When my brother put the car alarm in his vehicle a couple of years ago he mounted the alarm under the dashboard facing straight towards the driver. When it was activated you couldn't stay in the drive t's seat!
No one takes any notice of alarms these days, so he reckoned it was more a effective deterrent that way.
You can get heaps of different ones these days with everything from central locking to turbo timers etc. Just get a well known brand with the functions you need and wire up through either magnetic reed switches or pin type switches to you canopy doors.
We fitted a couple to some mine utes but the ones supplied were way overkill (central locking, turbo timer and other stuff I can't remember now) and we ended up not using 90% of their capabilities.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
don't use PIR's (infra-red) in a vehicle (including caravan). When the air temp gets too hot (or too cold), they will either not work or go into a false alarm. They are very sensitive to major ambient heat changes. Movement sensors are useless - strong winds or someone bumping against your vehicle will set them off
You are better off putting reed switches on the canopy doors, but of course they will not go off if the intruder just breaks the window and reaches in.
About the only fail proof thing is the old fashioned tape they used to put around the outside edge of shop windows so if the glass was broken, so was the tape and the circuit was therefore broken.
Car alarms are not that wonderful and as Joga said, they go off so often city people ignore them. Only good if youre looking to scare off people if youre in the country/remote areas.
The car alarm co's still sell heaps of them though
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
I can't find a name on our alarm/central locking/immobiliser but it works a treat. ( Sorry, not answering your question ) We have a solid lid & 2 tool boxes on the back of the ute. The sensativity is up a bit with the occasional false alarm. ( Nearby car slamming the boot shut will do it ) In saying that I am happy to have the occasional false alarm as a trade off to having the tool boxes etc. covered. On 2 occasions in Ipswich (Qld) shopping center car parks passers by have said " Your car alarm went off. We saw a guy running away." Nothing taken, one lock damaged but repairable. I guess having a ute that looks like a "Tradies" ute is just too much temptation for some.
