[Barry]

I have a 2013 Volt. My neighbor said a car alarm has been going off in the middle of the night lately and he is pretty sure it is my Volt. I have never heard it, but it is likely I would sleep through it.

Strange thing is that I usually leave my doors unlocked, so my theft alarm should not even be armed. I also have the settings turned off for charge interruption and charge cord theft alarms. The car is always plugged in and charging overnight in my driveway. I tested these settings by variously cutting power to the EVSE or unplugging the EVSE from the car while it is unlocked and while locked with the remote far away. I could not set off the alarm that way.

So the only thing that makes sense to me is that maybe one of my remotes is sending an intermittent stray signal for the panic alarm. Is there any way I can confirm this so I can identify which remote might be bad, and get it replaced? Also to confirm that my neighbor is right and it is not some other car parked nearby (my neighbor was pretty sure, but not 100% certain it was my car).

I had the thought of pulling a fuse that would disable the alarm system. I checked the manual to see if there was a fuse dedicated to the alarm system, and found none.

I am running short of ideas and wondered if anyone had any similar experience or tips.

 

[Dutch]

I lived in one place where the grid switch from AM to PM and back was super rough/dirty and would trigger all sorts of alarms in my electronics. I wonder if you are having something similar.

Then again, I'd probably also find some way to verify that it was actually my car acting up and not someone elses

 

[caronjeff]

My Bosch L2 EVSE sometimes faults out right at 10am. The charge is interrupted so the car makes a " chatter honk" several times until either the charger reset button is pushed, or the predetermined number of " chatter honks" runs out. Once the reset button on the Bosch EVSE is pushed, the charge resumes as if you are just plugging in. I think 10am must be the time my utility switches things off / on and the EVSE sees a voltage out of range and kicks out. However the OEM 120V EVSE never has this issue. Could be the Bosch unit is extra sensitive, could be the time of day has nothing to do with it, just seems like usually 10am. This does occur at other times also, and particularly on high AC load days, which is why I suspect line voltage issue. You may have something similar going on.

 

[2VoltFamily]

So the only thing that makes sense to me is that maybe one of my remotes is sending an intermittent stray signal for the panic alarm. Is there any way I can confirm this so I can identify which remote might be bad, and get it replaced? Also to confirm that my neighbor is right and it is not some other car parked nearby (my neighbor was pretty sure, but not 100% certain it was my car).

I had the thought of pulling a fuse that would disable the alarm system. I checked the manual to see if there was a fuse dedicated to the alarm system, and found none.

I am running short of ideas and wondered if anyone had any similar experience or tips.

Ideas:

1. Stay up every night until you hear the alarm go off and determine if it is your car.
2. Download Daily Roads App and record out your window until such time an alarm goes off. (it is a dash cam app but you can use it as a security cam in this case.)
3. to hell with the neighbor. If you car is fully charged each morning with a blinking green light, it is not your car.

 

[canehdian]

If it was your car and pertaining to a charge interruption, the volt should display a message about power interruption.

It's either the regular car alarm/panic alarm, or not you.

 

[VoltenRock]

I have a '13 Volt and this happened to me also -- random alarm going off in my driveway plugged in. It was the full-throated car alarm, not the "chirping" that happens when a charge is interrupted. I never got to the bottom of it, but it hasn't happened in a long while. My suspicion is that it was a malfunction with the charge theft alert (which does trigger the blaring car alarm). Might be worth disabling that to see if it clears it up.

 

[2015 volt]

my 2015 volt will sound the alarm during the night when the power grid has a hiccup in it occasionally, to let me know that the power source got momentarily interrupted, you could have the same issue,but my volt get's fully charged overnight
good luck

 

[rmay635703]

First thing I did was disable the charge interruption alarm

 

[Barry]

I don't think it is related to power surges, charging power interruption or charge cord theft alarms. I have always had both of those alarms turned off, and I have again confirmed they are turned off, and I have also tested them to ensure they are off.

Now that I think about it, I think that the alarm went off at least once during the day that I was aware of. This was a while back, so the memory is faded, but it makes my neighbor's report believable. I think I just turned it off and figured one of my kids had somehow set it off. They are always doing random things. But really, they should not have been able to set it off without the key, which I keep in my pocket.

