car alarm

[mtbxj87]

'89 4dr power nothing.
She was broken into last night. About $600 worth of items taken. Its time for a alarm.
What have you installed for aftermarket alarm?
What do you like about it?
Has it failed you?
I don't care for remote start, but I do want remote door lock actuators for the front doors.

[iluv83vettes]

What exactly do you expect the alarm to do?

I had mine broken into twice in the past year. First time they smashed the rear window and the second time they punched a hole in the door.

Locks and alarms only keep honest people out.

I now have a blank panel where the radio was and have a bluetooth adapter straight to an amp for music.

[mtbxj87]

they got into my jeep when it was parked 20 feet from my front door of my house. I would of heard a alarm

[WB9YZU]

Seems like a lesson was learned, but not the right one.

Don't leave stuff you really want, on display in your Jeep.
Don't hang it off the roof rack, don't hang it off the bumper, don't leave in in the back, and dont stack it in the dash.

All an alarm will do is annoy people; who, like in the instance of the boy who cried wolf, will ignore it when they really need to pay attention it.

I know this jams some folks up because they really want their kicker boxes, amps, and $400 stereos in the dash, but it's the the truth.

[mtbxj87]

wow, thanks for all the great advise..

[iluv83vettes]

Originally Posted by mtbxj87

wow, thanks for all the great advise..

You're welcome.

So this time it happened right outside your door. Next time it might happen while you are in a movie theater, or out of town, or whatever. Even with one of those fancy pager alarms that will let you know someone is stealing your stuff, you won't be able to do anything about it. As much as I hate to agree with Ron, he's right about the boy calling wolf and not putting nice things in your rig unless you don't care about someone taking them.

I have had two friends, both with 6.0 Fords, have their trucks stolen from their driveway. Both of them had fancy alarms with pagers and the pagers never went off. My brother-in-law had his TJ stolen from his driveway with a fancy alarm in it.

The only way to keep it safe is to hire an armed guard to stay with it 24/7.

The only reason I would want an "alarm" is to get keyless entry if I didn't already have it.

[Talyn]

I have a Viper with a paging feature. If the alarm goes off the remote beeps & vibrates.

[josh9mile]

I see car alarms go off all the time. People dont even look at the vehicle when the alarm is blaring. Wire in a red flashing LED, hide your valuables or better yet leave the stuff at home. Turn your cig lighter into a kill switch (lighter needs to be inserted to activate the starter) easy to do.

[jacobleverett]

Damn where the heck do you guys live!? Detroit!?

The only thing that I have ever had stolen from me/my car is a superman mickey mouse antenna ball!

Whenever I am in a sketchy area, anything of value goes under the seats or in the trunk so it looks like the car I'm in is completely empty. A thief is probably ten times more likely to go after a car that has crap in it than a car that has nothing.

[Talyn]

They must not have thieves over in La La land where you live.

[Duds0311]

i picked up the cheapest alarm i could (SCYTEK G20-C Alarm w/ Keyless Entry) i have power locks so it worked out great! $120 bucks out the door. i too park about 20 feet from my door and would hear an alarm, i dont live in the best neighborhood, so far i have had better luck than most of my neighbors... maybe the big lifted beat up jeep with USMC Vet plates and an obvious alarm light blinking on the dash is not what shit bags who break into cars find appealing

[xeroOTG]

I bought a compustar. My Jeep was stolen from a parking garage with no alarm, which is why I now have one. I have to agree, it only keeps honest people honest, BUT they will have to work for it. Mine disables various important circuits. If you really want to know more of my ideas PM me and ill let you know, I'm just paranoid now. lol. Mine triggers off of an accelerometer and the door switches, so any movement or the door opening will set it off. Probably.

[Hippie Metal]

Originally Posted by josh9mile

Turn your cig lighter into a kill switch (lighter needs to be inserted to activate the starter) easy to do.

Details Please

[anthrax323]

Originally Posted by Hippie Metal

Details Please

I'd imagine you would interrupt the starter relay ground with another relay... Wire the factory socket to the relay control/input pins and then simply push in the lighter to complete the circuit and activate the starter.

My concern with this design would be with overloading the relay trigger given the potential draw of the lighter itself. Maybe some more EE-savvy folks could shed some light on this.

[mtbxj87]

The cig lighter idea is interesting, I don't think ill use it but its creative. I have since fixed my glove box door so I can lock it now. and im thinking up ways to put a lock on the center console. Im not as worried about people stealing the jeep just stuff out of it. I think ill put some kind of starter disconnect on it anyway. Crazy shit happens in Bend OR!