[stick]

If you have ever drained your battery because you left your headlights on, this guide is for you. This guide will show you a simple and inexpensive way to hook up a buzzer that sounds whenever your car is off and the headlights are still on.

Tools/supplies needed:

12V Piezo Electric Buzzer ($5 from Radioshack)
(2) Female Quick Disconnects (18-22 guage with insulator sleeves)
Zip tie
Crimping tool

Safety Precautions

You may have heard people mentioning that you should just plug your piezo electric buzzer into a fuse slot. DO NOT plug any wires into your fuse slots. Your fuses are designed to blow out in the case of an overload on the circuit. If you plug electronics across 2 fuse circuits and one of those circuits overloads, you run the risk of destroying both circuits, the piezo buzzer, and possibly starting an electrical fire under your dash. In addition, your fuses are held in by a spring loaded contact. By adding additional wires into the fuse clip, you are stretching the spring contact which could cause the fuse to fail to connect the circuit. End result, your circuit won't work properly anymore.

Before you get started

Make sure that your car and headlights are OFF.

Adding a headlight buzzer

First, crimp the female quick disconnects onto the black and red wires coming out of the piezo buzzer.

Note: I recommend only using female quick disconnects with an insulated sleeve over them. This will prevent the contacts from shorting out on anything else under the dash.

Next, remove the fuse cover panel (below the steering wheel). Look for optional accessory plugs #1 and #2 on the fuse panel. They will be in the upper left hand corner of the fuse panel, and are labeled 1 and 2. The #1 plug provides power when the ignition is on and the #2 plug provides power when the taillights/running lights/dash lights are on. If they are empty (nothing plugged into them), plug your piezo buzzer into the two slots. Turn the headlight switch to on to test to see if the buzzer makes a high pitched tone. If it doesn't, unplug the wires and switch them around and try again. (depending on how the piezo buzzer is wired, the wires may need to be plugged in one way or the other).

NOTE: If your optional accessory plugs are already in use, you may need to fabricate a little splitter as shown in the picture above. This will allow you to plug two devices into the same plug.

Once you have the buzzer working with the headlights on, start up the car and turn the headlights on and off to check that the buzzer does not sound while the car is on. If everything checks out, zip tie the piezo buzzer securely to a wire harness under the dash.

Congratulations! As long as you don't ignore the buzzer, you will never kill your battery again from leaving your headlights on.

 

[Daveed]

Very nice writeup. Thanks.

Q: What decibel rating of buzzer did you use?

I got an 86 dB one but don't want to open it (no return if opened) until I know if it will be too loud or too quiet.

 

[crxfisher]

Looking at the picture and doing a google search on that buzzer shown, it comes up as a 76 db buzzer.

 

[rabidpanda]

The 86 db buzzer will work. It won't be too loud. Compare to some things, it is similar to:
A handsaw(86bd), heavy traffic/crowded restaurant(85db), and lawnmower(90db).

So, it won't make your ears bleed, but you shouldn't miss hearing it.

Dan

And yes, I do have to much time on my hands...

 

[Daveed]

Thanks for the help (both of ya)

I suppose if I think its too loud I can put something over it to muffle it (tape etc). l8er.

 

[rabidpanda]

Or you could just buy another one, since they are only $3.29... :lol:

Dan

 

[Daveed]

Got it done. My 1g had several extra plug-ins above the fuse panel so I used an ohmmeter to figure out which ones to use. The buzzer was too loud so I just put a piece of electrical tape over it and it made it just right. Thanks for the writeup!

 

[stick]

No problem. And every time the buzzer goes off, you'll thank yourself for doing this cheap and simple install. No more draining the battery by accident

 

[shorte]

Now, we just need a "How-To" for how to kill the door buzzer. I like to have my radio on while I am loading/unloading my gear everyday, but the buzzer makes me have to close the door.

There's a blue wire that can be unplugged from the fusebox, I do it on all my cars. I hate that buzzer too.
I'll try to get a pic of it soon and explain it.

edit: Not the best pic but all I an do before work right now

Blue/white wire with I think some dark grey rings on it every half inch or so.
I can't remember the exact slot it come from, and I think there are a couple of the same color wires.
again I'll try to get better info when I have more time

 

[Tobyz28]

Hey stickershop - Quick question, where did you get the female quick disconnects and crimper from in the vancouver area? This is an awsome "extra" for the car!

 

[stick]

Hey stickershop - Quick question, where did you get the female quick disconnects and crimper from in the vancouver area? This is an awsome "extra" for the car!

I got mine from Canadian Tire, if I recall correctly. However, you can get them from quite a few different places.

 

[coz]

For the buzzer I just took the seatbelt warning beeper out of the pod where the mirror mounts and used it. Killed two birds with one stone and I always wear my seatbelt anyway.

 

[GetCaughtDead]

For the buzzer I just took the seatbelt warning beeper out of the pod where the mirror mounts and used it. Killed two birds with one stone and I always where my seatbelt anyway.

Awesome idea! But I still wonder if there's a buzzer that doesn't just "buzz". Granted, you'd probably want it to be a little annoying, but I'd like to find a nice little chime that hooks up just as easily.

 

[coz]

:beer:

 

[Dereka67]

Here's what I did... When I disconnected the door alarm, instead of just pulling the wire out of the clip, I cut it about 3 inches from the fuse box. Then I stripped the cut wire runing out of the fuse box clip, extended it and put a female clip on it, then plugged it into the optional accessory plug #2, and WOW now that annoying beeping from the door alarm is the headlight warning.

I do have a quistion though. On my fuse box there is optional plug #'s 3,4,and,5. Does anyone know what these do???

 

[stick]

3) Accessory Power
4) Ground? (does not appear to have power)
5) Constant Power

 

[Dereka67]

...Thanx

 

[fireant]

Great post! For a while I've had a buzzer set up with wires jammed into the fuses, but I'd much rather have it this way.

This is a good thing for saving your tiny race battery!

 

[SETI20]

I never understood why. Our CRXes have a buzzer from factory.
It's one of the few parts on my car where I have no clue where it's at.

 

[FooFighter]

Since this post seems to be missing the actual FAQ I went out and found another one. This is the one I found:
Tools/Parts
1 12v Piezo Buzzer (Not Siren!) (less than $3.00)
1 pair of needle nose pliers

Instructions
Take off your Fuse Panel so you have access to your fuses. Next unplug the #8 Taillights/License Lights/Instrument Lights Fuse. Once the fuse is unplugged take the Red Wire from the Piezo and place the exposed end down into the Fuse Housing where the metal part makes connection with the fuse. Then plug the Fuse back into place, make sure it is in all the way and the wire is not in the way of it.

Once that is done unplug the #18 Rear Defroster Relay Fuse. Do the same as you did for the Red Wire for the other Black Wire and make sure everything goes back in correctly.

Now to test it make sure the car is turned off and then turn on the headlights and when they come on the buzzer should buzz. Then turn the car on and it should stop buzzing once the car is on. The buzzer will help you to make sure to turn your lights off so your battery is not drained.

Notes
I tried using a Piezo Siren but it didn't work. I'm not sure why though. But these are the correct instructions for installing them into any 4G Civic/2G CRX.

If you are doing this for a car other than a 4G Civic/2G CRX make sure to use the fuses that work for the same functions as listed above and it should work.