renner.john

If someone could please help me, I would greatly appreciate it. I am new to this forum and I feel like I am about 90% there on my install. I am going to write a lengthy write up to try and make sure that I cover everything. Please take the time to read the entire write up, and if you can, please provide me with any information that will help me complete this install. Thank you in advance.

I got an Avital 5303 System, Directed Electronics 556U Universal bypass module and a power door lock kit for Christmas. I have a 2012 Chevy Express 1500 Van Base Model. I used to install Car Stereos and Alarms back in the 80's and early 90's while I was in college. I worked for a stereo shop locally and Circuit City back then. So, I thought I would be able to attack this project with very little problems. However, I was wrong. Let me also say, that I am leary of probing around too much into wire harnesses looking for the right wire since I have been out of the trade for so long and don't have the access to information that I once had. I sure don't want to set of air bags or cause other problems.

This weekend was my first weekend off and so I decided to attack this project. I was working in my garage with no heat and it was in the 30's and 40's both days. Garage is not huge, but I got the van in and was able to open the doors, etc and not have to leave the Big Garage door open.

I attacked the door locks first. I installed the actuators in all 4 doors. The kit that I got has the driver's door as a master and the other 3 doors as slaves. After getting them installed, I put temporary power on the kit and tested them. I had to make a few adjustments in the travel, etc. but with very little adjustments I got them working like they should. While I was doing the door lock kit, I found the wire in each door that went to ground when that respective door was opened. I took all 4 of those wires (-) and brought them over to the driver's side interior to be used as my negative door trigger for the alarm.

The next step I choose to attack was the alarm. The first thing I did was run two 10 gauge power wires from the engine bay to the inside of the van on the driver's side. Both of them are fused. My thoughts were use one of the 10 gauge power wires for the Power Locks, Alarm portion of the 5303 and the 556u bypass module. The other power was to be for the remote start portion of the alarm.

I had tried multiple places online to find a wiring diagram for my van, but was not able to find one that appeared to be completely accurate. The couple that I found had conflicting information, so I already knew that there would have to be some items that I would have to research.

I mounted the siren, placed the hood pin switch, adjusted the hood pin switch and tapped into a dark blue/white wire at the driver's side ECM module for the tach sense. The dark blue/white wire on the ECM module was in the top group of wires that were plugged into the ECM module. The reason I tapped into that dark blue/white wire for tach sense, was that all 3 of the diagrams that I got online, mentioned that wire. I ran the siren wire, hood pin switch wire and the tach sense wire into the van on the driver's side.

I picked my locations for my LED, Valet/Program Switch and the Shock Sensor that came with the alarm and installed them. I ran the wires over to the driver's side.

I took the steering column covers apart to expose the ignition switch, etc and I also dropped the lower half of the driver's side dash. I went to the headlight switch to get my light flash. I found a brown wire, which also matched the vehicle wiring diagrams, that went (+) when the lights were turned on. So, I dropped a wire down for the light flash. I found the Ignition (+), which was Pink, and the Accessory (+), which was Brown, in the Ignition group of wiring. I dropped wires down for them into the driver area. I found a key sense wire in 1 of the 4 wires that were going into the module that is at the ignition tumbler itself. Don't remember that color, but the test light showed it going active as soon as the key was put into the cylinder and stayed active. I dropped a wire down for that into the driver's area.

I mounted the antenna above the rear view mirror and ran the wire to the driver's area.

At this point I started hooking wires up. I am going to reference them below:

Main Harness (H1), 12 Pin connector (Avital 5303)
H1/1 -- Red/White (-) Trunk Release Output -- did not hook up.
H1/2 -- Red (+) Constant Power Input -- Attached to 10 gauge power wire #1 coming in from engine compartment.
H1/3 -- Brown (+) Siren Output -- Attached to Red Wire coming in from the Siren
H1/4 -- Not Used
H1/5 -- Black (-) Grounded to factory ground bolt in the driver's side kick panel area.
H1/6 -- Violet (+) Door Input Trigger, Zone 3 -- did not hook up.
H1/7 -- Blue (-) Instant Trigger Input, Zone 1 -- did not hook up.
H1/8 -- Green (-) Door Trigger Input Zone 3 -- hooked up to my wires coming from my 4 doors that went to ground when the respective door is opened.
H1/9 -- Black/White (-) Domelight Supervision Output -- did not hook up. Unclear as to what this does or how to wire it.
H1/10 -- White/Blue (-) Remote Start Activation Input -- Unclear, based on directions, as to whether I needed to hook this up or how to wire it.
H1/11 -- White (+)/(-) Selectable Light Flash Output -- Hooked to wire coming from light switch (Brown) that showed positive when lights were turned on.
H1/12 -- Orange (-) Ground when armed output -- did not hook up

