Car alarm goes off with OBDLink CX plugged in...

[TimM.]

I love having the Bimmerlink app and my OBDLink CX adapter. Opening the exhaust valve, turning off ASD, and the ability to monitor and record tons of sensor information in realtime and review after track runs is friggin' awesome! I highly recommend it.

Only problem I have had so far is, if I don't unplug the OBDLink CX adapter from the OBD port, the car alarm goes off when I lock the car.

I guess it thinks someone is trying to hack the car and steal it? Or, this is by design so some thief doesn't connect to the electronics and cause trouble while you're away?

Is this happening to anyone else?

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[XtremeMaC]

I've the MX and this was not the case one time I forgot it attached...
I believe some said that their car don't shut off completely with OBD attachments...

 

[rotary heart]

I have the MX+ and it doesn't trigger anything, I've had it attached since December without problems. The car stills shuts off normally after the 6 minutes wait it has.

 

[TimM.]

I've the MX and this was not the case one time I forgot it attached...
I believe some said that their car don't shut off completely with OBD attachments...

I have the MX+ and it doesn't trigger anything, I've had it attached since December without problems. The car stills shuts off normally after the 6 minutes wait it has.

Hmmm, thanks for the replys. Maybe it's a '20 vs '21 thing... or, an MX vs CX thing... I'll probably end up contacting support but, so far it's not much trouble unplugging the adapter if I'm locking it. I pretty much only drive it to work on sunny days and take it for canyon drives. Still, OCD...

 

[Down167]

Hmmm, thanks for the replys. Maybe it's a '20 vs '21 thing... or, an MX vs CX thing... I'll probably end up contacting support but, so far it's not much trouble unplugging the adapter if I'm locking it. I pretty much only drive it to work on sunny days and take it for canyon drives. Still, OCD...

I have the MX and it does not trigger the alarm either. The MHD wifi adapter does trigger it which I found odd but these cars are smart. Can't get much past them.

 

[MyCorolla]

I think this has to do with the CX not having a sleep mode, whereas the MX+ does. This is from the product description on Amazon:

“When you turn off your engine, OBDLink MX+ goes to sleep and won't drain your automobile's battery. Its sophisticated triggers will wake up MX+ when you connect via Bluetooth, unlock doors, or crank the engine.”

I personally chose the MX+ for that and various other superior features.

 

[TimM.]

I think this has to do with the CX not having a sleep mode, whereas the MX+ does. This is from the product description on Amazon:

“When you turn off your engine, OBDLink MX+ goes to sleep and won't drain your automobile's battery. Its sophisticated triggers will wake up MX+ when you connect via Bluetooth, unlock doors, or crank the engine.”

I personally chose the MX+ for that and various other superior features.

Yeah, that makes sense why the MX+ doesn't set off the alarm. You're right, the CX doesn't completely turn off. It goes to a low-power mode (2mA) when the car is turned off. Seems like it would be a problem with most cars, not just the Supra. I wonder why they didn't give it a sleep mode instead?

 

[Motorknut]

I love having the Bimmerlink app and my OBDLink CX adapter. Opening the exhaust valve, turning off ASD, and the ability to monitor and record tons of sensor information in realtime and review after track runs is friggin' awesome! I highly recommend it.

Only problem I have had so far is, if I don't unplug the OBDLink CX adapter from the OBD port, the car alarm goes off when I lock the car.

I guess it thinks someone is trying to hack the car and steal it? Or, this is by design so some thief doesn't connect to the electronics and cause trouble while you're away?

Is this happening to anyone else?

this happened to me today, first time and I’ve been leaving the CX plugged in for over a month now.

there was another thread that mentioned you need to disconnect from the adaptor. I physically unplugged it in the end, to get the alarm to stop, but I think the problem was I forgot to disconnect my Bimmerlink App before I exited the car.

