I just wanted to post up my first hand experience with installing a remote starter system on my DD winter beater car. The car that I installed this remote start keyless entry is a 2000 Mazda Protege rs. This is the kit that I got off of ebay for under then $60 shipped.
Ebay Remote System Here
Ill start off by saying that I am not an electrical person but I dont have a problem doing some wiring myself with some instructions, tools and time. It probably took me about 10 hours working it with taking my time and doing it outside with the cold weather. This system seems to be very nice for how much it costs. It came with a printed sheet with the wires that you will need to access and where to find them. I can say that the descriptions were not the best so I went online to the12volt.com and modifiedlife.com which were both very helpful with comments from people that actually installed the the actual vehicle.
I started by taking off all of the panels in the kick panel area and the steering column and center console. The main features to this unit is keyless entry, remote start, and it also has a turbo timer but a turbo is not in the future plans with this car. I had to run 4 main wires to the key switch which were constant power, power that turns on with the ignition on, starter power and power to the heater AC units. The rest of the wires were for engine rpm off the ecu, brake pedal switch power, parking light power, door switch power, door lock power, ground, and I think that is pretty much it.
I got it all installed and it was nice on this car because I did not have to use any relays and only one simple resistor which was used in the door locks. This car uses a one wire door locking system where the unlock uses the wire right from the remote start box and the lock uses the wire from the box to the same wire that the unlock goes to but with a 1.5k ohm resistor between.
The unit automatically learns the rpm style of the car for best starting results and there are also features for delayed starting for diesel applications. Some vehicles will take bypass units to bypass the stock security and keyless entry units but not on this car which made it easier.
Some things this unit does is lock doors moments after driving and unlocks the doors when the car is shut off. It locks the doors when the remote start is activated and also when it is deactivated by the remote. It has a turbo timer but I am not using it. It has a setting where the car can be started every hour or 2 hours and run for 15 minutes. There is the option to hook up relays to an AUX output to roll windows up and or down with the remote as well.
I would say that this was somewhat difficult and a little frustrating mostly because of the limited space to work with. I would recommend this to anyone that has the nerve to mess with wires. The best $59 I have ever spent!
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