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cheap security camera.

Right and not to make light of the situation btw (apologies for the jokes) I think most folks would realize that is extremely far fetched and not at all common. I posted it mostly as a joke although I do remember the buzz over here on the news when it was announced. A friend of mine had someone messing with his car for a while and also did the wireless camera and had it automatically save the pictures to an ftp server in his apartment. Later he wrote a php webpage with a remote login to look at the pictures from wherever. I don't think he ever got the picture he was looking for and I think he just ended up putting it in his grill for racing videos after that.

Still a pretty good solution I think. I would just recommend buying from a local store that has a return policy in the event that the signal can't reach worth a crap to your system. His was just motion detection obviously or you'll end up with gigs of useless footage.

A real cheap trick also would be any sound making device as previously posted or a motion detecting light. Harbor freight or other stores have cheap (*note finicky also) IR or ultrasonic light sensors that detect movement and put the light on. If it's happening at night this may be a deterrent and startle factor for cheap. My friend ended up in the long run with an expensive car alarm that pages him with a light indicating where on the car the sensor was that detecting whatever.
 
around Christmas i was thinking about installing a motion sensor light but i just have not yet. i already have the motion sensor light fixture and light bulbs. the alarm i have seems pretty loud. if the one camera won't work wirelessly over 100' or 25' then i would hard wire it in which it give you the option to do.
 
What works for deer may work to startle two legged critters as well. A motion activated sprinkler is cheap and not as messy as grease. Also speaking of critters, geese are great watch dogs, and so are dogs. You could of course keep your boa constrictor in the truck. Remember not to feed it.
 
Ole Juul said:
What works for deer may work to startle two legged critters as well. A motion activated sprinkler is cheap and not as messy as grease. Also speaking of critters, geese are great watch dogs, and so are dogs. You could of course keep your boa constrictor in the truck. Remember not to feed it.
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LMAO! Boy, you guys out there in the untamed wilderness of western Canada... ;-)
 
a motion sensor sprinkler might work but it might also get me lol. the boa constrictor would be expensive and probably not work for long because of the 1 hole in the floor. it would probably slither away and eat one of the many cats that hang around.

one of those key chain recorders would not work. the battery only last about 1hour of recording.

i don't mind getting a bit of grease on my hands if it will keep someone i don't know out of my truck. i just bought a lot of brake cleaner not that long ago so if i need to get the grease off it will not be too hard.
 
Do you know what time of the day most of these occurred? I know you may not but that might also help on whether or not some of these methods would work well.

Like others said, unless it's a camera it won't see in the dark unless it supports infrared/night vision (*cool trick btw, any b&w camera can usually pick up IR light which is invisible to the naked eye so any cheap b&w camera and an IR flashlight or IR illuminator will work in combo) plus the risk of the camera getting stolen or not having a good shot. A thing to note is the distance these cameras can see isn't very far but would be good enough if they're inside your vehicle.

The surprise from a motion detecting light would only be effective if they're doing this in the dark and don't want to be seen or detected.

The noise is good if there are people to hear it, it's startling and most thieves are only after an easy target. Also somewhat easy to hack to the door or other point of entry.

I suppose while we're at it to point out the obvious a car alarm would probably work too lol. Another recommended tip is parking under a street light or in a well lit area if there is one and/or a well seen area where most folks wouldn't want to be standing under a spotlight in front of windows fiddling with a car.

Like I said while I really don't necessarily recommend their products (they're cheap) but they're also so cheap in price it's tempting *IF* they can do the job, here are some of their cheap motion detecting rigs. We've had mixed luck with the range of detection being weird on the lights but they're low power, battery and movable (could mount it to inside roof, etc). We've used them in paranormal investigations I used to do just as a way to detect movement when you're not around and/or for the cameras to record, etc. They have some cheap cameras too but they aren't remote and honestly there are so many little spy style cameras out there lots for <$130 although I'm not sure about the wireless ones.
 
i have no idea what time of day this is happening at which is why i was thinking about getting the camera. i have been thinking about installing a motion detector light. it has to stay parked where it is because i have no where else to store it. it is keep it where it is for now or scrap it which i do not want to do. when i was testing my alarm it always startles me. those motion sensor thing are pretty cool. might work but don't have any harbor freights near me.
 
They aren't very unique items, amazon and lots of other retailers probably have similar items and prices depending if you like to shop local or ship. The only places to avoid would be security and novelty spy shops where they think the equipment is super cool and price it closer to fan prices :)
 
i have never seen some of that stuff in the local stores. the town i live in has not really grown too much as far as stores go. back in February we actually lost price choppers.
 
Try Logitech - they do many computer and other electronic things.

I have been very pleased with their system - easily installed by you, easily maintained, does a great job, etc.

They had some initial difficulties, but now it seems flawless.

Got good writeup in Smart Computing magazine about 1 year ago.

Price - about $400 for system - one camera - uses your electric lines in your house - goes to your computer by your network - stored video on common memory chips until full then copied to your hard drive.

Frank
 
thanks for the response but there is no i could justify spending $400 on a security cam system. that would probably be about 1 of my pay checks.
 
If you feel your life is in danger and you're on your property (which I think actually includes your vehicle), you're allowed to defend yourself with deadly force. Game animals however were excluded later after many trails of corn were found leading into peoples kitchens who defended themselves j/k.

But we can't give legal advice, still I've been told the same regarding you're required to be notified if you're being monitored either by video or phone (except if it's the government) but it could be old laws. It was more of a heads up just in case, although I wouldn't hesitate to monitor my property. Actually I think that may be the catch, it depends if it's considered public or private. If you're filming includes a sidewalk or street then I think it would count as invasion of privacy or whatever. Anyway, not to rant on unsatisfactory laws.

Anyone in Canada know what local stores would be around with that sort of gear? Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc? Most hardware stores sell home monitoring kits down here. The "spy" stores (which crack me up although I thought they were cool as a kid) are only good for the concealed video devices like those $100ish cameras that are in the end of a ball point pen, etc. I think you can even get the smoke detector looking cameras at most common stores now too (was my favorite stealth camera).
 
barythrin said:
If you feel your life is in danger and you're on your property (which I think actually includes your vehicle), you're allowed to defend yourself with deadly force. Game animals however were excluded later after many trails of corn were found leading into peoples kitchens who defended themselves j/k.
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Ah, so it's OK to shoot people but not a deer? My kinda place!

Anyone in Canada know what local stores would be around with that sort of gear? Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc? Most hardware stores sell home monitoring kits down here. The "spy" stores (which crack me up although I thought they were cool as a kid) are only good for the concealed video devices like those $100ish cameras that are in the end of a ball point pen, etc. I think you can even get the smoke detector looking cameras at most common stores now too (was my favorite stealth camera).
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Lotsa places in the big cities like Toronto, but generally more expensive than the Internet.
e.g.:
http://www.a1parts.com/cameras/index.html
 
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wolfie said:
thanks for the response but there is no i could justify spending $400 on a security cam system. that would probably be about 1 of my pay checks.
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The truck's sitting on rubber tires, right?

In the same spirit as the SA anti-carjacking idea, just keep the ground around it nice and wet and run an extension cord from your house to the bumper... ;-) Even more effective if you can find an old neon-sign transformer...
 
lol. ya its sitting on 4 rubber tires but only 3 of them hold air and the 4th one has a block of wood sitting under the control arm to keep it from sitting on the rim and damaging the tire and bead. the truck also has no battery and i disconnected a few things so it could not be driven away unless it is by me.
 
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