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MG MGF Technical - False Alarms - Taxis

Hi all.

My wife has the MGF, (which I love driving), but it's my job to sort out this problem.

We live in a road which seems to be full of the homes of Taxi drivers. We also live next to a pub, which attracts taxis late at night.

On a daily basis (actually several times a day), as a taxi passes the car, the alarm goes off.

I have a background in electronics so I can see several ways that this might occur, but the MG dealer (of course), says there is nothing wrong with the alarm.

Is there any history to this problem, and more importantly is there an established cure?

The neighbours are getting p**sed off and the alarm is now ignored whenever it goes off.

Help!

Robin

I get this also from AA men who park near my car and set the alarm off when they use their telephone. Then along come the police to see what the noise is about and set it off again when they check out the registration using their radio. If I disconnect the volumetric sensor then all seems OK. Mobile phones being used by people walking by also set it off.

You can have the sensitivity of your volumetric sensor (basically a radar device to detect movement inside the car) turned down.

Loads on this in the archives. Searching on the phrase 'volumetric sensor' should find a fair amount.

Bruce
Bruce Caldwell

I've found that if I leave my mobile in the car it'll set the alarm off, however the biggest cause of false alarms when I got the car turned out to be the microwave in our kitchen! My car is parked next to the kitchen and it seems to bitterly dislike the microwave. The solution was to simply move the microwave to the other end of the kitchen....problem solved!
James King

James, errm the solution is to BUY A NEW MICROWAVE OVEN, are you not worried that it is COOKING YOU?????

Will
Will Munns

Will

Well known that micro wave ovens set off the alarm and nothing to do with age our Brand New oven sets off the alarm as well as our old oven.

Ted
Ted Newman

Yeah, most radio receivers are unbelievably sensitive compared to the power that normally leaks from a microwave oven.

I seem to remember a story of a radio telescope that appeared to pick up alien radio signals at exactly the same time every day, regardless of where it was pointing. Well - even astronomers have to re-heat their dinner. You can guess the rest.

I'd try locking the car with the key, and see if that makes any difference. I think you just get the perimetric alarm then (and the immobiliser, of course). If that solved the problem, I'd probably be too lazy to sort the volumetric out!
David Bainbridge

We have a microwave in the kitchen and a small TV in the adjacent breakfast room,seperated by a plaster board wall.
Whenever the microwave was used there was a lot of interference to the TV picture.This went on for years.

A little time ago I bought a new electrical test screwdriver that can also detect microwave leakage.

I tested this on the microwave and the light lit,on part of the door,upon inspection I noted part of the plastic door seal was not fixed correctly,I pushed this back in place rechecked and there was no leakage.

The TV now also works OK when the microwave is used.
Joe

This thread was discussed between 16/09/2002 and 17/09/2002

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