I also hooked up the Door Lock 3 Pin connector to the door lock kit that I had installed.

At this point, I powered the system up to see what happened. Everything worked on what I had hooked up so far, except 2 things. My dash lights would flash, but not my actual exterior lights. I powered the system down, grabbed my test light and checked my light switch again. The brown wire goes live when the lights are turned on. Not sure if I need a relay, or if I need to attach to another wire in the switch.

Secondly, when I disarmed the system after I tripped it by opening a door, the LED still flashes. At this point, I think it is because the accessory wire is not hooked up yet, since it connects to the remote start portion.

So far, I am feeling ok with how things are going.

So I grab the next harness and begin.

H2/1 -- Blue (-) Second Unlock Output - did not hook up. Not sure how I would work that on my lock system. Not a big deal to me.
H2/2 -- White/Black (-) Aux 3 output -- did not hook up
H2/3 -- Violet/Black (-) Aux 2 output -- did not hook up
H2/4 -- Green/White (-) Factory Alarm Rearm output -- did not hook up. No factory alarm.
H2/5 -- Gray/Black (-) Wait-to-Start Input -- did not hook up. I believe, based on reading the instructions, that it would be for diesel only.
H2/6 -- Light Green/Black (-) Factory Alarm Disarm output -- did not hook up. No Factory Alarm.

So nothing got hooked up on the H2 harness.

Next I grabbed the H3 Harness.

H3/1 -- Black/White (-) Neutral Safety Switch Input. None of the diagrams that I got online, showed a Neutral Safety Switch wire. So, I hooked one side of the switch that came with Avital to the harness wire and the other wire coming off the switch to ground, based on the install instructions.
H3/2 -- Violet/White -- Tachometer Input Wire -- hooked to the wire that is coming in from the engine compartment that was hooked to the Dark Blue/White in the Top Harness of the Driver's Side ECM module.
H3/3 -- Brown -- (+) Brake Shutdown Input wire -- none of the online diagrams that I have, identify this wire. I tried several wires that were at the brake pedal, but did not find a (+) when the pedal was pressed. currently not hooked up.
H3/4 -- Gray -- (-) Hood Pin Switch -- tied into hood pin wire and works.
H3/5 -- Blue/White -- (-) 2nd Status/Rear Defogger -- not hooked up. don't have a rear defogger.

I did not hook up any wires on the H4 harness.

H4/1 -- Orange/Black (-) Aux 4 output -- did not hook up.
H4/2 -- Brown (-) -- Horn Output -- did not hook up.

Now that I was going to start on the Remote Start side, I did the 556u portion first.

Red -- (+) 12 Volt Input -- hooked to the first 10 gauge wire coming in from the engine compartment.
Blue -- (-) Status Input -- connected this wire to the Blue Wire on the Relay Satellite 4- Pin connector on the Avital Remote Start portion.
Pink -- (+) Ignition Input -- connected this to the wire that I dropped down from the Ignition Switch wiring. The wire at the Ignition Switch is pink.
Black -- (-) Chassis Ground Input -- Connected this to the factory ground located at the driver's side kick panel.
Violet -- (+) Key Sense Input -- connected this to the wire that shows positive when the key is put in the tumbler. This is a wire that I found earlier that I dropped down into the driver's side area. the wire originates at the tumbler.
Green -- (-) Key Sense Input -- did not connect.
I then took the loop wire and wrapped it around the tumbler. I placed it in front of the medal portion of the tumbler. It is between the factory immobilizer plastic hardware and the actual metal cylinder. Lastly, I tested my spare key. It started the van, so I placed it inside the 556u like the diagram showed and I closed it up.

