How to fit a Cobra Alarm in a Late Bay window

I used to be a dealer for Cobra & let me tell you they are the best alarms on the market, there are other good ones too. Toad is good but we did have a couple of faulty ones returned. Clifford are awsome but very complicated & its easy to make a mistake. Cobras never go wrong & you can buy every part separate easily. You can't go wrong with them. I have chosen a 7928 this is a Cat 1 alarm with ultrasonic sensors & it is compact which means the alarm is built into the siren which has a back up battery built in.

The first thing to do is to find a suitable place for the siren. It is water tight so can be fitted anywhere. Its always best to keep away from heat & moisture though so I have fitted it on the LHS front next to the headlight bowl.

The next thing to do is start the wiring, there are three wires sticking out partway up the loom there is a good reason for this however it is not necessary for us to use all of them as my Bus does not have central locking The black wire I soldered a tag on & conected it to the other earths on the headlight bowl.

I pulled one of the transmitter cables through the loom to exit at the same place as the ones I mentioned earlier & these will go up the LHS A pillar.

Next I have loomed the cable up as far as the fuse box following the path of the original wires.

Next I carried on the looming letting the green/red (+15V (ignition)) cable out & the red (+30(+12V perminant)) wires exit behind the fuse box these will be connected latter.

Now the wires were loomed up to behind the instrument cluster, following the original wires.

Next I fitted the immobiliser unit, this should be mounted out of sight & fitted where it is hard to get too. As the top is off my dash I can see easily where to put it. I have chosen to screw it to the steering support bracket.

 

On the immobiliser all of the cables are black to make interference after installation almost imposible. all the cables have print on the end & once cut the unit is useless to anyone. I connected the wire with code printed on it to the green wire coming from the siren with code printed on that.

The next thing to do is connect up the two yellow wires these are the feeds to the indicators. These are green/black & white black on the VW & can be found coming up from the steering column in a loom with lots of thick wires. These can be connected up either way around it doesn't matter.

The next thing to do is fit the LED, there are lots of places to fit this but I have chosen to use the blanking plug on the instrument panel.

 

I used a test light with one end grounded to look for a perminant 12V suppy (+30) I found a thick yellow one above the fusebox. Note the Snake's wedding, I think most 30 year old VW's will look like this (or worse)

I spliced the red wire for the alarm into it by baring back the insulation wro=apping the cable around it & soldering the joint. Don't use connectors or scotch locks or you'll get troble in the future.

Next I cut the newly installed red wire installed an in-line 16A fuse. Make sure you use a fuse or it could all end intears if the alarm ever goes faulty.

Next I soldered the Black wire from the LED to the White/black from the alarm.

Next I drilled a 16mm hole in the dash for the touch recepticle. I chose that possition because there was a burn hole there so I thought I'd hide it otherwise I would have put it somewhere else. I didn't fit that dodgy switch below. Thats going when I get around to it:-

Out of the back of the touch receptor there are two cables, the yellow one needs to be connected to earth, I have chosen the multy connector on the back of the clocks.

The other wire is Red/Green, this is connected to the pink wire (don't ask me I didn't design the unit)

 

I checked at the loom coming up form the ignition switch for a +15 (ignition live) that stayed live whilst cranking & again there was a thick black one I cut this & turned on the ignition no dash lights (thats what I wanted)

I soldered to this one of the immobiliser black wires with "+15" written on it (double check before cutting, I always check twice, then read the cable as I am about to discard the end)

 

I double checked that the end I soldered to was still live with the ignition on then soldered one of the black wires with "2" printed on it to the same place.

I then followed the other end of the wire & pulled it out of the loom cutting out 20CM which I discarded, you have to cut off at least 10CM.

I soldered the other black wire marked "2" to this end this is one of the immobiliser cuts & I have no ignition now as a result.

Back to the immobiliser, there are 2 earth cables marked "-ve" I conected one behind the clocks to the multi connection:-

& one to the headlight bowl, don't connect them to the same place:-

While in this location I conected the blue/pink wire from the alarm to the door pin swich cable:-

I then conected the red wire from the LED I fitted earlier to the thick red wire in the inition harness, this is +30 (live at all times)

Then I checked for a starter circuit the black/red thick cable becomes live only when cranking, so this is the one, I cut this & soldered one of the black immobiliser cables marked "1" to it:-

Next I cut out 20CM off the cable & soldered the other black cable marked "1" to the other end of the cut, this is the other immobiliser cut now I have no starter:-

This is the bit I cut out:-

 

Now the car wont start & I have no ignition, but when I disarm the immobiliser they are reconected internally in the immobiliser & then it will work. There is one last wire on the immobiliser marked "+15" don't connect to the same place as the other one, I conected this to the Green/red wire coming from the alarm wiring, this is the ignition sense wire & its important not to conect this to the car wiring

Now the hard bit fishing the cable down the A pillars, I always use 6 core telephone cable as it is stiff, my roof lining is out so it makes life easier.

