as title - why does this happen?

usually occurs first thing in the morning - the car starts fine but the siren gives of a short sharp bleep. Is this a warning that my battery is not OK?

 

Is it a new alarm or has it just been put in

 

Its an indication your car battery is on its last legs,give it a re-charge and see how it is, otherwise get it replaced.

Zippy

 

yep, this happened with mine, shortly before leaving me stranded in the middle of no-where with a dead battery

 

This happened to me too, id get it changed ASAP.

 

Interesting. Mine's been doing this on and off for 6 months now. When I had the oil changed a couple of months ago, I asked for the battery to be checked, as I'd read on here the chirp could be battery-related. The mechanic said it was fine...

 

Ummm - mines done this a couple of times recently... Car is only just over 3 years old - not very impressive for an OE battery!

Dave

 

You ought to check your parasitic load before replacing the barrery. Sounds painful, but all you need is an ammeter. Parasitic load is the amount of current drawn by alarms, clocks etc. 75 mA is apparently the maximum it should be.

 

3 years is about right for a battery,it all depends how often you use the car and how long its left sitting idle and in what conditions, as colder weather will reduce its lifespan.

 

Mine does this on odd occasions, usually only if it's really cold. It's 3yrs old but I don't think the battery is shagged yet (touches wood ).

 

Car is just over 3 years old but has been chirping on and off for ages. It's been through 2 dealer services too and not been picked up.

 

Still doing it then?

 

Mines was doing this last year, and it was because the battery was on the way out. Got a new one under warranty, which was nice.

 

yep, defo the battery, i had the same with mine

 

Had a few odd problems yesterday with immobiliser function doing wierd things, which basically started when we went out. At first, I thought I had unlocked car, but when I opened the boot, the warning siren came on. After thinking I had resolved a sinple error, the siren made a split second sound (chirp) on starting car. When we got into town car park (used air con on the way), could not lock it using fob, so resorted to using key in door. When we got back, had to use keys again to undo car and when I turned the key.. nothing. After a short panic, I thought I would try to input the security code into the keypad - hey presto (and phew from Mrs!!), the red light came on and bingo, the car would start.

I assume all of this is because the battery was in a lower than optimum/full state of charge, somewhere below a certain threshold where the immobiliser/alarm does not work normally. I can date this back to when we got back from holiday at Gatwick a week ago and the car battery was completely dead - no problem because Parking Express gave us a jump start. On the way home on a steamy wet night, we had to use lights, wipers and heater/air con.

In hindsight, I should have taken the battery off when we got home and given it a re-charge. It has probably never had a chance to get back to full charge. Took it off last night, noting that battery fluid levels on a couple of the cells were below the LOW mark. Topped up all cell levels to HIGH mark, then put battery on charge. Will put back on later, hoping that battery is OK - wish I had a battery voltage guage in the car. But I think you can still get an old fashioned syringe type thing from car shops to check battery cell fluid charge condition (electrolite?).

If the battery is on way out, any ideas how much new one is? Do you need a specific one only from Subaru dealer?

 

pmarch - your problem sounds more related to mobile phone tower interferance.

 

If you have your alarm set so that when you start the car the doors auto lock, and if you start it with a door slightly open then this can cause the alarm to chirp and flash indicators too.