I've done a search online and seems this alarm and immobiliser is notorious for it's internal rechargeable battery dieing leaving the bike unable to be disarmed and therefore start. I have the red plastic key card with the codes and instructions on how to override but it says about following the flashes on the led. Err what led as I can't find it anywhere on the bike?! If I can bypass it with this method then I can get it to the local car alarm company who said they have done bike alarms and can take mine off for me.
I'm thinking the battery is knackered and low voltage which puts the immobiliser into sleep mode. Optimate 4 on order for delivery tomorrow!
I have the same 357 on my 2004, but I never use it. What might be of interest to you is a heap of stuff on You Tube about problem solving and even disabling. I'll start with this:
Thanks Nigel i’ve been on there and google all afternoon and downloaded the manual in pdf file. I’ll watch that video once home. A lot of the info i’ve read suggests the internal rechargeable battery dies and once that happens there is no alternative but to cut the alarm out or bypass it. My only hope at the moment is its gone into sleep mode due to low voltage on the bike battery hence the purchase of the optimate. Failing that it looks like either i’ll have to call someone out or get it recovered to the local alarm fitter. Alarms and immobilisers are a pet hate of mine and not had one on a bike since the 90s why people fit them i’ve no idea as they are utter sh!te.
Tend to agree. Mine aren't out of my sight, so no real advantage for me. Even if someone broke into my home, they'd have the alarm disabled and bike out of the house within minutes. I'm more in favour of the alarmed disc locks such as Oxford Quartz. At least with those, one would have to be carrying around a pair of bolt cutters to free it.
If someone wants your bike it will be stolen regardless of alarm and immobiliser. I had a 3 day old R1 stolen in the centre of the square mile in London in the middle of the day with hundreds of people all waking past. A gang turned up in a refrigerated transit, scaffolding poles through the bikes wheels and lifted it straight into the van and drove off. Not a single person challenged them for fear of being attacked. Nothing would have stopped them.
Oh I would have had a go but not sure i'd still be here if i'd seen it happen and tried. Me vs a very organised bike gang wouldn't have ended well. One of the gang did get caught with my bike and I got it back but it was ruined for me by then. As for that video Nigel it's brilliant! My question on that though will all Hondas be pin 2 and 4?! The alarm company are going to charge me £65 to remove it when I bet it's probably all they are going to do. Only problem is my DIY skills are more akin to
This might be better than me faffing about with it: https://www.abacuscaralarms.co.uk/alarmshop/meta-m35-range-bike-alarm-bypass-plug.html
The fact something like that exists and is readily available just goes to show how useless bike alarms are.
In a sense, yes. But you still have to get into the Meta system to install the bypass. Attempting that you'll inevitable trigger either the motion sensor or trip switch. Very ironically, I did exactly that just one hour ago. Removed the seat to install tank pad and all hell broke loose. Beneath the seat was a tamper sensor that activated. I then had to race around my house looking for the damn fob to deactivate! Neighbours are probabnly none too pleased - it was even louder than a Yoshi!!
As others on here have said an alarm going off won't normally do any good. All thief needs is a workshop/garage and 5 mins later the alarm is disabled rather than the old days of hours spent chasing wiring. Of course splitting for parts is still an easy option too.
I’ve ordered it. As per the video if the immobiliser is unresponsive and in ‘sleep mode’ when you bypass it the bike then starts fine. Hopefully it will be here Monday and I will find out. I thought £37 delivered was a safer option than me trying to solder it in the video as I don’t ven own a soldering iron! Optimate has just turned up first time i’ve needed a battery charger in 25 years but looks like it’s already answered my question. The battery has gone straight to save mode before charging so no voltage in it for the immobiliser to function and so in sleep mode. The bike had a new battery last year so the immobiliser is eating them up so hopefully that will be sorted with the above bypass plug. The bike was ridden over 200 miles last friday and then just back and forth locally on the saturday and sunday and was fine then left until yesterday and in that time it’s died
Thanks for that tip off. I'll have to watch mine. It's not connected to Optimiser yet after an ebay frighead reneged on my aprilia RSV. Got to do some in-house redecorating this arvo to bring in the 954.
Have you got the alarm installation certificate so you know how old it is? All the reading I did yesterday said the internal battery on the unit won’t last past 10 years. Mine was fitted by the supplying dealer so is 14 years old hence being an utter pain in the arse killing the bike battery.
Yes. Was fitted pre-delivery in August 2003. If it needs an internal battery, that'll probably require a specialist. (I have every bit of purchase and history docs so that helps a lot) Guess I'll have to sell the bike.
Lol not when you can blank it off for £37 The internal battery isn’t replaceable so either new alarm unit and fobs or bypass it! That video you posted that’s him trying to get to the internal batteries and completely destroys the unit in doing so.
Holy crap. I had no idea. I haven't properly read all the Meta stuff, other than their recommendation to carry a spare fuse. I wouldn't shell out on a whole new unit; I'd hope there's a simpler way to permanently disarm it than spend £37 quid on a plug.
Yeah it’s what he does in that video soldering across 2 lots of 2 pins however i don’t trust myself to do it safely and the solder fails whilst riding so paid the £37 for the plug! At least it’s all sealed and done properly. The bike garage wanted to charge £90 to cut it out and the alarm shop £65 so i’ll settle on £37 for the plug if it works!
