Remote starter

the_experience03 · 02-02-2007, 01:26 AM

Has anyone tried using one of the cheap Bulldog (or similar brand) remote starters on their bus? They're selling for $40 at Wal-Mart here right now with two remotes. I figure I could put one remote on my keychain and another in my room so that I could program it to run for 30 minutes....start it up before sleep, let it turn itself off....do the same in the morning as I'm getting dressed to top the batteries off before I make my coffee.

The wiring on the units looks easy enough. I actually would use very few of the circuits being that...well...they don't exist on my bus. I basically just need to energize the fuel cutoff solenoid and the starter motor to crank it and the wiring for the tach so that it knows to stop cranking is right there on the dash. Having the electric cutoff solenoid for the fuel also means that it can kill the engine. I don't know that that would be possible for you guys with "Pull to Stop" levers.

My only concern would be that there would be no way to keep it from driving away if I weren't there. Once it was started, the key would pretty much be unnecessary since you can shift the transmission from neutral into gear with or without the key. Maybe it would cut out the engine if you did without the key...I haven't looked at the schematics that closely. Either way...I can't imagine I'd be starting the bus anywhere that I'd have to worry about someone stealing it.

Any input out there?

wmah · 02-02-2007, 10:42 AM

I have a bulldog remote starter and locks on my truck. My only problem with it is this one I have doesn't wait for the glow plugs to cycle. There is a feature that connects to the brake pedal switch that when you step on the brake the it shuts the engine off unless you put the key in and turn it to the on position.

the_experience03 · 02-02-2007, 12:13 PM

No worries about glowplugs....I don't have them and if it's cold enough to need them, I'm not staying in the bus anyway.

How bad was the wiring on that thing? I really have no idea where the air pressure switch is for my brakelights, but I guess I should get to finding that.

wmah · 02-02-2007, 08:27 PM

It took me a less than couple hours to get it hooked up locks and starter.
The hardest part was digging and the wiring under the dash to get to the tach wire. Easy part was knowing which wire was for the tach since the install manual I had downloaded from the bulldog site was accurate at which color the wire was. I'm sure you could do it but it may take a little wire tracing to find the tach wire. My truck by the way is a 2001 F250.

Steve · 02-02-2007, 08:54 PM

What purpose does hooking it up to the tach serve?

the_experience03 · 02-02-2007, 09:26 PM

As I understand it, the tach wire is how the unit knows to stop cranking. It will crank for a maximum amount of time and will shut down to protect the starter, but if the engine fires right over, it needs to know to stop cranking. I guess I would assume that it cuts out the starter at an RPM of say 600-800 so it will stop cranking once the engine fires.

wmah · 02-03-2007, 10:23 AM

Everything the_experience03 just said.
What the bulldog will do is try and start it twice if it doesn't fire after the second time it shuts down. And that is another thing that the bulldog unit gets from the tach other than to stop turning, it now knows to keep the engine running the set amount of time.

QuagmireMan · 07-06-2007, 08:28 AM

Sorry for such a late reply, but if someone else out there is might try this I would advice against it depending on the remote starting unit. I used to install these things all day long about 2 years ago and some units you have to cut the cranking/starting wire comming off of the ignition. This is ok if the remote start has the same size of wire or larger than the vehicle it is going in, but if it doesn't then you could run into problems. Some units only piggey back on the starter wire (you don't have to cut it, only tap into it) those tend to be a little safer.

The tach wire does help when trying to start then engine, but there are also voltage detection modes in alot of the remote starts as well. These voltage detection modes looks to see when the voltage increases as its cranking. It doesn't respond as well as the tach wire but it will work.

Another thing is some of these units have wait to start inputs that you can hook up to a wait to start light in your dash. This allows the glow plugs to warm up before the engine cranks. And if your vehicle has glow plugs but no wait to start wire some units come with a automatic set time to wait before the engine cranks to allow the glow plugs to warm up.

Hope this Helps!!

I would be happy to answer any other remote start, stereo, or GPS questions

Qman

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