Also, I have sometimes found my car locked in the morning when I am pretty sure I left it unlocked the night before.

So if the car sometimes locks itself, and sometimes sets the alarm off by itself, then both of those could be caused by a bad keyfob.

Based on that, last night I took the battery out of my spare keyfob, and put my main keyfob in an RF shield bag to prevent any stray signals. If that solves the problem, great. But it would be nice not to have to use the bag every night, and to have a solution that works during the day as well.

 

[RGE]

Suggestion: Disconnect the wires to the horn for a few nights. Then you will know for sure whether it is your car causing the ruckus.

 

[Barry]

^ The alarm is not every night. It is occasional/rare.

I could pull the horn fuse permanently, but that would be a safety issue.

I am working on the assumption that it is my car. My neighbor was pretty sure and I have seen some things myself that support it.

 

[Barry]

Just thought I would update the thread for anyone who might come along with the same issue. I think this was a bad key fob. I ended up removing the battery from the suspect fob, and the problem went away completely. I checked in with my neighbor on it, and he said he hasn't heard it either. It has been about 8 months now and still quiet at night. I really only need the one fob anyway, so this has not been an inconvenience, either.

 

[JuneBug]

Just thought I would update the thread for anyone who might come along with the same issue. I think this was a bad key fob. I ended up removing the battery from the suspect fob, and the problem went away completely. I checked in with my neighbor on it, and he said he hasn't heard it either. It has been about 8 months now and still quiet at night. I really only need the one fob anyway, so this has not been an inconvenience, either.

Thanks for letting everyone know the resolution to this. It may have been the red panic button on the fob making an intermittent connection.

 

[Barry]

Thanks for letting everyone know the resolution to this. It may have been the red panic button on the fob making an intermittent connection.

That may be what happened. I think it affected other functions of the remote as well. For instance, there were a few occasions when I found the car locked when it should have been unlocked, and where all 4 windows were open when they should have been closed.

Now that I think about it, I guess it is possible that the remote has water inside of it causing various short circuits. Maybe the previous owner put it through the washing machine by accident.

 

[jsphweid]

Maiden post here. I just bought a 2014 volt yesterday (today?). Literally on the first night the alarm goes off. All-out panic alarm at 2:30 AM. I raced to the kitchen where my fob was to turn it off. I assumed someone had already tried to steal my car or unplug it but nothing looked out of sorts. 30 minutes later, it goes off again. Definitely was not being stolen as I was awake and staring at my car as it happened (I could not fall asleep).

I read up and turned off both alarms for charging theft and power interruption. I unplugged the volt from the side of my house and moved the car into my unpowered detached garage so that if it happens again, the sound will be a bit duller and maybe won't wake my neighbors.

I don't really know what to think immediately but based on this thread it might be that the fob is defective (I only have 1) or the charging theft alarm is defective. I'm hoping for the latter as turning it off in the config would solve all my problems. But this ain't cool. I might consider disabling the horn all together (I NEVER use the horn anyways) but it seems like a bad idea.

Otherwise beautiful piece of engineering. Any other suggestions welcome.

 

[jsphweid]

Just to follow up for googlers... My alarm that night was a full on panic. And I can only surmise that this happened because the power went out for a while that night... not just a stutter. It was a really windy and stormy night and that happens when the weather is that bad.

I disabled both the stutter and theft alarms and it hasn't happened since.

I talked to a friend with a volt and he had the exact same experience until he disabled those settings too.

 

[lee.advisor1]

RELATED, BUT DON'T KNOW IF RELATED (rolls eyes)

Our 2012 Volt charges between 9:30 PM thru when we leave for the office at 7:30 AM. BUT lately, the car alarm has started going off at 5:00 to 5:30 AM. THAT IS A COLOSSAL PAIN. How can I turn off the alarm?

Love my "unique" idiosynchratic weird car...

 

[JuneBug]

RELATED, BUT DON'T KNOW IF RELATED (rolls eyes)

Our 2012 Volt charges between 9:30 PM thru when we leave for the office at 7:30 AM. BUT lately, the car alarm has started going off at 5:00 to 5:30 AM. THAT IS A COLOSSAL PAIN. How can I turn off the alarm?

Turn off the charging interruption alarm in the vehicle settings.