The device you see in the picture is a Piezo buzzer (12volt Radio Shack)
It has two leads Red & black, the black goes to ground, the red lead splices
into the Brown-Yellow lead in the wire form located behind the left side
pop out panel in the trunk. This brown-Yellow lead is the fuel cap solenoid
lock lead, (I would not use a 12volt horn to do this, the voltage duration
on this lead when you press the lock button on your key is quite long,) and the lead is very small probably 22ga. and may not handle the current draw
of a 12volt horn. Thats It. The easiest mod you will ever make.

 

Naughty naughty!
Cross post!
I still stick with my answer!
What is........a piezo siren?
For your.....audible_key_lock_Mod............
Where did you wire it in? Does the siren contain a circuit of its own?

 

yes, please explain: is this to amplify the weak, low volume audilble indicator that can be programmed for low gas warning, ect, a self contained warble type alarm siren, or something else?

 

Is it more of a "BEEP BEEP" or a "BUZZBUZZ" noise?
Is it a single tone(BEEP), or 2 tones (BEEPBEEP)?
So it only makes noise when you lock,or unlock as well?
Seems another circuit could be tapped as well for the same effect. Maybe in this case what you have done is the easiest.
Thanks for sharing!

 

The tone is more of a hilo hilo beep,The Fuel Cap soleniod (cooper S) has two leads brown-yellow which locks the cap from your key lock button, and a black-yellow which opens the cap from your key open button DO NOT BRING THESE TWO LEADS TOGETHER IN THE SAME CIRCUIT THAT IS A DEAD *** SHORT.Hope this answers your question?

 

Looks like its something like this:

http://kptechnologies.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7

That project taps in to the lock and unlock actuator signals and generates a piezo beep upon lock and two piezo beeps upon unlock.

If you want to hear the beep from outside of the car I would definately recomend putting the beeper under the hood!

 

Never evan head of k p technologies, I do my own research and work?

 

K P Technologies is Kevin Pierson, the same Pierson that posted the link.

First involved with the MINI Cooper when they offered a module to close the windows when the car is locked using the remote key.


This "beep" on lock idea is nice - and picking up the wiring at the fuel cap is a great idea, much better than hacking into the wiring under the dash where there is more chance of a wiring error.


Well done Lotus87; I think I'll look further into your idea ...

 

For reference in your research I went though a TON of different beepers and buzzers trying to get a sound that was audible ~20 ft from the car. The only way I found that possible was to use a >100db buzzer that HAD to be mounted outside of the main cabin area.

Its been a year or so since I got rid of my Mini Cooper but I remember it being very quiet on the inside, which would make the loudest of beepers quiet on the outside.

My final decision was actually based on the operating parameters of the beeper that comes stock in the new Acura vehicles.

And, for accuracy's sake KPtechnologies is not solely Kevin Pierson (me). We started the company as two partners and are now have three employees.

On a complete sidenote, a popular mod on another vehicle is to install a piezo like you have in the rear of the car but hook it to the reverse wire instead of the gas cap wire. This gives an audible aleart when backing up.

 

Why use this when you can get the OEM alarm for only $300 - it chirps on lock and unlock.

(ok, so I'm a sucker, I got the alarm... )

 

Guess that puts me $273 ahead?.

 

This is a great idea!! I'm going to try it tonight!

 

Quick trip to Radio Shack, $11, and 5 minutes of wiring and voilà! Chirp on lock! I can get a different piezo buzzer and connect it to the black/yellow for a chirp on unlock.

The piezo I got is 108db. You can hear it pretty well outside the car.

Thanks, lotus87!! Great idea.

 

108db inside the car should be interesting everytime you lock your doors!!!

My local radio shack didn't have anything that loud in stock, that sucks!

 

Yea thats a good point. If you have the autolock engaged,when you drive off and hit 4mph,does the siren chirp at you? Man that would not be a pleasent sound in the interior!

 

Why would you need a "chirp" on unlock? If you have the central locking feature activated and the car speed reaches approx. 15 mph you are going to hear that chirp inside the car, That would become very annoying after awhile.

 

Doesn't the car LOCK at 15mph? I installed the buzzer so that it goes off when I lock it. I have central locking activated and the buzzer does NOT go off when central locking is activated. I don't think central locking affects the gas cap. Besides, wasn't this your idea anyway?

You can use "chirp" on unlock to simulate a remote alarm or to find your car in a parking lot - although the range for the stock key isn't that great. At any rate, I didn't install another buzzer since I didn't really need it.

 

The buzzer doesn't go off when the car autolocks. I don't think the central locking activation locks the gas cap.

 

This can be programmed to OFF by your dealer. I have always found this feature really annoying, so we had it disabled. Later I learned how simple it was to unlock the doors by simply pulling the door handle twice (I thought we would have to use the toggle switch and then open the door). Long story short, if I were taking delivery of the car today, I'd probably go with the factory default.

 

I actually like the feature (and I know it can be programmed by the dealer). My wife always wants me to lock the doors anyway. Guess she thinks that someone's going to open her door and steal her purse at a red light or something.

 

Anyone care to post a sound clip of this? I'd like to know what it sounds like. Biggest reason I've wanted the alarm is for the nice BMW beep. :D If it's close it may be worth the $11!

 

FWIW, there's an OEM alarm on ebay - $100 with no bids yet. Takes a bit off the sting off the price tag for OEM bling.

 

It's not like the BMW beep. But there are other piezo buzzers sold that might be closer. I'll try to record the sound of mine tonight.

 

I've found another solution! I have a spare smoke detector that I wasn't using in my house. With a paper clip, I jammed the contacts together to simulate constant pressing of the test button. When power is applied, the smoke detector chirps----anddddd, it's extremely loud!

 

hehe anyone want their mini to sound like a smoke alarm