Security System?

[69chargerboy]

Does anyone have a security system installed on their Charger?

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

yep.....


Sorry couldn't resist 

[2Gunz]

I installed Power Door Locks but didnt do the alarm module.

They are annoying and nobody pays attention anyway.

I might consider a silent alarm that pages me.

Or if I wanna get real, Lojack

[poppa]

I've heard about Lojack.Is there a page for them??

[2Gunz]

http://lojack.com/

[defiance]

Yeah, I've got a pretty elaborate one on mine, actually  

I beg to differ with the "nobody pays attention" thing - I still own my WRX because that's not true.  The wife was parked downtown, a guy broke the window, alarm went off, guy was pulling wires under dash, someone came out of a nearby building and yelled at him, he ran off.

The trick is to make it REALLY obnoxious, then make DAMN sure you set it so there are no false alarms.  False alarms are the reason a lot of people don't pay much attention (unless it's really loud and annoying )


Things to keep in mind if you really want your alarm to WORK:
1) No false positives.  Get glass breakage sensor so you can turn the impact sensor way down so it doesn't go off when a truck jakes nearby or a really loud thunderstorm hits.  Make sure it NEVER false-positives.
2)battery backup.  A good theif can open a door, pop the hood, and yank the battery cable in about 10 seconds.  Then they can close the door, duck down, and hot-wire at their leisure, only reconnecting the battery after the alarm is disabled and the starter is about ready.
3) Abnormal alarm brain location.  Don't put it under the driver's side dash.  That's the first place a theif will look.  Here are some good ones:  - Under the rear seat - trunk - high in center of dash, so you have to take out duct work to get to it.  Be creative, and make sure there's no overt sign of where it is.  If they know where it is, an underdash alarm can be disabled in seconds.  Also, be sure the wires are merged into stock looms and bundles.  Otherwise no matter where you hide it, it can be tracked down quickly and easily.
4)multiple sirens, tie in to the horn, etc.  Several reasons for this: first, if you just have one siren, that's the easiest and most exposed place to snip a single wire and shut down the siren.  And you can't simply 'hide' it, since it'll be loudly announcing it's location to the thief .  However, if you tie in to the horn, that's much harder to trace.  Also, if you have two or more sirens in different locations, they have to track them all down.  Finally, especially if you use DIFFERENT sirens in each, coupled with a loud horn, you'll have one nigh-un-ignorable alarm!
6) 'passive' starter disable!!! Many alarm systems come with starter disable, but there are two ways to do it.  The first is 'passive', in which the alarm send a trigger to a relay to close when it has been disarmed.  Unless that signal is sent to the relay, the starter will not work.  The second is 'active', in which the signal is sent to disconnect the starter wire while the alarm is armed.  The difference is that if the alarm is disabled or if the alarm malfunctions for some reason, the 'passive' will NOT start.  Manufacturers changed to primarily using active because customers would complain if something went wrong with their cars and they couldn't start them.  Unfortunately, with an active, if the alarm is simply disconnected, now the starter works fine!  IMO, if you do a good job of the install, and use a quality alarm, it's worth the added security to use a passive one.

Of course, nearly none of that is done by the average alarm installer.  You can ask for it and they'll do it, but it'll cost you.  I recommend instead learning to do it yourself.  It takes a good bit of time, but come on, what in this hobby doesn't??

[bordin34]

You could just take off the coil to distributor wire so it won't start. I plan on doing this whenever I leave my charger parked for a while. It should delay the guy if not making him not able to start it. No alarm will stop a rollback.

[terrible one]

Someone in the past was talking about a battery disconnect switch under a seat or the dash or somewhere, and that seems like a pretty good idea to me, especially on a budget. . .

[4aThrill]

You could just take off the coil to distributor wire so it won't start. I plan on doing this whenever I leave my charger parked for a while. It should delay the guy if not making him not able to start it. No alarm will stop a rollback.

only problem with that what if you forget your wire somewhere, then your in a rough patch ya know, I have done the samething but I put mine either in the glove box or hide it somewhere in the car somewhere ya know. I was told once that some people all they have to do is go to the store and get a distributor wire easy fix.

[pb24]

If I'm going to be away from the car for any length of time ill pull the distributor rotor out and take it with me.

[NMike]

just have a hidden switch for the starter relay. flick the switch and the car can't start.

[autodynamics]

i have a alarm with remote start in mine.... and i also have this  http://microtrakgps.com/

[Mike DC]

Nothing can stop a true professional car thief with a rollback.

The best you can do is to defeat the teenagers with some basic stuff like a kill switch or something.  Hide some kind of GPS tracking setup in the car if you're feeling really worried about it. 




In general, most car thieves fit into about three categories: 

--  Teenage dipsh*ts.  They're usually risking 5+ years in jail, to try to break/steal $300 worth of sound system parts, which they will pawn off on their classmates and get $50 if they're lucky.  Or else the dipsh*ts are just high & X'd up so they go for a joyride and end up crashing your car on "World's Wildest Police Videos."

--  Semipro thieves that steal dirt-common vehicles like Civics & Camrys.  They do this to chop the cars locally for parts and make some steady money off the racket.

--  Real professionals who steal very expensive cars/trucks to ship them overseas in container ships.





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The most important thing is to avoid any mass-marketed methods of alarming & kill-switching. 

If you can buy something as a product & follow instructions on installing it, then you can 100% guarantee that any decent thief is already familiar with the product and knows exactly how to beat it.  If you wanna do the car any good, then custom-rig your setup and try to make everything about it unpredictable.  (The locations & appearance of everything, the layouts of the circuits, etc.)

[pb24]

You might want to look into one of these. Their stats are pretty impressive

www.nohotwire.com

[justin1987]

Someone in the past was talking about a battery disconnect switch under a seat or the dash or somewhere, and that seems like a pretty good idea to me, especially on a budget. . .

I put one of those on mine. Nobody would ever know where it is at because it is hidden so well. 

[1969chargerrtse]

I used to split a wire in the harness to the coil to ground, to short it.  I would just hide a toggle somewhere.  When my Charger is "finally " on the road this spring I'm doing it again.  I like just having great insurance.  The wife went to the movies last weekend and someone smashed the driver side window of our Honda Pilot and stole her brand new, never used Tom Tom. 

[hemihead]

 If I were going to steal something I would steal the parts off it , not the whole car . Parts are worth more and they are not as easy to trace .