hood alarm

[andera]

has anyone thought of like making their own hood alarm system? where say theirs 4 points of contact under the hood and if any of them break the circuit (w/out a switch on) a siren thats under the hood goes off (say a $10 siren off ebay)? granted it wouldnt be hard to figure out that all you need to do is have the 4 "sensors" make contact, but during those 15-20 seconds a loud ass siren would be going off. eh, just a thought... i'm curious if anyone's done something like this. it could be valuable for people w/swaps or turbos.

[1995 geo tracker]

most car alarms come with them , it would be that hard to make one , just use something like a door light switch

[andera]

Originally Posted by 1995 geo tracker

most car alarms come with them , it would be that hard to make one , just use something like a door light switch

actually i think radio shack has better switches hehe. i dont know how to go about it... im just drawing stuff up... ill have to talk to one of the EE's we have here later on.


EDIT: use somthing like this for the sensors



does anyone know how you could make it so that when one circuit is broken it'll close another circuit (so if the line was cut the siren would still go off)?

[lxndr]

I have two sirens in my alarm system, both have a back up battery, so once the alarm starts going off it will keep going off even if all of the wires are cut!

If you are a do it yourself type, grab a couple of trunk light switches from the junkyard or see if there is something similar at your local auto parts store. The trunk light switch is essentially the same thing as those used in alarm systems (most of the time the alarm system uses your existing switches except under the hood).

Also, make a little cap for your hood pins so that no one can slip a spatula under it to keep the pin down as the hood goes up (thereby keeping your alarm from going off while they have access to all of your electrical). I also did not attach the alarm power supply wires directly to the battery (just to confuse thieves).

Anyway, just a few ideas.

Also keep in mind that alarms only stop amatuer car thieves, if anyone REALLY wants your car, theres nothing you can do about it, except for maybe leaving a hungry Rotweiler in it.

[droptop94]

all good ideas.
and alarms and locks are just to keep honest people honest. cuz I would use a flat bed and a female rotweiler in heat to get your car
lol

[ponchonutty]

Originally Posted by andera

actually i think radio shack has better switches hehe. i dont know how to go about it... im just drawing stuff up... ill have to talk to one of the EE's we have here later on.


EDIT: use somthing like this for the sensors



does anyone know how you could make it so that when one circuit is broken it'll close another circuit (so if the line was cut the siren would still go off)?

You don't want to use any sort of mechanical switch. You will want to use something like a magnetic or mercury tilt switch instead. Mechanical switches have a high failure rate because of the harsh coniditons they have to endure. I always use merc. switches on my alarms that I install.

You could do what you talke about but would be time consuming to get it done. You'd really be better off just getting a high end alarm installed. Besides, you'd have so much $$ in all of the little parts that you'd be close to the price of a decent alarm anyways. Then with an alarm, you have so many more choices of what and how it is going to protect the car. You could then easily add things like field disturbance sensors which do not realy on ANY sort of switch to trigger. With my alarms, you can then turn on or turn off certain areas of your alarm it so desired. That way, your parents won't go nuts if they have to borrow your ride