DIY: home made anti-theft bike alarm system (soldering skills needed)

Discussion in 'Builds & Projects' started by Mattson, Sep 1, 2013.

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  1. Mattson

    Mattson Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
    96
    28
    Scared of losing your precious beloved to thieves but cannot afford or don`t want to pay huge money for an anti theft system? Well, by following these steps you can make one yourself!

    The backbone, heart and sould of the whole unit, and any other commercial unit is actually just one very simple component that has many different names, probably the most common ones being a tilt sensor or a mercury switch. It can look like something like this:


    [​IMG]

    here are a few different versions I found from an electric component shop:

    [​IMG]

    Essentially it is a small glass tube with two electrodes and a small drop of liquid mercury (or a steel ball on units manufactured after 2006 like in the black box) When fixed in a right position on a motorbike the mercury drop stays on the far end of the tube when leaning on the side stand and slides to the other connecting the two electrodes when the bike is lifted upright. Can`t get any simpler than that.

    Here is the first schematic that acts as the backbone of the whole device, some component values are still to be tweaked slightly, for example the blinker LED preload resistor has to be dialed in with the LED, ask your components dealer what cill be the best, but I`d guess something like 470 ohm should suffice, I`m using LED:s that have slightly higher operating voltage than usual, of course if you can find 12v blinker LEDs you won`t need the preload resistor at all.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The circuit board. If you want to make your own scale it so that the printout version is 58mm wide and 36mm high.

    [​IMG]

    Parts layout. The reed relay is a HF41F type 12v 6A.


    Stay tuned for more!
     
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  2. Kradser

    Kradser Active Member

    Apr 17, 2013
    126
    43
    Esbjerg Denmark
    Electrics and myself dont always get on, but I might have a go at this just to see if I can...
     
  3. Mattson

    Mattson Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
    96
    28
    It`s not that hard if you have a good soldering iron and good instructions. That version is still a little "brute force" cause the delay is done with a massive capacitor, I`m currently studying LM555 and LM556 IC circuits if I could make the startup and alarm delays a bit more sophisticated. I`m trying hard to keep it simple enough for any common joe to be able to make. Basically the hardest part is making the actual circuit board if you can`t get anyone to make it for you.
     
  4. Screwball

    Screwball Active Member

    Mar 21, 2013
    1,016
    36
    Kent
    #4 Screwball, Sep 2, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2013
    I had a mate who made a even more simplistic imboliser for his van which could be converted to any vechile.
    Basically he took the cigarette lighter out and rewired it up to the fuel pump. He then get a cheap plug in adapter and shorted it out internally and gluded it up. The plug was then inserted into the cigarette lighter to create the circuit and enable the fuel pump to run.
    Very simple, very cheap, circa £3 or less and very easy....

    Personally alarms do nothing for me.. I've never noticed anyone pay any attention to any alarm going off.
    If it makes you feel better great.
    I had a mate a work with an R1 and some kids rode off on it with the alarm going, past 10-15 people and no-one did anything.... They didn't even have helmets on, so it was not like they looked like as though they should have been on the bike either....
     
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  5. Mattson

    Mattson Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
    96
    28
    #5 Mattson, Sep 2, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2013
    Yes, it is also possible to run the starter switch ground wire through the high beam switch so that the high beam has to be on for the bike to start, after it has started the high beam can be turned off. But this isn`t an immobiliser, it`s an alarm that arms itself every time the ignition is turned off and disarms when on.

    The circuit you described can also be done with a magnetic reed relay so that a magnet has to be in a secret place x ( for example on the dash, on the door, or wherever) for the device to run, and when it is off the relay is open so naturally nothing happens.
     
  6. Mattson

    Mattson Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
    96
    28
    Well, this was actually done by demand to some friends at another bike forum cause their bikes spend their nights at their own yards so they hear the siren go off themselves, basically it`s a brain stretch for me to hone the little skills I have at circuit designing, if you don`t need one then fine by me, I gain no profit of this, quit the opposite... But as said this is an ever-evolving process, who knows I might even add an immobilizer to it some day ;)
     
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  7. Screwball

    Screwball Active Member

    Mar 21, 2013
    1,016
    36
    Kent
    Not knocking the process or the end product. Each to their own.. I've not made a circuit since college. My bikes are in a garage and yes for someone who has their bike outside then great it will help them sleep a bit better..
    All the best and I hope the old grey matter can sort it out....
     
  8. SpankyHam

    SpankyHam Member

    Apr 17, 2013
    351
    16
    Wrexham, North Wales
    A guy that lives by my kept getting his motocross bikes and quads nicked, they came back regularly to clear out the garage. He wired his metal gates and padlock up to the mains. He doesn't have the same trouble now. I tend to find carpet gripper rods nailed to the top of the fence help too.

    The thing is if people are really set on having the bike away then they will. There's not much you can do to protect it against a thieving little shit with a gas axe and decent bolt cutters apart from get decent insurance!
     
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  9. Screwball

    Screwball Active Member

    Mar 21, 2013
    1,016
    36
    Kent
    I purchased some GAP insurance...
    All i got to do now is find some young chav and get him to Knick the bike and i can get full payout......... whoooooo
     
  10. Richard H

    Richard H Noble Member

    Oct 26, 2012
    1,132
    300
    Swadlincote Derbyshire England
    Best ground anchor I could find fixed into the garage floor, thick chains and locks and CCTV with infra red covering the front and back door of the garage.

    No ones tried anything yet :upyeah:
     
  11. Wolley

    Wolley Member

    Nov 21, 2013
    8
    6
    Sussex
    #11 Wolley, Jan 12, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2014
    I don't have a garage, but to keep my bike off the road I winch it into the tree who's branches hang over the street and there it dangles like the corpse of a Highwayman of days gone by.
    I like the notion of building a anti-theft device from components picked up at the hardware-store, gives the builder the opportunity to design something a potential thief wouldn't immediately know how to deal with.
    Isn't it something with factory alarms where by as soon as there on the market the technology to hack them is there too?
     
  12. Mattson

    Mattson Active Member

    Aug 30, 2013
    96
    28
    #12 Mattson, Jan 12, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 12, 2014
    Well, pretty much ANY device, including this, is hackable. It doesn`t even try to be hack-proof in any way, the point is the element of surprise if some sorry fu*ker tries to steal your bike to joyride it, gets spooked by the siren and runs off, wouldn`t it be a great feeling to know the thing that stopped the theft is your own build? If some "professional" thieves are gonna take your bike they do it even if it has disc locks, sirens and a big chain which bolts it to the ground...

    I`m planning to make a more sophisticated version of this at some point in the future when I get the time and motivation but quite frankly, am not sure am I going to post it here...
     
  13. brybrem

    brybrem Senior Member

    Mar 8, 2013
    1,433
    113
    North Wales
    I have a garage but it's mainly to keep the rain off the bike - we live so far away from anything nobody knows we're here. Good for not getting the bike nicked!
     
  14. P19DJG

    P19DJG Banned

    Mar 16, 2013
    1,660
    0
    But shit if you run out of milk!
     
  15. brybrem

    brybrem Senior Member

    Mar 8, 2013
    1,433
    113
    North Wales
    With all those sheep?

    (Never short of 'playtime' either...)
     
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  16. P19DJG

    P19DJG Banned

    Mar 16, 2013
    1,660
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    • Like Like x 1
  17. P19DJG

    P19DJG Banned

    Mar 16, 2013
    1,660
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    Duh! Of course i know that you can get milk from sheep BUT that isnt milk that you get from the sheep in Wales, that is......... SPUNK!
     
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