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Tilt alarm

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by Lodrun, Feb 28, 2020.

  1. Lodrun

    Lodrun My proper car is an MGC

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    Having just had the catalytic converter stolen from my vehicle, I am considering fitting a tilt alarm to detect anyone attempting to jack it up. I am concerned about false alarms, possibly in strong wind conditions, etc. Does anyone have experience and/or a recommendation. I have seen a Cobra system advertised which can be fitted by a mobile installation engineer for about £280.
     
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  2. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Price could be a bit on the high side, you might check this thread and or this post by @Nozzavtr : URGENT! CATALYTIC CONVERTER & SENSOR STOLEN | Page 3 | PriusChat

    Here is a SE dealer network (US model) installation guide for a tilt switch on a gen3 with factory alarm, not sure how it would apply to a gen2 install though : http://toyotaparts.sparkstoyota.com/install/00016-47026-prius-inst.pdf

    The tilt switch is around $40(?), labor could be an hour. Also look into installing a catalytic barrier of expanded metal as well.

    Would be great if you can start a thread or post (including pictures), that documents the tilt switch installation process on the Gen2.

    Please report back, and let us know what is or isn't working.
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Would this deter them though? I suspect they'd just brazen on through, takes about 2 minutes overall. I would think something that would physically impede them from cutting it off would be more likely to make them move on.
     
  4. valde3

    valde3 Senior Member

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    If you would have a really reliable tilt alarm you could just fit it with super loud siren. Something like 120dB or louder siren fitted through center console so that sound would go through where parking brake cable adjuster is and exhaust pipe is just on the other side of heat shield. That could be loud enough to stop somebody trying to cut the exhaust.
     
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  5. richard203

    richard203 Member

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    i was planning to have thiis install on my priius. i got a qoute for tilt sensor and labor total around $200. any1 ever done this themself? looks like its only 3 wires but i jsut dont know wheres the alarm wires are.
     
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  6. Brian5971

    Brian5971 New Member

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    Great Stuuf
     
  7. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    If you follow through with the install, please let us know which shop did the work and if it works on your vehicle.
     
  8. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Even better if you could put a 3 to 5 second delay.
    1. Clown #1 jacks up car while Clown #2 is waiting to slide under car.
    2. Clown #2 immediately slides under car as soon as it's high enough.
    3. Clown #2 is in position to cut pipes or unbolt flange when 120-150db horn goes off. (think locomotive horn...)
    4. Clown #2 knocks himself out when the sound startles him, or his head just explodes from being so close to it (either option is ok)
    5. Clown #1 accidently releases the jack when the sound startles him.
    6. Clown #2 is suddenly a bit thinner.......
    7. Clown 1 ands 2 are both semi deaf for rest of their lives.
     
  9. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    In Europe, Toyota offered a tilt sensor as a dealer-installed accessory for second-generation Prius cars. The installation instructions (PDF) manual says the Toyota part numbers are PW625-00101 and PW625-00201. I don’t know if these are still available and have no experience with them.

    The manual says model year 2003, by the way, but the model code is NHW20R, for the second-generation Prius. You can see other accessory installation manuals on toyota-tech.eu.
     
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  10. JanvanR

    JanvanR Junior Member

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    Catalytic converter theft is becoming a real plague in my town. Considering Some kind of lock, like the Catloc. Probably just slows the stealing process. Toyota installs one for € 250,-
     

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    #10 JanvanR, Mar 6, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2020
  11. Victorio Mo

    Victorio Mo Member

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    Here is $5 solution to plug any Tilt sensor to factory Signal line, so you don't need to worry about delay, computer brains, etc.
    You can choose between $1 ball or mercury sensor, $20 car sensor like 507T or $500 unit with GPS/call back etc. First solution doesn't require any power.
    Installation: fold back rear seat, pry open that molded carpet and splice into that single wire plunger line.
    See pic for details:
     

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  12. Abdu_mka

    Abdu_mka Junior Member

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    Does it integrate with the built in alarm system?
    Have you tried jacking up your car ?
    Thanks
     
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  13. Terrell

    Terrell Old-Timer

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  14. pasadena_commut

    pasadena_commut Senior Member

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    The $1 tilt sensor is going to go off whenever the car is parked on an incline as "zero angle" will always be with respect to the bottom of the car. I also expect that the "door open" light will be flashing on and off while the car is being driven, especially on bumps or around corners.

    The 507M sensor requires 3 wires and if attached directly to the door sense line it will burn out. Dung Tu and others have reported that burn out problem. The device does have a way to reset the "zero angle" so as long as the parking spot is not insanely steep it will still work. The manufacturer's documentation does not describe what is in the unit, but since it can reset the angle, and it burns out we can guess there is some sort of semiconductor device inside, and part of it has a limited current capacity. The door sense line (+12V) shorted to ground through it when tilted does not have enough resistance in the path and then poof. Wiring it to a 504K shock sensor with a "pod"
    somehow fixes this situation.

    I need to do some experiments to see how much current that sense wire sends to ground. If it is <.5A then a solid state relay could short it to ground safely. Something like the Clare LCA110. Why that model? I have used one before and I think I may have a spare in a box somewhere.

