Re: I need to improve the factory alarm on my car.

[micky <NONONOmisc07@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:24:02 -0700 (PDT), Jim <alarminex@xxxxxxx>
wrote:

>On Sep 17, 2:52 pm, micky <NONONOmis...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I just bought a "new" car which has a factory alarm.  Unfortunately, I
>> don't think it's as good as the aftermarket alarm I installed on the
>> last two cars.
>>
>> The car alarm is very important to me because I've had my car taken
>> twice, and things stolen from a car I owned at least 5 times.
>>
>> So maybe you can help me make it better.     It's a 2000 Toyota
>> Solara.
>>
>> In reverse logical order:
>>
>> 1)  It has no siren, just a horn or two that beeps for a half second
>> every second, for a minute total.   I don't think that is loud enough
>> or long enough.  
>>       I have a regular sirern and a PsychoSiren from prior cars'
>> alarms, but I don't think adding either of them will help much if
>> there is an interrruption every second.  How would I power them
>> continuously even though the factory alarm output goes on and off??
>>
>> 2)  Using a key in the doors or trunk disarm the current alarm.  For
>> some reason, I think there was a little more protection when I had to
>> turn off the alarm separately from opening with a key.  Anyone feel
>> the same way?   Any way to do this while still piggy-backing on the
>> factory alarm?
>>
>> 3) In my last 2 Chrysler Lebarons, lifiting the door handle turned on
>> the courtesy lights, which also meant they set off the aftermarket car
>> alarm.   Which means they set off the alarm BEFORE they broke a window
>> or cut the convertible top.   I don't know how to duplicate this
>> except by gluing an extension to the door handle, inside the door, and
>> running a nylon string to a micro switch with a long arm, which I
>> would glue or if I'm lucky, screw somewhere inide the door.   Do you
>> think I can glue these things so they will last for a few years
>> without falling off?   Or maybe you have a better idea?     Because
>> I'm not happy with all this gluing.
>>
>> I would probaly use PC-7 epoxy paste for glue.   And maybe 60?/90?
>> second epoxee first, to hold the extension piece in place while the
>> PC-7 hardens (for which I usually allow 24 hours)
>>
>> Thanks for any help.
>
>I second Roberts suggestions and can add two more.
>If  you were happy with the aftermarket alarm in your last car, have
>another one installed in your new car i

I installed my own alarm in 3 of my cars, and if this car didn't have
one, I'd be installing one myself.   It will be much more work to
install an alarm from scratch than to make a couple modifications to
the one that is there.

As far as the door handles go, the previous two cars were set up to
turn the courtesy lights on when a handle was lifted.   Hooking
switches to the door handles will be the same amount of work whether
I'm putting in a new alarm or modifiying the one that's there.

I don't know if I could even find someone to modify my door handles
inside the doors, and if I could, I'm sure it would be expensive.  But
as I posed question 3 above, I realized my question more or less
defined the solution.

>nstead of trying to cluge
>togethers something that may not work when you need it.

You don't know me, so it may not be surprising that you say this.

I know myself and it may take me a lot of time up front to plan
things, but once I have a plan, I assure you it will work when I'm
done.

If somehow anything does fail, I'll still have the alarm I have now. .

> Secondly, if
>you've bought another convertable, you're not going to stop them from
>taking things from your car ..... now are you?

Maybe I am.  If they try the door before cutting the top and the alarm
goes off, they may well leave.   The last time my car was broken into,
in 1982, that's more or less what happened.  The car was in a fenced-
in lot, but one side was a garage with a window.  He got in the lot
through the garagre and the window, and the first time, he set off the
siren, and my beeper, and left without doing any damage.  A week later
he came in through the roof, without setting off the alarm** and then
cut through the lower boot into the trunk, and took my tools and iirc
a few other things. .

But that lot had 6 foot bushes hiding him from anyone on t he street,
and no one was on  the street anyhow in the middle of the night. I
don't live there anymore, and any place where someone would do that
isn't a place I spend two nights in a row anymore.

**Now I've got a sonar attachment for the alarm too, which he would
have set off if I'd had it then.  I used it for a few years, but
didn't use it in the last car because the risk is much less where I
live now, and it was hard to adjust.  If I made it so sensitive that
just putting an arm into the car set it off, so could a wind.   And
like I said in another post, no one's bothered  my car in 28 years..
I want to keep it that way.

> Just install a new
>alarm and use the "club" as Robert suggested or two of them. Once they
>see two "Clubs" they wont even bother to take the time to get past
>them.
>
>By the way, this group is primarily about the installation of
>residential and commercial alarm systems. I don't think anyone here
>does car alarms.

I had in mind using parts normally used in residential and commercial
alrams.

 I didn't know this when I first posted but I'm probably going to use
something like an ELK-960 or Altronix 6062.  They work on both 24 and
12 volts, and are primarily used in residential and commercial alarms.

I know how to make it power the siren for say, 1 or 2 minutes after
the facrory alarm horn stops, but what if I myself set off the alarm.
The horn will stop when I push the remote or use the key to unlock the
door or the ignitiion, but what stops my siren?

I guess iiuc I need to interrupt the 12 volts to the ELK-960, and
nothing else will work.   Right?

If so, I thought I'd put in a momentary interrupt button, some place
where I could reach it quickly, even before I get in the car.
(Because it would take longer to get in the car.)

My first thought was just inside the grill, where it woudln't be
visible, but I didn't find a good place.  Then I thought about inside
the front left wheel well.    I had a key switch for the alarm in my
'73 Buick there, from 1980 to 87, and surprisingly, it never got too
dirty to easily insert the key, which I used almost every time I
parked.   I had it in the forward part of the well, and I guess even
in slush, the tire throws off most of the dirt before it gets to the
10 o'clock position.

...This spot isn't too good either.  There's an inner fender and an
inner fender liner.   Plus  it's jam-packed inside the engine
compartment. Maybe I can move the fuse box that's there.

>Good luck.

Thanks.