Vehicle security for long road trip

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Best idea I have come up with so far is to relocate my battery to the trunk and then use a latching relay switched using a cheap Viper alarm.

Here is a thread that talks a fair amount about some of the relays, even though the original topic was a inertia switch.


I did wire the alarm into the dome light so if I arm it, not only does it cut power to everything from the truck forward, it will also do the standard car alarm thing of setting off a siren if the door is opened. And I think it will go off if the car is towed or run into hard enough.

There are a couple of threads I have commented on or started stretching back eight or more years because I had a friend get his '72 Demon stolen out of his garage 10 minutes after he got back from the track. His security camera recorded the thieves under the hood for a brief moment and then the car was gone. It was then that I realized that a 6 foot piece of wire and a quarter was enough to start the car assuming nothing was changed (coil wire missing, etc.) and there was a hot wire under the hood. On my car, they would have to break the steering wheel lock as well.

In the end, cutting power past the back seat seemed like the best option I could come up with, and it cleaned up the engine bay to boot.

There are certainly better alarms than a Viper now. Some that will talk back to your phone and everything. I just didn't see the need and didn't want to spend the money.

Oh, and as a bonus, I wired in the Aux1 button to disconnect the battery so I can cut the power but not arm the system. Works great for when I park the car in the garage and don't want to worry about something draining it. I also hard wired in a battery tender plug as the battery is up under the package tray (didn't want to lose the trunk space) and would (will?) be a bear if (when?) the battery needs to be removed.

I like the idea of an AirTag, but be aware that there are apps to look for ones that aren't recognized by the phone the app is on. So, a savvy thief could use the app to check your car for one before he even steals it. Maybe that would be a deterrent, or maybe it just means he would take it somewhere and rip it out before taking it home. Either way, I plan to add an AirTag to my car at some point soon.
 
I just put one of those two way alarms on a car that is supposed to alert you if it is tampered with. Haven’t tried it out yet.
 
Mount this type of killswitch before the ignition wire on starter it requires you to hit a momentary switch every time before start the car and self deactivates everytime you shut the car off, I'd forget to turn off a killswitch 90% of the time.

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Only takes a quarter to defeat that. Best guess is the thief would try to start the car, and in about 5 seconds pop the hood and hit the relay with something metal and fire the car up.

I like it, just saying if there is power, takes almost no time to getting running.

Del (@67Dart273) has had some good ideas where the MSD could be setup to cause a no start issue. That seems like a better idea than trying to defeat the starter circuit since running power direct to the MSD box wouldn't defeat the kill switch.
 
I've spent a considerable amount of time thinking about this exact problem. I want to road trip my car someday but even before that it will my summer drive just like my Challenger was before I sold it. Love to take the wife to dinner or go see a movie and be able to have a reasonable chance the car will still be there when I get ready to leave.

Not to say I have the perfect solution (there isn't one). Only that I understand the dilemma.
 
Lockable wheel chocks? Remove the coil, you can probably take the ign switch out also. I like the Ring camera idea.
 
I'd be worried about a roll-back just dragging it up the deck and tarped, or the repo tow trucks just back up, snag and lift the rear wheels and gone, then tarped .
That's why nosed in between cars, front wheels clubbed hard over .
 
A big,mean, barking dog or tie a rattlesnake to the steering wheel (carefully). A Denver boot comes to mind.
 
Only takes a quarter to defeat that. Best guess is the thief would try to start the car, and in about 5 seconds pop the hood and hit the relay with something metal and fire the car up.

I like it, just saying if there is power, takes almost no time to getting running.

Del (@67Dart273) has had some good ideas where the MSD could be setup to cause a no start issue. That seems like a better idea than trying to defeat the starter circuit since running power direct to the MSD box wouldn't defeat the kill switch.
i'd install it just before starter, guess if we're talking slant six be easy to bypass, could hide a continuous relay on the main battery cable somewhere and have it control that.
 
Or come up with some kind of solenoid that locks and unlocks the shifter in park.
 
i'd install it just before starter, guess if we're talking slant six be easy to bypass, could hide a continuous relay on the main battery cable somewhere and have it control that.

Ah! That's a good idea. Then the starter can't be jumped at the relay. Slick.

And you could put the relays under the dash with two extra wires running out to the the relay. One to return from the relay and the other to connect to your starter solenoid with your kill switch relays between them. Should be fairly well hidden and clean looking.
 
