Reply With QuoteMy wife!!! It sounds a loud raucous alarm for all manner of things, even imaginary ones, every time you go for a drive.
Car alarms - what's good these days?
On three occasions, crooks have broken in to my car and attempted to steal it from our work car park. The second two times were in the past three weeks - and on the last occasion, I had a steering wheel lock in place, but they still opened the door anyway. The car is a 20 year old 2.0 litre Pulsar - apparently very easy to break in to and to steal. The work CCTV shows the crook walking up to my car and in less than two minutes, getting in, trying to force the ignition lock, then leaving (we think to then successfully steal another Pulsar from about 200m away). Three have been stolen in the area around my workplace in the past month. I don't think these are sophisticated thieves: just bored scumbag kids getting their kicks in the knowledge that even if they're caught, the legal system will only give them a slap on the wrist with an old, limp lettuce leaf.
I'm not a great fan of car alarms, but I think it's time to get an immobiliser/alarm. I'd rather spend a bit more on a quality system than get cheap eBay junk and find myself stranded with an immobiliser that won't turn off.
What do people use and recommend these days? I've done some searching online. I gather that Cobra is good, but nobody sells it in Australia (there's a web site with a related name and an old Cobra logo, but it's not them), Dynamco seems popular and Viper is easy to get locally - but many of the Viper ones only immobilise the starter. Not so useful in a manual car. I've read some online accounts that Mongoose and Meridian are both best avoided.
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My wife!!! It sounds a loud raucous alarm for all manner of things, even imaginary ones, every time you go for a drive.
The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.
Godzilla (29-07-18),Uncle Fester (28-07-18)
you need a
f
有段者
enf (29-07-18),LeroyPatrol (30-07-18),shred (28-07-18),SS Dave (28-07-18),Uncle Fester (28-07-18)
Sorry Shred but the first two posts are really funny.
Sure you can't make your OWN immobilser, simple and reliable with relay and a hidden switch or something?
I wouldn't bother investing money for commercial stuff on my 20 y/o Nissan ...actually when I think about it, I wouldn't mind if somebody stole it
I also disabled the factory installed alarm that came with it. Alway going off at random intervals, like I hear it so often with other people's cars too.
Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...
If u want to go on an expedition get a Land Rover, if u want to come home from an expedition get a Landcruiser!
enf (29-07-18)
Hi shred
I personally think car alarms are a bit of a waste of money as most people ignore the noise.
The biggest deterrent is the flashing led as to the thief is it a alarm or a immobilizer.
There is or was a program called carsafe that supplied vouchers for $99 or in some cases $199 toward the cost of having a 2 point all black wiring unit with auto immobilizer fitted in older cars.
The units I have fitted are something like this one at around $200 fitted - the voucher.
As most of the car thefts now the thief steals your keys that will turn off the alarm/immobilizer and they can drive away.
Or of coarse if they really want your car they put it on a truck and drive off.
You can only discourage the inexperienced thief..
SS Dave
That's why we have insurance. An immobiliser of your own design is probably the best solution. Most crooks usually know how to get around the "popular" systems. If t'were mine I'd be looking at a method of not only disabling spark, but also the fuel pump. As for the noisy type, how many people take notice of an alarm that activates? You'd be better off having a system that could silently alert you.
Or, think outside the box. What about a smoke bomb or stink bomb set to go off if anyone chooses to break in to your car, sorta like those dye bombs used to protect money.
I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...
i used to cut the coil wire and run a cable to a toggle switch hidden inside the ignition lights would show normal the car would turnover normally but of course no spark to start it
Originally Posted by nomeat
It's pretty tempting to go "old school" and put a hidden kill switch in. Easy to do and nothing to go wrong with it. The problem is that I'm getting sick of taking my dashcam and garage door remote out of the car every time I park it. There's also the issue of the damage they do, trying to force the ignition lock. It has resisted them twice, but each time it's very hard for me to unjam it. On the first occasion, I think they used a pair of scissors and hacked up all around the lock so badly that I had to buy some replacement plastics from the wreckers. These are not sophisticated thieves and I'd like to think that having an alarm go off would send them looking for an easier car to steal.
Yes, good point. I had a car alarm back in the late 1980s, when I had an LH Torana with audio gear in it that cost much more than the car. I installed the siren inside the cabin, so if it went off, the thief couldn't get in without making his ears bleed. I also built a little add-on for the alarm, so it would give a few long blasts on the air horns, then shut up. The idea was that most of the time, I'd be close enough to hear the horn and it wouldn't annoy the neighbours by going on and on. I also added a little LED = green for armed and red if triggered, so I'd know if it had gone off. Fortunately, the only time it ever went off was when I accidentally triggered it a couple of times.
As of yesterday morning, the car has a bright flashing LED that is clearly visible from the driver's door. I just wired it between the accessories and the constant power lines to the radio, so it only blinks when the ignition is off. That and the steering wheel lock will hopefully make the scum move on to a softer target.
