So I just learned that to cover my stereo against theft, my insurance co would raise my premium from $860 per year to $1000 per year. This is a lot of money!

Now because most people just ignore car alarms these days, I've been thinking of custom theft deterrent systems and besides the massive subwoofer that makes the thief defecate in their pants, I was thinking that a nice loud 16kHz sinewave inside the car would pretty much do the job as well. I've got the audio equipment; might as well use it to make bad guys run with blood coming out their ears.

Maybe this post belongs in the projects forum, but would there be a way to use the cell phone mute signal to make the Empeg play a particular mp3 at a particular volume?

Besides this challenge, I'd also need to get the alarm to turn on the Empeg and possibly install a solenoid so that the Empeg cannot be easily pulled out of the sled.

How programmable is that cell phone mute signal?
Thanks,
-Hoagy.

Okay here is my thoughts on this.

Why use the empeg as a source, this means you have a [censored] load of hacking to do and more fundamentally if empeg ain't in car you got no nasty noise. Why not try something along the idea of cheapo cd walkman with a custom made cd. You can already get a nice relay from Sony to swap RCA inputs.

For me i never leave the Empeg in its cage when i leave the car. It is either stuck in the boot or more normally comes with me but if it ain't practical to come with me. I have another method. get a redundant ISO plug like the spare supplyed with the empeg and leave that hanging out of the dash moron looks in car sees wires, pauses for mental processing, comes to conclusion, look wires hang out hole means some one else has already nicked stereo. Moron wanders down the street to next door neighbour with huge kenwood sticker in window.

If moron still breaks into your car you can pulp his mind with a really nasty low pitched wave, and a very high pitched painful one as well.

Greetings!

Actually, my personal preference (for emergency audio) would probably be the old US Emergency Broadcast System tone. It is a duotone, composed of an 853Hz sine wave and a 960Hz sine wave. Any (older? US) person walking by would recognize that tone... "This has been a test of the Emergency Broadcast System."

Seriously, I think there are laws against booby traps that can cause bodily harm. But if you were going to do this, you might be better off with a cheap air horn - very loud in a car and you don't have to worry about your empeg, amp or speakers! All you would need it a trip mechanism.

Paul G.
SN# 090000587 (40GB Green)

Hmm.. all good ideas. I suppose to avoid being sued it would be good to ramp up the volume so that people have a chance to abandon ship before their eardrums break. I've already ruled out carving the word "thief" into their forehead with a laser as probably too drastic. Oh and the bear trap that snaps shut when you reach inside the dash would probably be a bit much too.

With a radar-equiped car alarm, the air horn could go off whenever there is movement inside the vehicle.

-Hoagy.

On my car, I have it set up to issue warning chirps based on proximity, if they ignore the warnings and get into the car, they are in for a very nasty surprise. I considered wiring the nasty surprise to the door lock solenoids, but I didn't..yet. It's still a pretty nasty surprise. This was done after my 2nd break in.

Calvin

I was thinking of a smoke bomb. The thief can't see the stereo anymore, so no problemo. Hopefully the smoke doesn't ruin your car interior...

Frank van Gestel

One of those orange smoke bombs one can find on life rafts? Excellent idea! Now, we just have to find a way to paint a thief using unwashable paint used to mark/destroy stolen money etc without painting the car interior. Strange, Q never had problems with such details...

The only catch is that I would be affraid to enter my own thoroughly boobytraapped car

Cheers!

Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green

P.S. Regarding the original sound blasting idea, aren't there simpler sine wave generators than empeg?

Calvin, what is your nasty surprise?

Yeah, a friend pointed out that a 555 timer could be used to generate a 16khz signal. I'm intrigued by Calvin's nasty surprise, too. Maybe a big spike that shoots up through the seat!

With a heads up display in the car, it would be cool to take a picture of the thief and display it for him while the car calls the police.

How about using the cell phone mute signal to make the Empeg go into security mode requiring a password to start up again. The Empeg could display "self distructing".

-Hoagy.

The 555 works extremely well - I had it in a '83 T-bird years ago. Also, instead of abusing your sound system, get some super horn tweeters (Radio Shack) and drive them w/ a pair of MOSFET's. Put one side of the tweeters to power and the other side straight to the MOSFET's. You can use a pot to tune it for the most irritating sound possible.

The only problem for me was my alarm crapped out and the siren went off while I was driving - I got about 1000' before I had to pull over and get out!

You could also do what a friend of mine did, glue razor blades to the back of the cage. He had his share of problems, though. Came out to his car one morning and the interior was covered with blood! That evening the stitched up would-be thief came back and set his car on fire.
[[[Lesson to be learned - do not seriously injure the would-be thief!]]]