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i'd install it just before starter, guess if we're talking slant six be easy to bypass, could hide a continuous relay on the main battery cable somewhere and have it control that.
i cant imagine anyone wanting to steal a slant six

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The problem with the Air Tag is that if the thief has an Iphone he will receive an alert saying that he is being tracked.

That was a measure put in place by Apple to prevent people from being unknowingly tracked.
 
The problem with the Air Tag is that if the thief has an Iphone he will receive an alert saying that he is being tracked.

That was a measure put in place by Apple to prevent people from being unknowingly tracked.
That might be a good thing, can the phone locate where it is on the car ?
 
I have GPS tracking on a couple vehicles... Over last summer one of those vehicles was transported from Texas to California in an enclosed trailer, I was able to see every stop, fuel/food/pee/sleep.. I was able the see the speed the vehicle travelled, the altitude... I had heard there would be gaps in coverage.. There were none... I had heard GPS tracking doesn't work when the vehicle is inside a metal building... I saw it while in the metal trailer, I see it in my metal building... If you lean on the fender/open a door/ the hood/the trunk I get a message on my phone withing 15 seconds... The units I'm using are Optimus MV50's, When I bought them they were $50.. A few days ago the price had dropped to $40... The service is $12 a month... Hook up is two wires, power & ground... Setting up the app is super easy...
 
That might be a good thing, can the phone locate where it is on the car ?

Detectify or tracker Detect for Android can also alert you to a nearby air tag
The problem with the Air Tag is that if the thief has an Iphone he will receive an alert saying that he is being tracked.

That was a measure put in place by Apple to prevent people from being unknowingly tracked.

Detectify has a field meter which I suppose you could use to find the tag or tracker with some practice
 
If you care to view the thread related to transporting the car to California..

 
Pop the cap and put the rotor in your pocket. Learned that many years ago. No tools, simple, and quick. Of course, BBM's are easier than SBM's!!
 
So there are a few issues here.

  1. The professional thief
  2. Opportunity thief
  3. The joy rider

As for #1 nothing you can do about it. It will be gone and stripped or in a container in minutes.

Tracker MIGHT aid in recovery but most likely the pro has devices that detect and or eliminate trackers.

#2, out of sight out of mind - car cover, trackers, alarms, Denver boots, kill switches, pull the rotor, might deter the thief.

#3 mostly same as #2 but that are more ruthless as they only want to trash the car.
So if there was a Denver boot on the front tire they would just drive it that way!

I was looking into AirBnB like things but there was no info on an enclosed garage or not.

if you can plan out your rout you might be able to enlist the help of FABO folks to garage your ride over night in their garage.
 
So there are a few issues here.

  1. The professional thief
  2. Opportunity thief
  3. The joy rider

As for #1 nothing you can do about it. It will be gone and stripped or in a container in minutes.

Tracker MIGHT aid in recovery but most likely the pro has devices that detect and or eliminate trackers.

#2, out of sight out of mind - car cover, trackers, alarms, Denver boots, kill switches, pull the rotor, might deter the thief.

#3 mostly same as #2 but that are more ruthless as they only want to trash the car.
So if there was a Denver boot on the front tire they would just drive it that way!

I was looking into AirBnB like things but there was no info on an enclosed garage or not.

if you can plan out your rout you might be able to enlist the help of FABO folks to garage your ride over night in their garage.
If Nicolas Cage wants your car not much you can do about it same with a carjacker but still a good idea to have a few preventative measures especially if easy to implement.
 
i think it kind of boils down to preventing crimes of opportunity (casual thief or joyriders) and keeping the whereabouts of the vehicle known (professional thief).

on the pro side of things, if they want it they are going to take it. a skilled operator with a stinger truck or a rollback could grab up a car in the blink of an eye-- short of chaining the damn thing to a post as mentioned previously.

a club type device, alarm and a gps tracker like K-dog has would probably cover you about a well as one could hope. add a kill switch or yank the coil wire and that just fortifies the position. parking with some thoughtful intention is just another plus on your side of the ledger.

air tags and smart tags are identifiable, and while that will let them know that you know it does little to actively prevent theft.

up your comprehensive insurance and get an agreed upon value. then go and enjoy the trip of a lifetime without worry on your mind!
 
2 wheel chocks 1 front tire, 1 rear tire,(minimize a rollback theft) ring camera, and disable start system. And a tracker. I would think all bases are covered as best as you can.
 
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