicators weren't flashing and the immobiliser wasn't active. I was able to start the car drive away. The alarm continued to sound for about 30 seconds then stopped for about ten seconds and then carried on sounding for another 30 seconds and then stopped for ten seconds again. This repeated for about 10 minutes. Then it stopped and stayed stopped.
I was sitting in a traffic jam the whole time and it was somewhat stressful. I called my Honda garage and spoke with mechanic there, alarm going in the background all the while. He said the alarm system has its own battery system, which like the normal car battery charges as it drives. If/when it runs flat, it charges up next time the car starts. Until the unit has a satisfactory level of charge, the alarm will continually go off in it's usual sound cycle. I don't know if this is an intended design or a glitch in the design. Either way it's seriously annoying! It stopped going off while I was on the phone to him. I will see if the alarm does this again when I leave work. I hope it won't!
However, this throws up a few questions:
1) I'd been driving for half an hour. Why did my alarm's battery run flat?
2) Did it instantly discharge itself while parked up at the garage? If so, there's a problem!
3) Is my alarm's battery at fault, if so this will keep happening until I get it replaced - apparently not too expensive???
4) Is the whole alarm unit at fault? Apparently they're very expensive to replace!
I'm obviously hoping it's a one off. Perhaps it was caused by moisture ingress? We have had unusually heavy, wet weather this last couple of weeks.
Obviously, if there's more to report I'll keep the thread updated, but just in case anyone else has the same issue, don't instantly panic, it's likely to be the alarm's battery recharging. It could point to another underlying problem, but in the instance it happens, just keep the engine running and drive around a bit to charge the alarm battery, just like you would a normal car battery.