Alarm issues at night after lockup

[EB1959]

Three nights ago, I closed up the truck, and hit the key fob to lock it all up, thus setting the alarm system.  It's set to ALL  for the alarm choices.  About 2 hrs later, the alarm goes off, horn,lights blinking an all that.  I hit the panic button to turn it off, went out side to check, all was fine.   Half hour later, it goes off again.  We're at a campgrounds in TN so I just left it unlocked for the rest of the night.

 

Following night, I set it to "perimeter" only.  Seemed to work, no alarm.   Last night, closed it up, and locked it using key fob again, and it defaulted back to ALL or whatever ..  Went to bed, and an hour later, round 11pm, it goes off again.

 

Called the ford dealer where we bought to try and get it looked at, said it'd be 3 weeks.

 

ANY one know why this would happen?  It only goes off at night.  First time it was lightly raining.   Last night it was just overcast.  Things are quiet here for the most part.

[rick johnson nm]

It happened to me while camping this summer with my large Lance truck camper in the bed in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. At first I thought it was from our movement inside the camper as it only alarmed once that evening. Second night, different site, it went off twice so I disabled it. Third and forth night, I went to perimeter setting. Now home for two months camping along the way and it has never happened again. I wonder if it was a large moth or something that caused motion to be detected motion inside the cab. Puzzlement...

[PineNut]

I had a similar issue with my F150 alarm.  We got to the campground late and were just overnighting so I didn't bother to unhook from our bumper pull toy hauler.  After we were in bed the truck alarm went off.  I turned it off and thinking that a bug or something in the truck set it off, I reset it to perimeter only.  After about a half hour the alarm went off again.  I unhooked trailer and never had another issue.  My guess is that movement in the trailer was being transmitted to the truck via the hitch and setting off the alarm.  I've never left it hooked up again.

[EB1959]

So not sure if this has any bearing on it or not.  Took these photos today.  One with just the accy position on.  Shows battery symbol, also the engine lite, which I didn't get in the photo.  The other photo shows both lights off with engine running.  Could I be having a battery issue that's causing this alarm thing?

 

Engine ON and running

 

 

Accy position ON, with engine off

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by EB1959

[bbf2530]

7 hours ago, EB1959 said:

So not sure if this has any bearing on it or not.  Took these photos today.  One with just the accy position on.  Shows battery symbol, also the engine lite, which I didn't get in the photo.  The other photo shows both lights off with engine running.  Could I be having a battery issue that's causing this alarm thing?

 

Engine ON and running

 

 

 

Accy position ON, with engine off

 

 

 

Hi EB1959. I can not diagnose what is causing your alarm system issue,. However, concerning your "Accy" on theory: Unless F-350's are different than other Ford vehicles, the second photo you posted shows the vehicle in "Ignition on" mode, not "Accy" (or Accessory").

 

Here is the explanation (I hope it is understandable). When the ignition is turned on with the engine off (Pressing the start button once without your foot on brake,) you are actually in the "Ignition on" mode, not "Accy"/Accessory mode. In that case, it is normal for the battery and engine lights to be on, because essentially many ancillary vehicle systems are now "ON", and the vehicle electronics and electrical systems are drawing a lot of power from the battery.  For example, you will notice that the fan blower motor will still run, if it was turned on when the vehicle was turned off.

 

Accessory mode is actually activated by pressing the start button twice, without your foot on the brake. In Accessory mode, essentially only the audio system and windows will operate. The blower motor and most other ancillary systems (i.e. the blower motor etc.) will be turned off. When in "Accessory" mode, the Battery and Engine lights should not be on. If they are, there is a problem.

 

Hope this explanation was understandable.

 

Good luck.

Edited October 4, 2022 by bbf2530

[NH_Bulldog]

Ours did it (when camping)….pretty embarrassing.  It can be triggered by sound or movement in the cab.  We set the alarm to “ask on exit” and set it to perimeter if we are out and about.  The alarm on “all sensors” has never triggered sitting in our driveway

[EB1959]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:00 PM, bbf2530 said:

 

Hi EB1959. I can not diagnose what is causing your alarm system issue,. However, concerning your "Accy" on theory: Unless F-350's are different than other Ford vehicles, the second photo you posted shows the vehicle in "Ignition on" mode, not "Accy" (or Accessory").

 

Here is the explanation (I hope it is understandable). When the ignition is turned on with the engine off (Pressing the start button once without your foot on brake,) you are actually in the "Ignition on" mode, not "Accy"/Accessory mode. In that case, it is normal for the battery and engine lights to be on, because essentially many ancillary vehicle systems are now "ON", and the vehicle electronics and electrical systems are drawing a lot of power from the battery.  For example, you will notice that the fan blower motor will still run, if it was turned on when the vehicle was turned off.

 

Accessory mode is actually activated by pressing the start button twice, without your foot on the brake. In Accessory mode, essentially only the audio system and windows will operate. The blower motor and most other ancillary systems (i.e. the blower motor etc.) will be turned off. When in "Accessory" mode, the Battery and Engine lights should not be on. If they are, there is a problem.

 

Hope this explanation was understandable.

 

Good luck.

 

My bad.. Ignition on is what I meant by ACCY.. old school, turning it backwards was accy. if I recall but yes, its a "keyed" truck not button start and it was when I turned the key forward one (on) is when the battery/engine light came so not sure why it didnt dawn on me that's what happens all the time since we bought the truck but age got me there lol

 

Thanks for correcting me though

[EB1959]

Update on this alarm issue:  For the past couple of months now, NONE of the alarms work, where as before, even tho it was a pain sometime, they did work as I posted back in Oct last year.  I have it set to ALL alarms.  Lock it.. and I can jump on the truck, open tailgate, rock it side to side, and no alarms go off.  I know the truck came with it because it's on my window sticker as being included.  I have not updated the system yet but it's been to the dealer  4 times not for checkups and oil/fuel changes and filters.  I'm sure they would of noticed if it needed an update.

[TheSidsStream]

Curious if anyone is still experiencing this. I just got my 24 Lariat and damn does this alarm issue suck! Yes I can turn to off EVERYTIME I exit but why can I not change the setting to OFF and it save when going thru the settings menu.... seems idiotic and the fact it has been around prior tot he 24 model year is even more so idiotic!   Any knowldege would help here thanks!