Alarm, Datatool S4 [motion sensor glitch]

Dorsanty

First post, Yay! Been watching this forum for year and a half or so. Spying on you all.

Anyone else have a Datatool S4? I have one fitted for last 8 months or so and been very happy with it (my bike is still with me). It's started acting up on me in the last month. When I arm the system it will randomly give out 4 beeps. Which I think is the motion detector. In one instance the glitch happened twice within a few seconds and so tripped the alarm to go off. A quick run for the keys and I was able to stop it.

I talked to bikeworld workshop who fitted the system and they say that the motion sensor can adjust with time i.e. become more sensitive and so have to be re-adjusted. Also they said that they are fully enclosed systems and the heavy rainfall shouldn't have gotten into the system.

So thought I'd ask around before having to put it into the shop for a day to have it's motion sensor made less sensitive. Of course I read the manual first which says there's a nice system to tell you what sensor caused the alarm to go off. Only the alarm has to go off in order to tell you. When you turn off the alarm it'll let out a long beep to tell you the alarm tripped in your absence and then a set number of beeps to tell you which sensor tripped. Nothing about 4 beeps while the system is armed. Thoughts and experiences are welcome.

Cheers.

Garibaldi

Can't say I've had a Datatool alarm, but I had something similar go wrong with an old Spyball alarm, several years ago. The New Gem reckoned it was a fault with the motion sensor (a trembler switch, it turned out to be) and they came up with their own unique solution. They simply broke the trembler arm off. There was never a problem with the motion sensor again.

Anyhoo, isn't there usually some screw adjuster on these things that you can vary the sensitivity with, yourself?

Dorsanty

Garibaldi wrote:

Anyhoo, isn't there usually some screw adjuster on these things that you can vary the sensitivity with, yourself?

You'd think so wouldn't you but no. Of course I thought I'd take another look at it when going for a spin yesterday. And no, it's fully sealed. I think it's controlled by the remote. Combinations of button pressing adjust everything. And in order to make money for the authorised datatool engineers they only give the sheet which explaines how to adjust the important stuff to the workshops and leave it out of the manual.

The funny bit was when I dropped the gloves on the seat to put my lid on. The alarm went off. Reckon it could be a bit over sensitive now having thought about it. Although it should alert me if insects try to run off with my bike. Don't want an army of ants lifting 8 times their body weight to get any ideas.

bushy...

Dorsanty wrote:

....... who fitted the system and they say that the motion sensor can adjust with time .......

Hi, that really means that either the sensor is crap or the components are if either are drifting with time , much along the lines of " a self adjusting pressure release system " in a tyre is known as a puncture.
Either way , free repair if its anyway under warranty would be fair unless the ants have been chewing the wiring of course

Eye

Myself i'm using an Acumen alarm on my FJR and for almost a year i had no trouble with it, but late last year out of nowhere the alram seemed to randomly trigger off even though nobody was near the machine. it could happen after an hour or after 24+ hours, no set pattern. In the end i went to bike shop and got it sorted.

Seems a few other people have had similar problems with the same Accumen alarm that i have and it was a faulty sensor at play there, got the sensor replaced as acumen admited there were some issues with them and everthing has been working since.

Not saying that the datatool alarm you have is having the same problems there but might be worth doing a few google searches and seeing if anyone else has had similar problems with those sensors or anything like that. The Acumen alarm can be adjusted in a similar way with the keyfob and a certain combination of button presses to adjust sesitivity levels but at the end of the day for me it was faulty sensors.

The Doktor

You are assuming that because the alarm beeps 4 times when you arm it, its a problem with the shock sensor. I wouldnt assume that, as when you press the button to arm it, the alarm isnt actually armed for a few seconds.

What I would do, if I was you, is email Datatool, and explain what is happening. That you press the button and somtimes you get four beeps. Dont go into assumptions about shock sensors or anything. This can confuse matters. Just make a note of exactly what happens. eg. press arm button, led blinks.. four beeps.. or what ever.
I emailed them about a problem with one of my datatool alarms, and they were very helpful, and told me stuff I thought they would only give to an installer.
Tell them you bought it in bikeworld, its an s4, and the serial no is....

The sensitivity can be adjusted by anyone, but they dont give the seqence of how to get into this mode in the manual. But they do tell you what to do once your in the "software switches" mode..
As Bushy says the sensitivity of the sensor changing over time sounds like ****e talk to me..The sensor is a modern IC type one and this shouldnt happen.
I used to have a datatool s4, and knew how to get into this mode. But since I now have a honda alarm, this information has been erased from my memory. I thought id tell ya that to annoy ya

One thing id say though, make sure the bike battery is well charged. If its a bit dodgy, it can cause weird things to happen. (trust me.. I know!!!)

Dorsanty

Thanks for the feedback. I've contacted Datatool, I hope they can say what it is.

To more accurately describe the issue,
1. Arm System
2. 10 seconds pass
3. 5 beeps
4. Randomly 5 beeps while armed. Which can lead to the alarm going off.


So reason I think it is motion sensor is because it happens after a delay from arming the system and I was aware that the motion sensor has a delayed kick in. Second reason is turning off the motion sensor, or half arming the system will never cause this beeping thing.

faceman

Out of curiousity do you have the reset pin number for your alarm?

Dorsanty

faceman wrote:

Out of curiousity do you have the reset pin number for your alarm?

I believe I do. I remember setting it ages ago (although could have been my last bike which had a Datatool S3) and know what I would set it to. But haven't done anything with it since. I prob should take some time to check it.

Dorsanty

And the answer from Datatool is,


"The sensor is basically a ball bearing in a can with a roughened inside.

The roughening of the inside is designed to be there but with machine vibration it sometimes gets 'run-in' and makes the nudge sensor change in its response slightly.

This is compounded slightly by the position of the alarm which can also make the nudge sensor slightly more sensitive in certain positions."

Which goes with what Bikeworld say. Still it's a little disappointing that the sensor seems to be from the dark ages.



I started to come up with a reason for the alarm going off after use. Literally the cooling of the engine / pipes (pipes come up under the seat right next to the device.) Anyway I'm booked in for an adjustment on Thurs so should be sorted then. This better be a cheap operation.

The Doktor

Im suprised by that set up! I had a datatool without that type of motionsensor a few years ago. Maybe the more modern IC type was unreliable?? Ye can tell whats in it if you shake it, you can hear the ball bearing moving around..... but ye gotta take it out to do that.. which you wont be doin!:D