 

[TimM.]

this happened to me today, first time and I’ve been leaving the CX plugged in for over a month now.

there was another thread that mentioned you need to disconnect from the adaptor. I physically unplugged it in the end, to get the alarm to stop, but I think the problem was I forgot to disconnect my Bimmerlink App before I exited the car.

hmm, I didn’t try disconnecting the app, I just unplugged it each time. In the meantime, I purchased the MX+ so I can get engine telemetry sent to my track app, Harry’s Lap Timer. The CX connected every time with zero effort. The MX+ has been a pain in the ass at times but I haven’t spent any time trying to figure out what causes those times. Oh yeah, the MX+ doesn’t trigger my alarm.

 

[SupraCal]

I have had my OBD Cx plugged into my 2020 since feb. No issues here. Using it daily for its gauges.

 

[Motorknut]

I have had my OBD Cx plugged into my 2020 since feb. No issues here. Using it daily for its gauges.

do you disconnect from the dongle? Today I tested it out - when I close Bimmerlink before locking the car (dongle plugged in), all good. I then managed to connect Bimmerlink while the doors were locked (but I unlocked the trunk so power came on) - car alarm immediately set off.

 

[SupraCal]

I don't deliberately disconnect from the dongle. I believe it disconnects automatically when you off the ignition. I only connect to the OBDlink on every start up.

 

[Motorknut]

I don't deliberately disconnect from the dongle. I believe it disconnects automatically when you off the ignition. I only connect to the OBDlink on every start up.

Odd, because with Bimmerlink, I have to specifically disconnect before I lock the car, otherwise it triggers the alarm. Once I cut the connection (close the app/disconnect on the app/kill Bluetooth), alarm stops going off when locking the car.

Maybe its an app thing. i dont recall issues when i used to run the OBDlink app. I've since switched to Bimmerlink dashboards, and alarm issue started.

 

[Motorknut]

I think this has to do with the CX not having a sleep mode, whereas the MX+ does. This is from the product description on Amazon:

“When you turn off your engine, OBDLink MX+ goes to sleep and won't drain your automobile's battery. Its sophisticated triggers will wake up MX+ when you connect via Bluetooth, unlock doors, or crank the engine.”

I personally chose the MX+ for that and various other superior features.

I have the MX and it does not trigger the alarm either. The MHD wifi adapter does trigger it which I found odd but these cars are smart. Can't get much past them.

For those of you who reported MX+ doesn't trigger the alarm - could I ask you to try connecting Bimmerlink, then leave it connected while switching off the ignition and locking the door? Hoping to confirm that the MX+ indeed has a different sleep mode behaviour versus the CX, before I run out to get a new adaptor.

I suspect that the MX+ and CX don't behave differently with the sleep modes - in fact, the spec sheet lists that the CX drains less in Sleepmode - < 1mA.
OBDLink CX

I believe the difference might be due to the app connected. OBDLink app has an auto disconnect from the adaptor once the engine is switched off. I suspect Bimmerlink doesn't behave the same, so we might see the same alarm issue with the MX+.

TIA

 

[TimM.]

For those of you who reported MX+ doesn't trigger the alarm - could I ask you to try connecting Bimmerlink, then leave it connected while switching off the ignition and locking the door? Hoping to confirm that the MX+ indeed has a different sleep mode behaviour versus the CX, before I run out to get a new adaptor.

I suspect that the MX+ and CX don't behave differently with the sleep modes - in fact, the spec sheet lists that the CX drains less in Sleepmode - < 1mA.
OBDLink CX

I believe the difference might be due to the app connected. OBDLink app has an auto disconnect from the adaptor once the engine is switched off. I suspect Bimmerlink doesn't behave the same, so we might see the same alarm issue with the MX+.

TIA

When I get a chance I’ll test both my CX and MX+ the way you’ve explained above. In the meantime I can say I’ve used both the same way with my Bimmerlink app... I turn off the car, I remove my iphone 11pro from the mount and simply close my screen only (I do not close any apps), step-out and lock the car (sometimes with the key fob, sometimes by touching the door handle). With the CX plugged in, the alarm goes off every time. With the MX+ plugged in, the alarm has never gone off.

So there you have a test with the same car, same person... CX vs MX+.

Like I said though, I’ll try it per your instructions tomorrow.

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