OK, electrical-heads this one's for you!

I see all the turn indicators flash once when I lock the car, but I want/need an audible alert. How do I get the horn to give a quick toot when I lock my 03 MCS?

 

Dom, go down to K-mart, go back to the sporting goods department, go to the bicycle accessories and get one of the little $1.95 plastic bulb horns. Put it on your key ring and when you lock your doors, give yourself a little toot.

 

That's a dealer programmable option to the alarm system.

Bear

 

Yeah, suprisingly enough the Mini is one of the only cars that doesn't toot the horn on lock. Too bad, I like it.

 

lol

To each his own, but i don't like the horn honk thing, much prefer the softer alarm chirp (none of the bmws honk upon locking now that i think of it - do any euro cars?). Perhaps an alarm is an option for you?

 

Don't slam the boot all the way--it's locked, but it's ajar 1/8 to 1/16 inch (maybe fine tune with the twist-rubber bumpers).

 

How about a twin toot?

 

I doubt I'm going to spend hundreds of dollars just for a quick toot

 

To get the "chirp" - get an alarm. I have the OEM alarm, it chirps... but not loud enough for me. My son's Toyota alarm makes a nice loud "chrip"... the kind of sound that says... don't mess with me!

 

Our new Beetle does.

 

If the indicators flash, it would be possible to make a circuit that made a sound when that occurred. But you would need to connect to other signals so that it did not sound every time the indicators are used!
Maybe link it to only sound if both left & right flash together - then it would sound for hazard warning too but is that a problem?
Also maybe link to only sound when ignition is off.
What you really want is to sound when the car is locked. So maybe you need to monitor the lock signal as well!

The complexity rises quickly
Installation of something that made a noise when an indicator flashed is not too bad - access the wires in the rear lights for example (where people have put the rear-fog-brake link).
If you have to get access to ignition or lock wiring as well, you are down at the BC1 in the passenger footwell - there are three * fifty way connectors there and some more. Not a good place to work.

Best would be if there was iBus lock/unlock messages. I wonder if there is.

 

My thoughts exactly!! :smile:

Hence why I was posting here. Hoping to find someone with the knowledge.

 

Dominic, I truly wish you luck, but I'm so glad that MINIs don't beep when they lock! My friend's Matrix and my dad's Saab, both of which I drive once in a while, do that, and it drives me nuts. I really like how the MINI's parking lights light up, it's a great non-obnoxious way to confirm that the car is locked when it's too noisy or you're too far away to hear the locks engage.

 

while were on the topic of beeps and other related noises....


i found out where the annoying beeper for the seatbelts and lights is located at while i was fishing a wire for my radar detector. in the main speedo cluster on the back there is a speaker/beeper. i suppose if you could open up the speedo, you could clip a wire or just put some duct tape ofer the slots on the back of the speaker to quiet the noise a bit.....

 

Thanks for the well wishes. I don't think I have any luck (hence why I've never won the lottery ) and will take all the luck wishes I can get

 

[QUOTE=rednwhitecooper]while were on the topic of beeps and other related noises....
QUOTE]

Hijack!
The relay for the blinker is back there, too. One of these days I'm going to tear it apart and muffle it.
Does any else find the blinker to be obnoxiously loud?

 

I love it, it tells me that I've left my blinker on like a doofus during the quite parts of songs!

 

Hey, I owned a Durango that would honk the horn when you keyfobbed the lock. I did it once when a lady was standing nearby, she chewed me out for frightening her. I'll take the light blink any day.

 

[QUOTE=Eric_Rowland] I like the blinker "clicking". Before the Mini. I had a BMW 745i... now that car had a crappy non-standard left turn stalk... and often it would stop blinking before you made a turn... the "clicking sound" was almost non-existant. Looking down at the dash was the only way to tell if your blinker was on.

 

I can't stand that honk either.
Some euro cars do "honk", but ALL cars in Europe do not.

 

My Audi A6 has a separate horn in the rear of the car near the fuel tank that is specifically for locking beep. It's a perfect sound, soft and kind of lower tone to it. Very respectful. That said, I'm glad the MINI only flashes. Besides, it's the fuel door deadbolt that I listen for.:smile:

 

I hate those audible alarm arming things! Up here in Vermont we call them The Call of the Tourist, as only big city folk seem to have them. Every year our friends from Baltimore come up to visit. Their Acura has an automatic alarm that arms itself -- audibly -- two minutes after the doors are closed. It chirps. The cats jump. The sheep flee to the far side of the meadow. Our rooster sounds his own alarm and all of the hens flee into the coop. All six of our dogs surround the car and begin barking furiously.

What a PITA!

 

The Mini's chirp is very civil. Its not as harsh as my old alarm, and much easier to hear above city noise (since its a high pitch). Its more of a Chirp Chirp, than a Woop Woop.

 

and [attempted hijack of a hijack] I don't like the MINI horn. It's...so...um normal. It sounds like a normal horn. I would like to hear a little squeek or a locomotive horn. Anything but normal.

 

Hijacks of this thread is OK. I've posted a new thread in the Electrical section of NAM.

As far as the horn sounding normal. There's two horns. On on each side of the front bumper. One makes the hi-tone and the other the lo-tone. I disconnection the lo-tone. Now my MINI's beep sounds more MINI-like IMHO.