Alarm tips, Alarm wiring, and general Alarm wiring help!

[Hwoody77]

Hey everyone, I'm going to be writing up like a whole bunch of tips for an alarm install. This is going to be for those that install the alarms themselves and for those that have someone else do it, so they know what to ask for. So let's start with the basics, what is the purpose of an alarm... No matter what alarm you get the main purpose of the alarm is to attract attention to theives if they are trying to steal your car. You can have a cheap $100 or a top of the line $1000 alarm, the purpose is the same as I stated above. Remember that alarms are a siren with sensors...of course there is more to an alarm but basically that's what it is. Always keep in mind that if someone wants your car bad enough they will take it, no matter what. There are ways around everything, the other purpose of an alarm is to get theives to not want to steal your car. If theives walk up to your car and notice this top of the line security system, hopefully they won't think your car is worth all the trouble. You want the theif to go onto the next car, and leave your car alone. Ok, so no we're getting somewhere. We know why we want to add an alarm. So what kind of alarm should you get? Well, if you're really trying to stop your car form getting stolen the most important thing isn't the alarm itself...but the actual install. A $800 alarm is pretty much worthless if installed like most electronic shops install them. On the other hand a $100 alarm with a few extra accessories will do A LOT more then a more expensive alarm if installed with some thinking behind it. If there is one thing I want to stress in this whole post it's the following...YOUR ALARM IS ONLY WORTH AS MUCH AS YOUR INSTALL. So please keep that in mind whenever you goto buy an alarm...if you go out to buy this nice 2 way pager with all these features it's only worth as much as your alarm. Now, you may be asking how come your $900 alarm is only worth as much as it's install? Well say you goto a shop, and you get the new 2 way pager system that's it. You don't ask any questions about the install, you just let them do what they have to do. So a few days later a theif walks down the street and really likes your car. He sees you have an alarm, but is going to attempt to steal your car anyways. He figures most alarms aren't installed in any special way so he decides to go for it. So he begins, first thing he notices is the transmitter for your 2 way pager on your windsheild so he breaks your window with his fist and a rag and the fun begins. Now maybe your out of range and your not going to be recieveing signal, so his first step is to disconnect the antenna on your windsheild. There goes your 2 way pager...now the theif can go one of two ways...he can cut your siren or cut the power to the brain of the alarm. Now if you have a regualr installation the siren is going to be in the engine bay probaly on the shock body so he opens your hood and cuts the wiring...no more unwanted attention. Or he'll cut the wiring for the alarm itself just go under the dash find the power wire cut it and that's it...your alarm isn't going anything anymore. In a matter of 1 minute your alarm is stopped from working. So how can you stop this from happening to you? Well when you go out to buy your alarm spend a little more on those little accessories or that extra labor. What should you ask for? Well, there are many things you should aks first. The first thing you should ask for them to install the brain in a harder to get to spot. I would say 95% of the alarms I install are all under the dash, make sure to put it some where else. Like where? Places like under the carpeting of the car itself, behind the center console, just somewhere that is going to be hard for a theif to get to...and always be intuitive when deciding a spot...the longer it takes for you to think of that spot the harder the theif is going to have try to find your brain. Remeber the scenario where the theif cut the power to your alarm? If the alarm is hidden somewhere and the theif decides to look for the wiring in the ignition harness then a back-up battery will do wonders, because the theif will cut that wire to cut power to your brain, but it's still going to be working because it's going to be getting power from the back-up battery. Also keep in mind that you want this hidden too. Next, remember how that theif cut your siren? Have the installers, hide the siren somewhere...in your front bumper, somewhere that you can't get to then just opening up the hood. Also, throw in an extra one and have them hide that one too...JUST in case they find one of them then they still have to find the other. Now you might want to ask them to have the wiring of the alarm all the same color, there is a positive and a negative to this. Say the installers make the wiring all red, then the theives are going to have a little more trouble trying to stop the alarm from working...especially if they are novices at stealing cars. Imagine the theif going under your dash and he finds that all the wiring is red(Or any other color), he goes to be in a lot of trouble if he dosen't know how to steal cars. The drawback to this is if you ever have any problems, just like it's going to be harder for them to find the wire they are looking for the same will apply to you. Another tip is to have the wiring for the alarm to be in another spot then under the ignition harness, like behind the fusebox. This step will throw theives off the most because if it's behind the fusebox it's a lot harder to get to and find out which wire they have to cut. Here is a tip for a two pager system, have them hide the transmitter in the headliner or something of that sort. If the theif can't reach the transmitter by reaching his hand throw the window it'll make it that much harder for him to steal...because if this theif could break your window without the alarm going off all he has to do is reach over and disconnect the transmitter...but if it's harder to get to he's going to have to open your door and that will make your alarm go off. There are lots of other accessories and tricks for an alarm install, but these are the most important. That's it fellas, if I remember anything else I'll post it...any other tips, discussions, or arguments would be welcome. And mods please make this a sticky, thanks!

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[gearbox]

Great job man. I've acyually been told that the brain location isn't as important, since the thief can just open up the steering column and have access to the same wires.

But anyway, I've actually got a second siren hidden in the engine bay, as well as a backup battery.

Now usually thieves will try and disable the alarm before doing anything. Sometimes they won't, and a siren isn't gonna save your stuff. You need to find a way to physically secure the trunk or other locations to make it as hard as possible. If it takes too long to steal something, the thief will usually give up.

[Hwoody77]

Ahhhh, that's what I forgot, I forgot to mention to get the wires from somewhere else other then in the ignition harness.

The thing is if you have a back-up battery then the location of the brain dose matter.
Reason being, because if they know where the brain is they can cut all the power wires for the brain right there at the brain..BUT if they don't and they go under the ignition harness and the back-up battery kicks in then they have to find the brain or the back-up battery to find the second power source.