Car alarm is an electronic device installed in a vehicle (car, truck, boat, motorcycle) in an attempt to discourage theft of the vehicle itself, its contents, or both. Alarms work by emitting high-volume sounds (usually a siren, Klaxon, pre-recorded verbal warning, the vehicle's own horn, or a combination thereof) when the conditions necessary for triggering are met, as well as by flashing some of the vehicle's lights, and (optionally) notifying the car's owner via a paging system and interrupting various electrical circuits necessary for the car to start.
Many Poeple get confused between an alarm and immobilizer. An immobilizer is an electronic device fitted to an automobile which prevents the engine from running unless the correct key (or other token) is present. This prevents the car from being "hot wired" after entry has been achieved.
Car Alarm Advantages:
Having an expensive aftermarket system in a car without an alarm is asking for trouble. I've heard too many stories of people learning the hard way and losing a lot of money when they find out that their aftermarket audio system was not covered by their insurance. Car alarms may not be able to stop the thief but they do attract a lot of attention to the thief's activities. Besides having an alarm system, here are a few other pieces of advice to keep your systems in a safe place.
* Don't drive through neighborhoods blasting the bass and calling attention to your system. Not only is this a courtesy to the residents but it also keeps the local hoods from scoping your ride as their next target.
* When parking your vehicle, try to park under lights and in an area where it is not hidden from view. Keeping it in the open reduces your chance of a thief breaking in to it. Thieves hate to be seen.
* Try to keep areas within the vehicle looking as stock or stealth as possible. Large aftermarket grilles are a nice advertisement that you have more than OEM equipment. Try to concentrate style in areas that are hidden from the exterior view, such as in the trunk.
Car Alarm Types:
There are two main types of car alarm activation methods. Passive and active. Passive alarms automatically enter an armed state after the ignition is turned off and the last door is closed. Active alarms require the user to press the transmitter button to arm and disarm the system. If you set your alarm to arm passively you can probably get a discount on your insurance. Check with your insurance provider. You may get a discount either way. Most good alarm systems can be configured as passive or active arming.
An alarm system should be put in at the same time or before a stereo system is put in. By waiting until after the system is in you run the risk of having it stolen before the alarm is installed.
When shopping for an alarm, don't be cheap. A good quality unit can be purchased for about a hundred dollars if you shop around. For two hundred dollars you should get an alarm with some extensive features built in. Installation for the car alarm will run about one hundred dollars and up depending on how many extra features that you want hooked up and how fancy you want the installation to look. Keep the appearance on at least the same level as the stereo system, especially if you plan on competing in car sound off competitions.
If you want to install your own car alarm or remote car starters, make sure you read the manual carefully.
Car Alarm Features:
There are probably more features available on a car alarm than any other single category of equipment available for your system. There are new features constantly popping up on the market. Here are some of the most common.
Active Re-arm: After the alarm has been disarmed the system will automatically re-arm after a specified amount of time if a door is not opened. This is to prevent accidental disarming by the remote transmitter.
Air Horns: These are used on the interior or exterior to call more attention and cause pain to the thief if he makes it into the interior of the vehicle.
Anti-Code Grabbing: A method employed to change the alarm code with every arm/disarm. The purpose of which is to defeat code grabbing equipment that can capture and resend your code to disarm the alarm at the thief's leisure.
For information about remote car starters, visit: Remote Car Starters
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