Next I worked on the Heavy Gauge Relay Satellite Harness of the Avital Remote Start portion of the alarm.

H/1 -- Purple -- Starter Output to Starter (Starter Side) -- did not hook up. unclear as to what wire or wires, as the online diagrams I obtained have conflicting information and I didn't want to probe around and set off an airbag.
H/2 -- Green -- Starter Input from Ignition Switch (Key Side) -- did not hook up. Same reason as above.
H/3 -- Red -- (+) 12V Input -- hooked to 2nd 10 gauge wire coming in from engine compartment.
H/4 -- Orange -- Output to accessory circuit -- Attached to wire that I had dropped down earlier from Ignition Area -- The original wire is Brown in color.
H/5 -- Red -- (+) 12V Input -- hooked to 2nd 10 gauge wire coming in from engine compartment.
H/6 -- Pink -- Output to Primary Ignition Circuit -- Attached to wire that I had dropped down earlier from Ignition Area -- The original wire is Pink in color.
H/7 -- Red/White -- 12V Input -- hooked to 2nd 10 gauge wire coming in from engine compartment.
H/8 -- Pink/White -- Output to Second Ignition/Accessory Circuit -- did not hook up. Unsure if I need to and if so, what wire or wires to attach to it.

I currently do not have the Remote Start Ribbon Harness attached between the Remote Start Relay Satellite and the Avital Alarm Brain. I am pretty sure when I do that, it will take care of my LED issue, since the Alarm would then be able to see an Ignition and Accessory Wire.

I have temporarily put everything up and out of the way so that I can drive the van. Please help me with any relevant information, diagrams, etc, so that I can finish this install. I spent my entire weekend working on this and I am disappointed that I could not complete it. However, I feel like with a few more key pieces of information, I can get it finished. Thank you in advance.

rdw123

Oh my gosh, good luck

I put in a remote start from autoalarmpro.com which was a code alarm system and except for 1 wire (the brake wire, but I tell you about that one) they pretty nailed it in their install kit checklist.

the biggest help by far outside of that is I got a subscription to alldatadiy.com for my van (2012 3500) and it has every diagram known to humankind for the van. I got the 5 year subscription for $45 something and it has helped in so many ways with the remote start and wiring in my trailer hitch plug.

The key here is that many of the wires in that van are signal level, not power conducting like 5-10 years ago. So on the brake pedal those wires are there to determine how much you have pushed the pedal, not just on or off like in days of yore.

The best location for your H3/3 brake light input wire would be (sadly) to run a wire over to the BCM (body control module) which on my van is behind the passenger side dash knee panel. it has 6(?) connectors the one you want is officially titled x5 which again on my van was the brown connector between the black and pink connectors. The unit was difficult to get out to look at the cables but well worth taking your time.

On that brown connector is a light blue with white trace wire that will drive your brake pedal sensor (H3/3) wire.

Now with the ECM, BCM, TCM, ectetra gotta be careful what wires you probe or you might just fry one of the computers. Some wires are 12 or 5 volt reference, some are part of the low speed or high speed data buses between the computers.

NOW-------

the confusing part is your H/1 and H/2 wires

if H/1 (purple) is for sending power to crank starter, that would go to a pink wire on the connector just below ignition cylinder, my instructions said the wire will probe +12 when key is in on-crank position.(be sure of both on and crank position of key, seems I remember there was another pink wire in there too)

YES the pink wire is like 25 or 30 gauge tiny, it is a signal wire to drive the relay elsewhere so it was quite humorous connecting the huge 10 gauge wire from the remote start unit to it.

Your H/2 starter input does not make sense to me, I did not have an equivalent wire to hook up. Was that intended to split the above pink wire as from key to H/2 from one side of the cut, and from H/1 to pink to starter on other side of cut?

definitely not sure on that one.

Many of my connections were done through a DLPK interface directly to the data buss such as my door lock and tach so cant help you with those.

Again the alldatadiy.com with it's factory diagrams has been very helpful to me and worth my investment FWIW.

Hope that helps some...

R