My installer programmed my alarm to be able to raise the top with my alarm controller, so I asked him if he can program it to lower it instead since I never use the UP option. He said he tried before doing the UP option and its not possible, but I think hes being lazy and doesn't want to rewire it.

Is it possible, if so how hard is it?

My alarm is a Viper 791XV (i think, the top of the line 2way transponder)
To raise the top, I remote start the car (I know, be careful its not in gear) and hold on to AUX and LOCK buttons.

 

You'd have to leave it unlatched... that alone sounds like a bad idea. Also, if you put your top up remotely, did you cut the wires to the windows? If not, you'll raise the top (not latched, of course), but lower the windows at the same time.

Unless every detail was automatic, I've always viewed the remote top thing to be a gimmick and not practical.

 

. I had this on my '95 Celica GT Convertible. It was the BIGGEST waste of $ ever! I thought it would be cool, but I never used it, as I had to be in the car to unlatch the top.

John

 

my windows do roll down when i roll the top it thats why i can care less for the up option, but i would like to have the top roll and windows roll down when its really hot outside to release some of the heat and i leave my latches unlatch most of the time if ill be gone for short periods.

 

If you go forward with this, I would HIGHLY recommend a proximity sensor alarm system. That way, if you DO leave it unlatched, the alarm will still go off if someone gets sticky fingers. I have never thought of the soft top to be much of a theft deterent when compared to top down / unlatched top. If they are going to go through the trouble of rotating an unlatched top back, they would have probably cut the top had it been latched.

John

 

already have the sensor so now someone tell me how to do the top down mod

 

You'll need a delay circuit, something that will hold a relay open/closed for several seconds after receiving a pulse form the alarm. Wire this into the top switch and the rest will be taken care of automatically.

 

thanks for the heads up, but i have no clue on how to do what you said. and i think i would also have to program the remote for another aux input which i dont know how to do. is there any way i can re wire the current UP setup so it can go down instead?

 

The owner's manual for the alarm should have instructions on how to program the AUX function (if your alarm has an AUX function).

MacGyver is the engineer here, so he can probably walk you through it.

John

 

What you're trying to do is simulate someone holding the top button for several seconds by using a relay. If the alarm provides an output signal for this long, rather than a short blip of a signal, you're golden. If it only provides a short blip, you'll need a circuit to stretch the length of that pulse to several seconds.

modifry might jump in here with a simple 555 timer pulse stretcher, but if not, I could cook one up in return for special pricing on those items I PM'ed you about