Custom Security for my Beloved

Owing to the fact that so many of these Landys get stolen, much of my time of late has been invested in improving the security of my beloved.

I'm very much a believer in custom security because it should, in theory, slow down the scrotes even more. I like the idea of filling the car up with a plume of smoke. It prevents the thieves from being able to see what they are doing and draws attention to the vehicle.

Yesterday I took the kids up into the woods and we detonated some smoke grenades.

Unfortunately my battery died just after taking this photo so I wasn't able to get any more.


I attached a central locking solenoid/actuator to the ring pulls of the grenades. Hook this up to a battery and boom!

Or at least that's what was supposed to happen. What I found was that the actuator would pull the ring out as far as it could, I'd then reposition the actuator, try again and it would pull it even further. I kept repeating this until the ring pulls had completely disconnected but the grenades didn't go off.

I decided to open up the grenade and found that they just had a standard fuse. You need to give the rings a good, hard and long tug and this creates a spark which in turn ignites a fuse.

The kids and I had some fun letting the grenades off anyway but this morning it was back to the drawing board.

I've ditched the actuator idea and this morning have ordered some of these fuse igniters:


Once I have the ignition system sorted I'll then look at programming the electronic control unit and think about adding some pepper spray into the mix too. Will update this thread as things progress.

Not trying to be a total kill joy but this sounds like something that will get you put in jail. Especially if someone actually stole your car and then had an accident/medical issue because of the smoke/fire. Or you had an accident and they found this system installed - probs invalidate your insurance.

Saying that I hate thieves and love playing with smoke grenades so crack on!

Is your 90 a matchbox car???

It looks very small............................

Fun and games until a family member gets in there and gets hurt.

Cheers

Insurance is a good point, hadn't considered that.

The idea is that it would set off as soon as entry was gained, thus preventing any accidents. Medical issues is a good point too. Imagine being sued by the person who tried to steal your car! Will have a read of the manufacturer's speal. In my experience, I'd be OK in a court of law so long as I had taken all practical precautions. And, as neilly points out, this is my daily driver and my three kids spend a lot of time there so I would indeed have to take precautions.

There are off-the-shelf solutions that do exactly the same thing. I just figured I could achieve the same myself but at a fraction of the cost.

http://www.smokemachines.net/buy-12v-security-smoke-machine.shtml (£400-£600)
http://www.smoke-screen.co.uk/products/defender (Similar price)

neilly said:

It looks very small............................

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As I said in my original post; it needs a good, hard, long tug

Glyn D said:

Insurance is a good point, hadn't considered that.

The idea is that it would set off as soon as entry was gained, thus preventing any accidents. Medical issues is a good point too. Imagine being sued by the person who tried to steal your car! Will have a read of the manufacturer's speal. In my experience, I'd be OK in a court of law so long as I had taken all practical precautions. And, as neilly points out, this is my daily driver and my three kids spend a lot of time there so I would indeed have to take precautions.

There are off-the-shelf solutions that do exactly the same thing. I just figured I could achieve the same myself but at a fraction of the cost.

http://www.smokemachines.net/buy-12v-security-smoke-machine.shtml (£400-£600)
http://www.smoke-screen.co.uk/products/defender (Similar price)

Click to expand...

I contacted a few of these companies to ask for prices of their systems but they didn't recommend adding it into a car of 1 compartment. They said the unit was only really designed for vans etc which have a completely separate compartment to the cockpit. It sounds like a good method but I think the risks involved are too great. There wouldn't be much hope for you if smoke filled the cabin on the motorway.

Flagshiplandy said:

They said the unit was only really designed for vans etc which have a completely separate compartment to the cockpit.

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That makes sense.
I'm still tempted though.
Parts have been ordered so I might as well have a play.
Before installing it properly, I could perhaps have the system wired up to a fuse which doesn't go anywhere. Leave it like that for a couple of months and see what happens.
Originally, I was thinking of hooking it up to the alarm so that it arms at the same time. How often do alarms accidentally go off whilst you're driving? There could also be a master cutoff switch so that it can be completely disarmed whilst driving. I'd have to look at how possible it would be for an accidental short circuit somewhere to trigger the fuse and take appropriate precautions. Hopefully I could find some evidence of how likely they are to accidentally ignite/combust say on a hot day for example. Can anybody think of anything else?