Push the cable down the hole in the A-pillar:-

Pull it out of the bottom, it’s not a nice job it can be frustrating & I found it easier to remove the Door pin switch.

Use this cable to pull a thinner one up:-

Then pull the ultrasonic senor cable down, make sure the tape is not too thick & don't force it, you'll break it, also make sure you get the right colour one down. I have used Red on the RHS but it doesn't mater:-

At the same time pull in a blue cable for the rear door switch your going to fit later, solder this to the blue wire that comes from the alarm.:-

Plug in the matching plug & socket:-

Drill the bracket attached to the sensor with a 3.5 mm drill bit:-

Remove one of the press studs & fit this to the bracket as pictured:-

Fit the press stud back where it was sandwiching the sensor in place:-

 

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The other side of the bus solder the blue wire with the black sleeve to a piece of blue wire (it doesn't have to be blue but I like blue!)

Repeat the fishing process on the LHS not forgetting to plug in the white pair:-

Then fit the other sensor:-

At the B-pillar where the sliding door closes there is a plastic grommet remove this & you can fit a door sensor to it ( there is one in the kit) the blue wire then has to be fished down here:-

That’s it for now the only things left are to get the blue wires to the sliding door for a pin switch, to the tailgate & I'm also going to protect the engine lid. I'll update you all later.

 

I dropped one of the blue Cables down the RHS B-Pillar & fished it out where VW very thoughtfully left a hole:-

Then I fitted a crimp on Spade connector & pluged it in to a door pin switch, my finger is there to hold it on as I hadn't screwed it in place at this point.

 

Decided then to fit a Cobra alarm in my new Bay, its a modular system not like the compact I fitted before, which means the system is split into component parts easier when space is tight:-



First wired the siren:-





Then I started stripping the dash:-





Then I drilled 2 holes for the siren:-



Then bolted it up:-


Next job was to fish cables down the A-pilars for the ultra sonics:-



Then fit them:-



these 5 cables are for the central locking so I'll tuck these away in case I need them in the future:-



these 5 are for a pager & other optional extras that I am not useing so I'll tuck these away as well:-

 

Pulled the radio so I can get to the dash bolts above it:-



Removed the dash top:-



Mounted the control module & the immobiliser:-



Added the 2 wires from the alarm siren (black & Yellow/blue:-



Wired in the indicator circuits (Yellow to the black/green & Yellow to the black/white):-




Next connected the red from the siren to the red from the control module, then fitted an in-line fuse holder then soldered the cable to the main +30 red from the ignition switch:-

 

Next job was to solder the white cable to the "code" wire from the immobilizer:-



Next cut the ground cables from the block & wired these to 2 different earth points, I used the headlight bowl & the multi earth point behind the dash:-




At this point my M8, borrowed my camera for 10 mins, turned out to be about 5 hrs so I'll take some more pics tomorrow.
But at the moment I've got the alarm & immobilizer working, the pin switch on the driver door wired up & the cables into the back of van ready to protect the boot, engine bay, sliding door etc.

 

I found the central position between the 2 gauges & drilled a pilot hole, then I drilled it out to 10mm, I then had to strip off the back of the clocks & drill an exit hole for the wire in the bottom of the pod:-

 

cool, are these known by insurance companies, most ask if you have a clifford/toad etc

 

I've now completely finished in the cab area so moved on to the sliding door & one thing lead to another.
I pulled the cable down into the B-pillar for the pin switch, the pin switch I had has 2 terminals, so I thought It would be nice if the sliding door brought on a light, so I pulled in another cable.
Next I thought I'd fetch a fused live up from the dash, then I decided I'll get the feed from the existing cab light & I'd run another earth down to a switch on the dash.
Confused yet? Here are a few pics to explain:-


the fish wire:-





The door pin striker, not all buses have these:-


The earth to the new light position from the pin switch:-


The live feed from the light & I've just realised looking at this that that brown wire shouldn't be there it needs to be at the new light position.


Here are the live feed (red) from the cab light the pin switch earth feed (blue) & the speaker wire from the radio, I just need an earth feed now from the cab switch

 

Used some fiberglass rods to feed the cables down the roof cavaty of the bus:-

The cables came out right at the back:-




This is the earth feed to the new light possition, this will connect to a switch on the dash:-


As well as this cable to connect up I've also got to connect up my 2 rear speakers, they are already there but previously were fed by one cable off the right hand channel. I've also got to somehow connect a pin switch to the tailgate & the engine lid.

Just so people know I got an alarm:-

 

Found a pin switch location near the tailgate hinge:-


But had to remove the overhead locker to get to it:-


Fitted the pin switch, then I realised the hinge won't reach it. I removed the side locker:-





Then before I fitted it all back I pumped Waxoil down inside the roof:-

 

Awesome write up, k+. What is the new alarms' model number?

 

Awesome, great step by step instructions for a non electrical person like myself.
Now bookmarked many thanks ;D