Cheap and cheerful alarm? (and random fob question)

[mrak]

Anyone have a recommendation for an alarm? Nothing fancy. I'm not precious about my van, but I've had someone get into it once and take what they could find, and I just saw another person try to get in - in the middle of the day. Might as well spend a few quid to save myself having to buy another phone mount/Bluetooth-FM thing/USB charger/etc..

Oh, and unrelated (so may have to start another thread), but anyone know the easiest way of getting a fob if you don't have an existing one or the transponder code? Will I need to speak with a Citroen dealer directly?

Thanks!

[Sol]

On the alarm, the vans don't have one as standard (go figure?) and the "standard" one can be had on ebay but needs coded to the BSI using DiagBox. (a dealer will not code a used part I expect) - it's a plug in affair if you use the one meant for the Berlingo. I've seen them for a tenner online. I do have DiagBox so intend to fit one and set it up at some point.

Not sure however on an early M59 model - 2004 - might have to fit an aftermarket alarm.

Fobs....that's a sore point. If you never had one for the Central Locking, you would need a new one as a used one can't be coded to your van / car. A new one from Citroen is probably near £200 but maybe you can buy a new PCB online and a case (with blank key blade) then get the key cut to match yours and the fob coded to the van with DiagBox again....locksmiths can often do this but need a working fob to copy so that's where you may hit a brick wall unless you had the software mentioned above and could code it yourself.

Do you actually have central locking at all? Some do, some don't. The BSI comes in 3 levels of capability, low medium and high.

If you have both Central Locking AND Deadlocking, then you have the high version with the full capability. Central Locking only is Medium level, and no Central Locking is Low level so it cannot be added if it doesn't have it to begin with, in that case no fob can be programmed to it anyway, even at a dealership.

There are aftermarket kits but again with no locking solenoids it would be a major PITA to fit one if it never had it to start with.

[mrak]

Thanks, Zion. Helpful as always!

At £200 I'll give the fob a miss and stick to trying to remember to keep the doors locked! I do have central locking, though (there's the big button in the middle of the console, and I can lock all doors when locking the driver's side - although the passenger side is currently clicking but not actually locking, and no doors will unlock with the central locking button).

Didn't think about an official alarm. They are indeed cheap on ebay. Problem is the diagbox... I've looked into getting one (wouldn't mind adding a CC stalk, but no idea if the BSI has the option). The real issue there seems to be needing a laptop running Windows 7 (and XP, maybe?). Don't have anything like that any more.

Maybe after market is easiest for now. There's some cheap stuff on Amazon, but a lot of Amazon stuff is total garbage so was hoping someone may have installed something themselves.

[Sol]

Windows 7 is best, not too hard to get hold of (Ebay etc) - a cheap used notebook (10/11") is really best for car stuff as its small, battery lasts ages and the win 7 ones are about £100 max (may get a cheaper one online) so I got myself a wee Samsung 110 and its great for DiagBox. Because it came with Win 7 Starter, you can always install that by downloading it from the net and using the sticker key on the notebook. Since they have no CD reader, they expect to be set up with a USB and have the windows licence key on the bottom.

DiagBox is really the only tool for that kind of thing.

So, if you have CL....try pressing the button inside twice within a second or so, if the deadlocks engage, (second thump) then you have the High level BSI so can get anything configured for it like CC etc. Also means you could in theory buy a brand new fob key with PCB from eBay, and make your own combo key using your spare key transponder chip, new PCB and cut blade to make it work, will still need coded to the car with DB but it's doable.

So do your keys not have the 2 buttons on them at all? Just plain key heads? Put a pic of the key up?

If one door isn't locking on the key or the button then that will cause a problem. Usually the car will immediately unlock if you try to lock it and one door doesn't comply. Odd.

The other thing you need to code a key, is the BSI PIN code - usually on a card when the car is new. Without it, you can't code any security features on the BSI like keys, fobs, Immo settings etc. Most dealers can get it for you for a fee if you present ID and V5, worth a phone call if you don't have your code card for the car.

[Pedronicus]

The BSI comes in 3 levels of capability, low medium and high.

If you have both Central Locking AND Deadlocking, then you have the high version with the full capability. Central Locking only is Medium level, and no Central Locking is Low level so it cannot be added if it doesn't have it to begin with, in that case no fob can be programmed to it anyway, even at a dealership.

Z, are you saying there are 3 levels of actual BSI unit or that the different levels can be set by Diabox?  How does one tell which level BSI is fitted/activated?

