Central locking kit - Recommendations

[Greg Roberts]

MX5 - 93 NA

I want to add central locking, to work of the existing alarm system.

>> Any recommendations of a kit which works well for the MX5
and you can by 2 locks instead of 4 in the kit ?

Many thanks

[namster]

Your alarm needs to have a central locking trigger.

All central locking kits should work, just buy the $25 ones from ebay.
The MX5 should be plug and play, well mine was (NA8C)

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-2-4-Do ... dZViewItem

The drivers side door contains the "master" module (one with the most wires) and passenger the "slaves".

The top of the central locking mechanism connect to steel wires, which push and pull on the steel wire, which unlocks/locks your door.

easy peasy.

[Garry]

Make sure the actuators are very waterproof. It gets very wet inside an MX5 door cavity. Jaycar sell the actuators individuly for about $13 each I think, add around $30 for two relays and it's fairly simple to wire up the twin relay set up to make it all work.

[Wuey]

Yep, waterproof the actuators. My master actuator was water damaged due to lack of protection. I wrapped the replacement and the other actuactor in plastic sheet.

[Greg Roberts]

Thanks for the tips guys

[Greg Roberts]

Hi

Have done a Web search and come up empty on a guide for installing
central locking in an mx-5 (the tips not to break something) .
(includes miata.net and this forum)


Anyone know of a pictorial guide to it ?

Thanks

[Wuey]

Here's a good start.

Also look at the Power Accessories section here.

The question is, do you know how to wire the central locking unit to your alarm system which usually has the trigger connection?

[Greg Roberts]

awesome, thanks Wuey

At his stage i don't know if the alarm system (on car when i bought it)
has the correct connections . The remote is a generic unit so at this stage i don't know what type it is until i poke around under the dash.

Worst case i may have to have a second remote unit on the key ring.
From memory you can buy these kits for cars which don't have alarms.

Thanks again

[Greg Roberts]

For others, i found this http://www.miata.net/garage/pwrlock.htm which has some clear door pictures as well

[Wuey]

Greg,

I was lucky the previous owner left me a single page schematic diagram of the pre-existing alarm. In there I found the trigger connection. However after removing the module from under the dash, there wasn't any wires to connect to the door remote module. I opened it up and found the connection but I did not have any suitable tiny female connector to latch onto the male pins. I improvised and microsurgically soldered some wires onto those tiny pins. Works like a charm!

What you might be able to do is to find the alarm module and see if there are any unused wires sticking out of it. There should be three wires to connect to the door remote unit. One wire is the +12V, the other two are to send the lock or unlock ground pulse signal. It's best if you can disconnect the siren before you carry out the measurement. Stick the meter positve red probe onto the +12V connection and the other to one of the other two wires and trigger the arm or disarm mode with your key fob. Check your multimeter for any voltage output. An analogue multimeter works best for brief visual voltage monitoring.

[Greg Roberts]

Install time ...

In tracing the existing alarm wires they seem to disappear behind the speedo / tacho instruments; not in the easy to get at space above the clutch / brake pedals .

So while i find out how to get behind the instruments, i am posting the remote for my alarm in case someone recognises what alarm system i have ..



Button 1 is the lock / unlock and button 2 seems to be some type of panic alarm.

Thanks

[Greg Roberts]

See previous post, alarm found, picture now shows remote and alarm unit. Alarm unit has no trade name of model number.
Internally it has a ROM with "N6F4" written on it.

Ring a bell with anyone ?

Thanks

[Greg Roberts]

As built update - done all working

Gave me the chance to lubricate the windows as well.

The alarm system pulses turned out to be the reverse of what the central locking kit (in this post) was expecting.

So i had to reverse the wires, no big deal

Gotchya - If you locks want a ground or +12v then ensure the non activated state is floating ..
e.g. while not activated, i was putting +12v into the central locking lead.
(this is the way the alarm was already wired) This blew the fuse. Its internal voltage must have been +10v say so causing a short. The solution was to only ground the central locking lead on activation, otherwise the end floated.

A tip for anyone in a damp / humid area. If you do this, buy a spray can of waterproofing sealant. The inside of the doors is this corky / hardboardie material which gets worse for wear with age.
A sealant would help protect it for the future.

Regards

[Wuey]

Great job Robert! Thanks for posting back what you've done for the benefit of others.

[4sfed5]

Heres a tip...
Alot of central locking motors really hammer the sh*t out of the lock mechanism with a real Bang bang type of action....
Get some resistors in line with the motors,(i think mine are 10 ohm 5 watt)
this slows the motors down a bit and will lessen the impacton your locks.