Agreed. I still have comprehensive insurance on the car and the insured value is probably more than I could easily sell the car for. The problem is that there are very few low mileage cars like this in good condition. If it got stolen, it would cost me many times what the car's insured for to get into another reliable car that I like driving - and buying a car in a hurry, because I haven't got one is likely to result in me being ripped off.
It must be a sign of getting old and crotchety, but for about six years, I've had some money set aside to buy a brand new car. Trouble is, I hate the new cars. They're all either gutless, but light on fuel, or they're fuel guzzling grunt trucks that go like the clappers, but cost megadollars to insure. The current car is a good compromise, so while it keeps going, it stays.
About a year ago my son purchased a GTR fixerupper that we both prepared to sell, it use to be parked right outside the house on the street, directly under my 2 HD CCTV cameras.
One night i heard a noise at 4am, went outside with the baseball bat, these guys were in the car and away before i had set 2 steps outside.
Watching the CCTV a stolen car rolled up next to ours, 4 guys in the car, guy in the back wearing big thick vinyl gloves jumps out and has the door open faster than i could with a key (screw drivered the lock)
Guy in the front passengers seat had his window down just enough to shine a torch for the one breaking in and was looking out the front for anyone coming, the last one in the back had his eyes locked on the front of my house and behind the car.
You could hear on the footage the Steering lock being broken, they were very pro, very quick, but they had one issue......the car wouldn't start. (the cranking woke me up)
The problem you see they had was the cars ECU was sitting on my work desk, i sort of had a gut feeling this was going to happen.
In hindside, i should have left the ECU in and let them take it, it was insured for $8K more than we sold it for.......
enf (29-07-18)
Anyone remember this classic.......effective AND permanent.
The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.
We Have some Dumb/Inexperienced thieves here that bust up the ignition locks and plastics around it not to mention the smashed window to try and start a car without the transponder that's in the key head in one case they left the car cranking (a 10 year old Peugeot diesel that would be a hell of a fun joyride) and tried 3 more in the car park before they got old hilux that started.
SS Dave
Happened to my daughters car in Belconnen a couple of months ago. Hell of a mess.
The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.
That’s the problem: the damage the inexperienced ones do learning about which cars / techniques don’t work.
I thought about just disconnecting the rods connecting the key barrels to the locks, but then they’d wreck the door trying to force the lock. I’m wondering if I could remove the key barrels completely and find a suitable blanking plate - a small version of the things plumbers use to cover up unused tap holes in stainless steel sinks.
At home, the car is parked in a locked garage with CCTV inside and outside. If they steal it from home, then losing the car is the least of my problems.
I agree that something non commercial is the way to go. On my wifes car I ran the Ignition circuit and the fuel pump through the cigarette lighter using it as a switch. I got one of those blank lighter plugs and just wired the terminals together. She would take the blank with her and just replace the lighter. To start the car she just swapped them over connecting the circuits and that was it.
The kill switch was in the best hiding spot of all, in plain sight.
There was another lighter plug with a little reading lamp on it in the glovebox but it was just another Connector in case she lost the other one.
As for breaking the door locks, removing them may not be a bad idea. Just do like modern cars, use a remote to open and close the doors. I can't remember the last time I put a key in a lock to open mine.
I also think the screecher IN the car is a good Idea. You can get little timer boards all over Fleabay that have various reset parameters so you could have it so once the door is opened triggered by the dome light switch, thing counts to 10 and unless it gets a power feed from the ignition or you hit the kill button ( could be turn the parkers on or put the thing in reverse, whatever) the screecher goes off. No scumbag will sit round with that in their ear. Either that or have another CD player in the boot that blasts Barry Manilow.
Mate had this idea and made a disk that was a recording of a woman screaming "Help , my car is being stolen, I'm being attacked, leave me alone, help!" and gave a description of the car and repeated. People will ignore an alarm but they won't ignore a woman crying for help or shouting rape.
If you wanted to really stuff the little scumbags up, You could get one of those high voltage coils off fleabay and put the output pins near the ignition switch.
I would have a beeper that sounded on the dome light to serve as a warning to yourself so you didn't forget. Few seconds later the thing goes hot and any prying fingers are going to quite likely get a hole burned in them.
I'm sure some of the soft of heart and head may take exception to that but I have no sympathy for scumbags.
If you really want to spoil their day, get the cartridge out of an airbag and put that under the dash. You could use the whole assembly with the bag but just the charge pack is much smaller.... and louder. They trip that and they will be deaf for a week and probably run from the vehicle with their jeans or skin on fire.
I ended up buying a wireless home doorway alert kit from bunnings.
Sat the sensor in the car, wireless unit next to me in the bedroom.
Was hoping they would come back for round 2, but this time my plan was to be prepared for them.......
Police did catch up with them from what i was told, no prints were left behind however the CCTV got a pretty clear picture of someone that only a mother could love. (thats being optimistic)
And what a nose on this one, the biggest Arab nose i have ever seen.......
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