    What type/size taps are people using on the various wires? The wires under the dash Dung Tu points out in the video look like they are a pretty narrow like 22 or 24 gauge.
     
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  15. Victorio Mo

    Victorio Mo Member

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    I have 1:0 against Cat cutters!!!!


    It worked tonight as designed, triggered alarm at 4am and security called me.
    Couple of my friends also using them.
    This is simple, wired, reliable and not expensive solution, takes 5 min to install with basic configuration behind rear seat in the trunk or even on the top of rear seat which compromises cosmetics but adds more easy access and better sensitivity b'z of height. My electronic MS helped me to clear all doubts re using stock 22 wires, Amperage limits, Voltage sugs, fire hazard, etc. This is passive device without + power. Simple replication of pin door switch. Stock brains takes care of relaying effect for my switches, so contact doesn't need to permament.

    So please don't think adding Gyro, GPS, Wi-Fi calling, beams, ML, XLR, poisoning gas, etc.. it's already exists on the market.If you can make simpler let me know, but if you want to make it more complex, this is not the case.
    By Trade I do optimizations. Now it has 3 level tilting: Left -Right - Nose Down.


    Yes, If you parked on hill/side slope then it will not work, or correctly to say you won't be able to close your car. I don't have problem with this as my overnight parking is on even stall like for most people. However I installed handy micro switch to de-activate it if needed.
    Another option for this is to adjust device in the trunk appropriately if you really need, I packed now my ' micro chip' into 80-40-28mm plastic box with Velcro on the bottom which gives enough bite to the floor carpet to keep is stable and easy to remove.

    In reality mostly you need take care of night time parking according stats for Cat theft in US. The main problem is do not forget to activate it back if you had to turn it off for a while parking on the slopes.


    If anybody interesting to get it, let me know.
    This will work on any Gen, I did for Corolla too.







    Mario
     
    #15 Victorio Mo, Feb 19, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
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  16. Terrell

    Terrell Old-Timer

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    So basically you're using an inexpensive tilt device to simulate the door being opened, and it triggers the car's built-in alarm?

    What about cars without the built in alarm? Can it trigger the panic alarm that the key fob can trigger?
     
    #16 Terrell, Feb 19, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2021
  17. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Great news!! (y)
    Would try this, but most of my parking is perpendicular to the curb on a moderate to severe slope. This slope has likely saved me, as the neighbors park close enough to one another (door checks are free!!) that jacking it up from the side of the vehicle wouldn't be all that easy, but still quite possible.
    Though there is the current working velcro solution, I'm still hoping there might be another solution for people that have to park perpendicular / parallel on a hill or steep incline. A picture or two of your latest velcro iterations and interals would be helpful, as it might ignite some other crowd sourced ideas going forward.
     
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  18. Victorio Mo

    Victorio Mo Member

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    I did install DUB1 tilt sensor, it's easy I will post diagram shortly. This sensor is great. Takes 10min.

    You will need extra 5 pin basic auto relay to addition to DUB1 and 2 T=Taps.
    I easy found signal wire (green on my pic) on the left rear door, just remove plastic, very easy access there is SINGLE wire coming to plunger switch, you can use any door.
    Alternative is to play with it and trace it into main wire bundle on and do some sneaking under the carpet . You need position DUB1 horizontally so any hard place under the seat or anywhere else will work.
    Parts cost $30.

    Before I had mercury passive switch with worked super OK on flat surface only and got tired a bit making it ON/OFF if parked with tilt.

    I also learned that Prius 2 has separate ALARM Horn located deep inside motor compartment so it's not easy to cut it off like with conventional horn.
    upload_2021-4-24_22-48-7.png
     
    #18 Victorio Mo, Apr 24, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2021
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  19. Victorio Mo

    Victorio Mo Member

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    Important update: re testing DUB1 for slow jacking:
    I asked my tech friend to test it and DUB1 failed, you can jack doing 1 rotation per sec, and it goes slow and tilt alarm was NOT triggered. and with Hydraulic it probably goes even smoother
    Total jack up time = 1min 30 sec. Not sure how big this time for bad guys.
    On the way down with 1 rps we got it triggered, but i'm sure doing it bit slower like for 2 min, will solve this it too.

    So be careful, it works perfectly on strong push or shake but could fail if guys will not mind extra minute on jacking. it was from Crutchfield
    https://www.crutchfield.com/p_220DUB1/Code-Alarm-DUB1.html.

    I'm moving back to my trusty mercury switch. It's super reliable.


    V
     
    #19 Victorio Mo, Apr 25, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2021
  20. Terrell

    Terrell Old-Timer

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    TOTAL time to jack up the car, cut off the catalytic converter, drop the car and be off is 60-90 seconds. I doubt that any cat thief will jack slowly. In addition to the Millercat shield, I installed a Directed 507M Tilt Sensor which is supposed to work even when parked on a slope, and trigger with a 1˚ change. I've not tested it by jacking yet.

    Once I returned to the car and saw that the alarm had been triggered, and another time I was at a park and heard the alarm go off when some people were standing right next to my car. I don't know if they bumped the car or what, because they left right away. So far, nothing has been amiss, thankfully.