magnetically activated switches

[heath robinson]

posting the answers to that in the public bit would kind of defeat the point of the thing...

Maybe a PM is in order.

[jmattley]

Yeah go on then, PM me instead!

[jmattley]

Now with that RFID scanner off ebay, for £8 would you be able to trust it with the security of your vehicle? Or is this the normal going price for such a thing?

[TheRecklessEngineer]

It is only as secure as the fashion in which you wire it in.

Certainly it isn't fooled by any old tag, so it is more secure than a magnet+switch, however there are still ways of bypassing it.

I have briefly considered using mine to its full potential to get it talking to Megasquirt before allowing the vehicle to be started. However, even on something as open source as MS, it is not easy. Integrating to this level with manufacturer system would be way beyond most tinkerers.

The security comes from the completely unusual nature of the thing. Besides, if they want to steal it, they'll just winch it onto a car transporter and be gone. As discussed in another thread, really the best way of protecting your vehicle is with a tracker.

Normally RFID scanners such as this go for many more pennies. However, these are from a failed automotive application of some sort, and were surplus. Hence the cheap price! Proper systems would be much much more.

[elbekko]

Now with that RFID scanner off ebay, for £8 would you be able to trust it with the security of your vehicle? Or is this the normal going price for such a thing?

If you can just copy the card, nothing is secure. (I'm looking into this for the school parking system, damn person I'm not that keen on won't let the students on ).

But apart from that it'll take quite some time to crack if implemented properly.

[heath robinson]

As with any of the ideas on this tread, they could be bypassed easily, IF the scrote knows where to look. That's the point of the magnet/rfid thingy. Mount it away from the ignition, then it is too much effort to track down. Even if they had an appropriate rfid chip, they'd have to spend 10 or 15 minutes waving it around the interior surfaces to find the scanner. As has been said, it'll only ever delay a determined thief, but might well stop an opportunist.

[landroversforever]

I think with security, Its down to making it visible such as Disk Lock, and lots of other little things that will delay the thief and make them wonder about being caught.

As a Tesco says... Every little helps!!!

[jmattley]

All very good points, if a crook wants to get into somewhere, with enough time they will. My plan with one of these RFID jobbies is confusion, hiding things clevery and using random colours of wire for more confusion! And a negative lead cutoff of course!

[secondjeremy]

Of course if you get stuck you can always hot wire it.

Do thieves still have this skill?

Remember that an electric pump will probably still work if it shares the same supply circuit as the coil (or other item which which would be hot-wired)

[elbekko]

All very good points, if a crook wants to get into somewhere, with enough time they will. My plan with one of these RFID jobbies is confusion, hiding things clevery and using random colours of wire for more confusion! And a negative lead cutoff of course!

Security through obscurity only works as a small deterrant - if they want to get in, they will, and it won't take very long.

[heath robinson]

mine's a soft top, so stopping them getting in has never been an option

Equally, there's nothing really to stop the hi-ab-and-truck brigade. It's the opportunist nerk that I'd like to confound.

[jmattley]

RFID is still better than nothing though, especially since all the wiring will be away from usual places you'd find ignition related wires. Anyone can break into and pinch anything if they're determined enough, it's just time and the prospect of been seen that's the issue.

Plus it'll look cool!

[heath robinson]

Exactly! Sow it into my cuffs, and just wave an arcane sigil in the air above my dashboard, and the engine springs into life. Harry Potter ain't got nothing on me...

[Reg]

Many years ago a friend of mine had his Merc stolen by a Pikey, he heard the tyres screeching at 4 in the morning.

Next day he set up a booby trap on his Landy, 25 ft of chain attached to the back axle, coiled up and padlocked to a ring in the concrete yard under the axle. Lucky for them they did'nt come back.

Result might have caused a problem with both the axle and the windscreen.

An alternative but sophisticated anti theft tool is a small gas bottle of liquid ammonia attached to a solenoid valve wired into the ignition circuit, having worked with liquid ammonia I have a great respect for this stuff, you don't hang about when you get a sniff.:banned:

[FridgeFreezer]

The security comes from the completely unusual nature of the thing. Besides, if they want to steal it, they'll just winch it onto a car transporter and be gone.

^^^ This.

You have to think that the average scrote is after valuables or a shiny car to break for high-value parts, so a lot of our vehicles will either not interest them, or they won't know what they're looking at or where to begin. Sticking the transfer box in neutral would probably confound most opportunist tea leaves.

Putting an RFID or magnetic immobiliser on a Landy seems a bit like putting a padlock on a paper bag TBH, there are bigger problems with the security than how hard it is to start the thing - the fact you can open most Land Rovers with a spoon seems to have been somewhat overlooked, for example.

These days, with modern alarms, immobilisers, trackers etc. it doesn't seem to be deterring the crims - they just pick the thing up with a HIAB or winch it straight into an ISO container and are at the docks before anyone knows the car's gone. Or they break into your house and just nick the keys

[simonr]

I once knew a chap who had his cars stolen several times - they were all shiny, sporty cars (I always wondered if they were a compensation of some kind ). They were invariably being stolen by being winched or lifted.

His solution was to have a BIG bolt welded to a spreader plate set in to his drive. He had a piece of bar, probably 2" diameter that passed through a hole in the wheel well and screwed down on to the bolt pinning the car to the floor. He obviously had a good way of lining it up.

They had tried to remove it once more, failed and never to his knowledge bothered again.

You could do almost the same thing with a big hydraulic ram set in to the drive with a hook on the end of the rod. The ram would be raised by a big spring but lowered using mains water pressure via a tap. You back the truck up to a stop raise the ram, rotate the hook over the axle then turn on the tap and let the ram pin the axle to the ground.

Seeing a 3" chromed piston rod that needs to be cut - I doubt they would bother!

Si

[heath robinson]

Unfortunately, I spend most of my time in the summer going from field to muddy field, moving cider speakers and hippy vans around, so the big-posty-hooky-thingy would need to be portable... which might render it a bit useless. It's a damn good idea for those of a more sedentary nature though, and I love the water-power idea.

There's a few little gadgets that run off mains-pressure water that I've been toying with for a bit now, as it's a source of power that is quite intriguing. Simon, have you ever seen a little Tesla turbine, made from CDs? The first time I saw one of those, running off tap water pressure, it started me thinking quite a bit.

Nikolai aside, I'd just like to make my truck awkward to start for anyone who isn't me. I havent had keys to the thing for about 2 years or so, as I figure that

A). The roof is tied on, so none too hard to get into, and

B). Keys of the type used in my old thing are the kind that scrotes have been circumventing since their childhood.

It has to be possible to get the thing to stop and start, without the need for a pocket full of ironmongery, which is expensive to replace if lost.

I saw a car in a mate's chav-mag that had absolutely no similarities to a standard car interior. Virtually every control, gauge and switch was unrecognisable. Touch sensitive areas, bits of random trim that changed colour to indicate different things (No rev counter as such, just the fact that the wheel and dash surround smoothly changed colour from green to red!).

I figure that I can have a low-tech pilfering of these ideas, that removes the classic frame of reference on starting the vehicle, and that can be equally as effective as a traditional security system like the ignition key.