Unfortunately my car got broken into on Sunday night. The VIP RS3200 alarm didn't go off and I'm wondering whether it's working or not. How would I got about testing it? After the incident happened I had the key in my hand and went and opened the drivers door. As a result I'm not 100% sure the car was locked. I usually lock my car but there have been rare occasions where it hasn't been locked. The dealer is already telling me that the car wasn't locked or that my VIP system might not have come with the glass break sensor. Considering how much I had to pay for it, it better of. After the incident much of the window was still present so I alarm the car and smashed the rest of the window. The alarm light indicator blinked but the alarm didn't go off. After cleaning up the car I tried again by taking all the glass bits I had vacuumed out of the car and putting them in a bucket and then shaking that. The alarm didn't go off for that test either. Short of breaking another window how do I got about testing it? If anyone interested my video system did record the whole incident. For the video see YouTube - Car Burgarly
The glass break sensor is typically a microphone inside the car that will trip the alarm if it hears a sound with the frequency that breaking glass makes, so other than having a professional test it, I don't think there's a way short of breaking a window. Saw the vid--what did he steal?
Wow, good job on the high quality surveillance footage! I'm also curious as to what that little prick of a kid saw with his flashlight to make him do such an evil thing.
I used to have a glass break sensor in a previous car and I could trigger it by clanging the side of the window (near where the microphone is) with my keys. Just hitting it once was sufficient to trigger it.
Sorry that happened to you,but what did he see worth taking? You thought there was a possibility that your car may have been unlocked? To bad he was not a very savvy crook you always pull the handle first prior to breaking a window. It could have saved you a window. Did he break the window on the first pass and then come back to get whatever it was he stole. I would alert your neighbors and wait a couple of nights and then monitor your street a few hours before and after this occurred, I bet he will be back. Did the police say that there were any other auto burglaries in your area?
I left my cell phone in the car. I'm sure he's not happy though since it was a crappy Virgin Mobile Samsung Intercept phone. Unless he knows how to root it, it's can't be used on Virgin Mobiles system. The video is actually better on the unstiched together version. I have an old iMovie version on my Mac that doesn't support HD output. The original video is in HD. Police, yeah right. I had to file it online and then deliver the video footage to the police station. I doubt they've even looked at it. I posted the video online more to let my neighbors see it, in case anyone see's him snooping around again.
I must say that I was totally unimpressed with my dealer today when I took my car in to have the alarm check and my 5,000 miles service done. When I picked it up, the mechanic that worked on my car simply stated on the service report that the car had no alarm. Which I found totally strange given that I paid for it, had RS3200 security stickers on the car, and the little flashing light and mic next to the steering wheels. Doesn't give you allot of confidence in their work does it? After making wait around for another hour they informed me the adjusted the alarm setting to 8 to make it more sensitive. My service adviser downloaded a glass break sound to is iphone and played it next to the mic and the alarm went off. So I'm at least convinced if the driver window gets smashed the alarm will go off but I'm still not convinced it will if the passenger window gets broken again. I wonder whether it's possible to piggy back another alarm onto this one. At the very least I'm going to have to figure out how to add a red led light somewhere more noticable.
An alarm does not prevent thefts. A thief can and will break in your car no matter how well you safeguard it, but you can reduce this likelihood by not leaving valuables in the car.
That's very true, it's a well know limitations of alarms. It's a deterrent nothing more. For me it's an extra piece of mind know that since my car is always parked outside my bedroom window and if the alarm goes off I can react to it instantly. I don't have that confidence in my VIP RS3200 alarm currently. Right now I have more faith in the 11 yr old Viper Alarm system in my 4 Runner than I do in the one in my Prius. I consider the passive arming of the Viper a big plus and I wish the RS3200 had it. Especially since there's always the possibility that I forgot to lock the car that night. The last time my 4 Runner got broken into, the alarm going off was enough to keep the thief from getting anything. And to this day I have no idea what he was after except for an 11 year old stereo system. And yes leaving nothing in the car is always best. But occasionally we all mess up and mistaking leave something in our cars.
I have put a aftermarket alarm (all DEI) on all my previuos cars and current cars and knock on wood, all the glass has so far stayed in place in 15+ years. This includes me being carless leaving things in plain sight and sometimes in the not so greatest neghiborhoods. People ask me why I put a alarm on all my cars and I tell them if it deters a potential thief and if it keeps even one window from being smashed, it's already paid for itself. Anyway, it appears the original tech in your situation who installed the alarm was probably LAZY and didn't adjust the glass breakage sensor OR did not properly mount the glass breakage sensor inside the car.