Classic Cars and Car alarms: Advice?

[lexsmaz]

As maurice said though they certainly can & do play up though ..

Thats why i personally like isolators / kill switches instead ..

[WDE_BDY]

Yes but the 5 hours I imagine is for a competent person who doesn't know which circuits have been imobilised, otherwise probably 10 minutes max to temporarily bypass those circuits. Personally I think starter or coil cutouts by themselves are a waste of time, 30 seconds to bypass with 12V feed to either. Need to be combined with other circuits that at least include fuel cutoff (assuming not electric pump) or a few key sensors in the fuel injection setup. If carby you are a bit more limited, however cutting earths tends to fool them a bit longer as most people cut the feed wire.

Callum

[maurice c]

Why is that of concern?
So you are saying all the immobilizer wiring and placement should be easy to get at just in case it fails

No,
that would be a little counterproductive. Not saying make it easy so you can bypass it just in case. Just an observation on alarms in general. The majority are trouble free, but you can get some intermittent problems that will drive you around the bend. Nothing like having to undo and then redo a 5 hr install, the only consolation is that you get faster the more often you do it.

[wagonist]

Excuse the ignorance, but if your car has a mechancial fuel pump, how does the engine shut off? Spark is cut off?
Asking because I installed an imobiliser into my last Caldina which was diesel. It cut off the fuel via a plunger in the fuel rail on the engine. When electrical signal was cut, the plunger closed.

As others have said, most places offer free installation, which means they're going to throw the wiring into the car the cheapest way possible.

Also recommend the remove dashboard approach. If the box is hard to get to, it's hard to bypass.

Does your dashboard have blanking plates where factory switches are supposed to go?
If you can find a factory switch to go into a blank, these work well as kill switches because you've got to know to switch it.
But if you're going to hide a switch somewhere, put it where you don't need to reach too much to get it. A watching low life scum will notice you reaching under the dash for a switch when you switch off & will therefore go looking for that first.

[o_man_ra23]

Carby can have an anti run-on solenoid in the carby which is just before the jets. If so, this is a nice spot to tap in the immobiliser. You can also put the switch in the coil circuit, which although it will work, puts extra impedance into the path of the high frequency circuit. This may lead to an effect on the spark performance. Unfortunately carby engines by nature are hard to immobilise, especially when they have a traditional mechanical fuel pump and a manual transmission.

Removing the rotor button works every time though.

[WDE_BDY]

Does your dashboard have blanking plates where factory switches are supposed to go?
If you can find a factory switch to go into a blank, these work well as kill switches because you've got to know to switch it.
But if you're going to hide a switch somewhere, put it where you don't need to reach too much to get it. A watching low life scum will notice you reaching under the dash for a switch when you switch off & will therefore go looking for that first.

Latching relays are good for this, rather than an on/off setup you need to hold a momentary switch down in order for the circuit to receive power but will stay on after the switch is released. Circuit will imobilise again next time key is turned off.

Callum

[river]

Hi,

So a good, well recommended alarm system for Trini (EFI/Autronics SM4) would be?

seeyuzz
river

[o_man_ra23]

Mongoose systems are always raved about River. Personally I think you should have been looking at this at the same time as when you were putting the EFI in, that way nothing looks patched in...

[demios]

Speaking of kill switches, etc...

Back when I was doing Valet work there was a regular who had a 'kill switch' where you had to touch a false (and hidden) bolt head with one finger/hand and touch the ignition barrel with the other while you turned the key.

It was pretty nifty since there were no mechanical switches. but I have no clue what brand of alarm it was.

As for hidden buttons to enable the start circuit... I've had customers drop off cars and leave their keys, but not tell us there were any kill switches. 4 out of 5 times, I was able to locate a mechanical switch in these cars within a few minutes with no prior knowledge of that particular car. Seems as though 'professional' installers tend to have their favourite spots, and they all seem to be quite similar.

If I were to put a switch in myself, I'd put it behind something that doesn't look like a button or switch, and so it doesn't have any audible or tactile feedback. Those things are giveaways for kill switches.

[MWP]

Mongoose systems are always raved about River.

Another thumbs-up for Mongoose.
Im using the Jaycar microwave sensor with mine too. It means i can leave my windows open a bit on a hot day, and if anyone reaches in (or smashes a window), the alarm will go off.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=LA9030
Just dont leave you mobile phone in the car, as that will set it off too

[lilcrash]

I've got a mongoose vercinity sensor inobiliser in my stagea and it works beautifully. The fob on my key ring disengages it when I put my keys in the ignition so it doesn't affect my factory remote entry. For all intensive purposes you could put the receiver anywhere as long as you can engage it and start your car in the 30 second period.

[BLK_20v]

The only thing I can say is there is absolutely nothing that will stop someone who is determined to take your car.

Personally I feel the best method is to let them take it and rely on GPS tracking to locate it and hopefully catch them in the act. Sure you want to stop joe average from using a paddle pop stick to start it at the same time.

If you don't want to goto the extreme of GPS tracking, delayed kill switches are often good too... It could work a couple of ways, ie. breaks down in a busy intersection where allot of people are around or it gives the thief the impression the car is unreliable so they leave it.

[o_man_ra23]

it gives the thief the impression the car is unreliable so they leave it.

This is a good thing. The only thing you don't want to do is have the car seem unreliable in a remote place, as the would be thief may decide to become an arsonist instead

[egamirrorim]

The only thing I can say is there is absolutely nothing that will stop someone who is determined to take your car...

So true, one of my mates had an XD Falcon drag car stolen by a flat bed truck from out the front of his house. His driveway was way too steep to park the dumped car, theives just gained access to the car, put in neutral/handbrake off and towed it away!

[George]

There is yet another approach on car protection. The idea is not to let anyone under the hood and optionally even not to let him/her inside.

According to this, specialized locks exist. Door locks are just rods hidden inside door, when lock is activated the rods enter pillar. I've heard such locks may be prohibited in some countries for they are unsafe in road accidents (people may get locked in car). However from steal protection point of view they are quite helpful - it's near impossible to enter car other than breaking windows and getting through them. This kind of behavior should attract some people walking by :-)

Hood lock is safer and is useful for carby cars. For example you may remove rotor cap and lock the hood. Designs exist that make it extremely difficult to do something to the lock from outside of the car. Typically several brackets are mounted to the hood and actuators are mounted in the engine bay. Actuators let some sort of rod or cable through the brackets. Installing such a lock is all about finding some place where it is inaccessible from outside.

Fuel line valve mentioned above can be quite effective when mounted in hard to access place. The wire that control it should look like stock body harness. For example if you must always drive with headlights on (like say in Europe) then fuel valve may be connected to tail lights (crude example but you get the idea). Bad guys still can use a can of fuel if they can access engine bay.

When car is left for a long time you may use parts that look like good ones but are not that. For example you may screw plugs with electrodes shorted from inside of engine block.

Yet another strategy is to have two lines of defence. You may for example run free-installed alarm system as the first one. It will let the car to be stolen quickly so the one inside may drive and relax. At the same time gps tracker or mobile phone may be hidden somewhere deep, equipped with backup power source.