Phil
Blue #010101261

So it's a really bad idea just to injure the would-be thief!
You should do it right and install a little 1 meter sword in the backseat.
If someone tries to steal your radio it could chop his head of.
But I think its more expensive to clean the car and pay the lawyer than just to buy a new radio!

Why not just buy a car alarm and install the siren under the dash instead of under the bonnet, as people ignore the noise anyway. Thief wouldn't be able to ignore it under the dash.

Mark.

It is a surprise.

The last break in I had, the thief sat in my car and went through all my things leisurely. That's not going to now. If I wire in to the door lock solenoid, I might get in trouble with the law... so i better not....

Calvin

A doctor in the town where I live has commissioned the stereo shop that does my work to install hidden video cameras in his Porsche. It might not stop the theft of the stereo, but it could go a long ways towards identifying who took it.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

I've just read all the extensive replies to this thread, and wanted to throw in my standard boilerplate 2c...

The best theft deterrent is to not leave anything worth stealing. That's why the empeg is so great: It's a pullout. Pull it out and take it with you, and you won't have a need to alarm or boobytrap your car.

If you want to go the extra mile, make sure all of your equipment is stealth-mounted. For instance, speakers go under factory grilles or hidden under upholstery, amps hidden in spare-tire wells, etc. The hole in the dash can be covered by a dash plate (mine is the official Honda part with the Honda logo on it), and a would-be thief looking at your car thinks there's no stereo to steal.

Things like alarms and boobytraps are "after the fact" retaliations in the war against theft. It's better just to stay out of the war completely.

And athough the boobytrap ideas are fun, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable driving a boobytrapped car. You never know when it's going to "false".

___________
Tony Fabris

But you have to admit that there are situation when you can't get your empeg with you.
When I'm going to a club or something I really don't want to take my empeg with me.
So it has to stay in the car.
At the moment I'm searching for an old radio to remove the frontpanel.
When I take my empeg with me I can place the front of the old radio in the dash.
I tried it and it works but the radio I took was really too old so when you look in the car in looks "wrong".
But with an standard radio from your car it should work I think.

But you have to admit that there are situation when you can't get your empeg with you. When I'm going to a club or something I really don't want to take my empeg with me. So it has to stay in the car.

This argument keeps coming up every time security is mentioned.

If I'm going somewhere that the Empeg can't be pulled from the car, I just don't take it on that trip at all, and leave it at home. In my mind, it's too valuable to risk it being stolen. Having been the victim of two CD-player thefts, I'm particularly sensitive in this area.

I find that it's not as tough to carry my Empeg with me as you'd think. There are some places I went where I'd rather not carry it, but I did anyway and it worked out all right.

I agree, though, that dancing at a nightclub would be one of those places where it just doesn't work out at all. So I simply wouldn't take the Empeg clubbing.

___________
Tony Fabris

Remove empeg place out of sight. Then instead of placing a blanking plate or old stereo front have a bunch of torn wires or iso plugs hanging out of hole would be thief thinks you have already had stereo nicked instead of seeing empety hole and thinking you have hidden your pull out cd player in the boot.

I've already thinked about it.
But I'm afraid it could also look a litle bit strange if no glass is broken but the wires still hang out like the radio has been stolen a few days ago!

there is more than one way to crack an egg isn't there

What exactly do you mean?

There is more than one way into your car alot of cars you can get into without damaging anything if you know what you are doing. Some cars on the market are unbelivably easy to get into like old vauxhalls and fords. My car if you kick it hard in the right place thinks it has been in a crash and opens the central looking. Another make the older vechile you get a tennis ball cut a hole in it 1 inch round place it over the lock give it a good hit and it fools the sensor in the pnuematic central locking and it starts the vacum pump and all the doors unlock.

The other factor is the idiot factor your car thief is going to see cables but won't notice any lack of damage etc but will move on they are opertunists they ain't going to investigate a car with a sign of the stereo already missing

Yes, you're right!
They are idiots, and they will not open a car just to search a little bit.
So I think it's a good idea and I'll have a look for some nice wires for my car :-))

Unless you used it the empeg comes with a spare iso plug with bare wires

They are idiots, and they will not open a car just to search a little bit.

Not true. One of my CD thefts was that way. I'm telling you, the only way to keep your empeg from getting stolen is to take it with you or to leave it at home.

___________
Tony Fabris

Hmm, I like this idea. Simple but accomplishes the same thing. The challenge is to keep the alarm out of easy reach so that the thief can't just reach up under the dash to disable it. Although once he's inside, he could pop the hood and disconnect the battery.

Having a dummy siren/alarm box under the dash might frustrate the thief enough to make him give up.

-Hoagy.

I agree totally you can never stop the empeg from being nicked but you can cut down the risk.

Mine has hardly left my sight in the five months i have owned it, hell it even came down the engine room of a supertanker a couple of times. (Not to stop it being nicked though as we were 1000miles off land)