[deejay_xb]

On the alarm, the vans don't have one as standard (go figure?) and the "standard" one can be had on ebay but needs coded to the BSI using DiagBox. (a dealer will not code a used part I expect)  - it's a plug in affair if you use the one meant for the Berlingo. I've seen them for a tenner online. I do have DiagBox so intend to fit one and set it up at some point.

Not sure however on an early M59 model - 2004 - might have to fit an aftermarket alarm.

Fobs....that's a sore point. If you never had one for the Central Locking, you would need a new one as a used one can't be coded to your van / car. A new one from Citroen is probably near £200 but maybe you can buy a new PCB online and a case (with blank key blade) then get the key cut to match yours and the fob coded to the van with DiagBox again....locksmiths can often do this but need a working fob to copy so that's where you may hit a brick wall unless you had the software mentioned above and could code it yourself.

Do you actually have central locking at all? Some do, some don't. The BSI comes in 3 levels of capability, low medium and high.

If you have both Central Locking AND Deadlocking, then you have the high version with the full capability. Central Locking only is Medium level, and no Central Locking is Low level so it cannot be added if it doesn't have it to begin with, in that case no fob can be programmed to it anyway, even at a dealership.

There are aftermarket kits but again with no locking solenoids it would be a major PITA to fit one if it never had it to start with.

Can you tell me if I can fit my car the genuine alarm? Does it also have the horn? My car has central locking and also safe lock (cannot be opened from inside if locked if I lock only once).

[saskak]

For Diagbox I use a free virtual machine (https://www.virtualbox.org/) on my normal laptop and one can cheaply buy genuine Windows 7 for around a tenner on ebay. The virtual machine works on both Macs and Windows devices. I just fire up the Windows 7 when I need to do anything on the car and have given it ~20GB of space. The graphics on the Windows 7 with the virtual machine leaves plenty to be desired, but Diagbox does not need fancy graphics.

[mrak]

For Diagbox I use a free virtual machine (https://www.virtualbox.org/) on my normal laptop and one can cheaply buy genuine Windows 7 for around a tenner on ebay. The virtual machine works on both Macs and Windows devices. I just fire up the Windows 7 when I need to do anything on the car and have given it ~20GB of space. The graphics on the Windows 7 with the virtual machine leaves plenty to be desired, but Diagbox does not need fancy graphics.

Ah, nice - didn't think about a VM. I'll look into ordering one. Is there a forum recommend supplier? So many versions at pretty different price points.

[saskak]

For Diagbox I use a free virtual machine (https://www.virtualbox.org/) on my normal laptop and one can cheaply buy genuine Windows 7 for around a tenner on ebay. The virtual machine works on both Macs and Windows devices. I just fire up the Windows 7 when I need to do anything on the car and have given it ~20GB of space. The graphics on the Windows 7 with the virtual machine leaves plenty to be desired, but Diagbox does not need fancy graphics.

Ah, nice - didn't think about a VM. I'll look into ordering one. Is there a forum recommend supplier? So many versions at pretty different price points.

Not as far as I am aware, but I bought mine back in 2013 and it was quite expensive. AFAIK they are the same Chinese clones, but there are some differences (someone could correct me as I have not kept track), ver B, ver C, etc. Mine is the the worst of them all, ver B I think and I can only upgrade it to Diagbox v6.29, but this should not be a problem for your 2004 Berlingo. With my verB Diagbox v6.29 I can do everything on my 2007 M59. Of course I would not be able to upgrade it to support newer versions of PSA cars.

[mrak]

So, if you have CL....try pressing the button inside twice within a second or so, if the deadlocks engage, (second thump) then you have the High level BSI so can get anything configured for it like CC etc. Also means you could in theory buy a brand new fob key with PCB from eBay, and make your own combo key using your spare key transponder chip, new PCB and cut blade to make it work, will still need coded to the car with DB but it's doable.

So do your keys not have the 2 buttons on them at all? Just plain key heads? Put a pic of the key up?

If one door isn't locking on the key or the button then that will cause a problem. Usually the car will immediately unlock if you try to lock it and one door doesn't comply. Odd.

Completely missed this message earlier.

So the CL button does two things:

1) It switches between doing nothing, and locking the rear doors. Presumably the "nothing" press should be trying to unlock the doors, but that's not working.
3) If I hold it for a couple of seconds it makes something beep.

"try pressing the button inside twice within a second or so" - doesn't seem to do anything different from above. It either will do nothing, or try to lock.

In terms of my key: no buttons. Van's second hand and only had the spare. It's identical to this one: http://www.gallalock.com/img/uploads/sta...Remote.jpg (from: http://www.gallalock.com/content/25-citr...rogramming - "Citroen Transponder key with chip, no remote")

I'm a bit nervous the odd door locking may be a BSI issue...