I mean, I'm greatful for everybody's concern, but it would be nice if it did work.

Glyn D said:

That makes sense.
I'm still tempted though.
Parts have been ordered so I might as well have a play.
Before installing it properly, I could perhaps have the system wired up to a fuse which doesn't go anywhere. Leave it like that for a couple of months and see what happens.
Originally, I was thinking of hooking it up to the alarm so that it arms at the same time. How often do alarms accidentally go off whilst you're driving? There could also be a master cutoff switch so that it can be completely disarmed whilst driving. I'd have to look at how possible it would be for an accidental short circuit somewhere to trigger the fuse and take appropriate precautions. Hopefully I could find some evidence of how likely they are to accidentally ignite/combust say on a hot day for example. Can anybody think of anything else?

I mean, I'm greatful for everybody's concern, but it would be nice if it did work.

Click to expand...

My alarm has gone off a few times while driving but there would be ways to disarm the smoke mechanically or electronically maybe?
I can't exactly remember but I think the companies you mentioned above used a small canister that you fill up with a liquid that would create smoke. If it was easy to do, this canister could be removed each time you were to go driving thereby eliminating any potential smoke if the alarm went off on the move. If you get it working without any danger while driving it could be a very effective security measure!

Additionally, I would be very cautious about what smoke you are looking to use so that it wouldn't ruin your interior!

Just get one of these....

Why not fit one of those solenoid valves that locks the brakes on the first time they are applied?
Again, not legal in the UK. But neither is stealing a Defender, and if the Police are not catching these thieves then we have to do whatever we can.
I have an alarm fitted to my Defender that includes a siren inside the vehicle. It’s a compressor driven ship’s foghorn and l challenge any thief to stay in the vehicle once it goes off.

use grenades that are used in paint balling along with some fishing line .trust me it works

raisingveg said:

use grenades that are used in paint balling along with some fishing line .trust me it works

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Would that not ruin the beige velour interior?

Cheers

neilly said:

Would that not ruin the beige velour interior?

Cheers

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I set a red one off in the tea room in the garage not my house lol when my mate was in toilet he knew what id done & blocked up the door gaps with loo roll when the smoke eventually cleared he came out laughing his head off...……..
the smoke had turned the white walls in the tea room pink lol oooops

Flagshiplandy said:

My alarm has gone off a few times while driving but there would be ways to disarm the smoke mechanically or electronically maybe?

Click to expand...

Disarming electronically is quite easy, however, faults do occur and therein lies the risk. If you could disarm them mechanically it would be much safer, say be physically removing the igniter from the fuse. The only downside is that it would be less convenient.

Flagshiplandy said:

I can't exactly remember but I think the companies you mentioned above used a small canister that you fill up with a liquid that would create smoke. If it was easy to do, this canister could be removed each time you were to go driving thereby eliminating any potential smoke if the alarm went off on the move.

Click to expand...

They do, but the smoke machines are in the region of £600. There are cheaper smoke machines scattered all over the internet but they require 5-10 minutes to heat up before emitting any smoke. At which point the thief could be travelling down the road and have an accident which you are held responsible for. The ones listed about heat up in 2-3 seconds.

I'm currently testing paintball grenades because they have instant smoke and cost anywhere from £4 to £30.

Flagshiplandy said:

Additionally, I would be very cautious about what smoke you are looking to use so that it wouldn't ruin your interior!

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When I first set off the grenades I placed some items next to them to see any discolourisation would occur. The answer was yes, however, it wipes off easily and I figured that I could live with that if it prevented the theft of the vehicle.

More smoke grenades arrived in the post yesterday (along with an Arduino Nano) and the Talon Igniters are in the post.

DanClarke said:

Just get one of these....

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Or just have the vehicle transform into ED-209:

"You have 5 seconds to comply..."
"I am now authorized to use physical force"

raisingveg said:

use grenades that are used in paint balling along with some fishing line .trust me it works

Click to expand...

This was my original plan and thought about different places to connect the line to, such as doors, propshafts, etc, but I couldn't think of anything that would be difficult for the potential thief to disarm. Hence I decided to go down the electronic route.