Maplin bike alarm + PMR - Update

[cestrian]

The alarm seems to work as well as I expected. The range is good, I can hear the alarm quite well at my workplace, which is about 300m (as the crow flies) from where the bike is parked. There are also some large buildings in the way.
The tilt switch is as reliable as it first seemed. If I park the bike on uneven ground, I can adjust the tilt switch to suit the angle of the bikes 'lean'.
The power is provided by a mobile phone charger which gives 5.5 volts, just enough to run the radio. After three days sitting on my drive, the system has not drained any appreciable amount of power from the battery. The bike started first time this morning, no problems.
So far its a success at a total cost of about £10

For those wondering why I would want an alarm on a bike that I can't possibly get to in time to save, and I'm the only one who can hear it, well, if the alarm is triggered and I can make my way to the bike whilst on the phone to the police who can (in turn) alert the CCTV guy and the wardens, There may be a slightly better chance of getting it back.

[Misc]

Sounds like alot of wiring is involved, cool idea tho.

[cestrian]

Just two wires from the tilt switch to the radio, and a mobile phone charger will supply the required 6 volts to the radio.

[Misc]

Could you make a How-to guide with photos, would be cool to have extra alarm as Datatools are terrible for noise.

[Method]

[Misc]

I'd rather use my £3.00 rape alarm then my Datatool for the sound.

[cestrian]

"Your two tone will not only be played on your handset, but everyone elses around that are using the same channel" - Method.

With respect, I couldnt care less who hears the two-tone sound. In fact, I hope I never have to hear it anyway.

And...

"Secondly, and possibly more importantly. Someone either using the same channel, or searching for an empty channel to use themselves, would use the call button to see if anyone replies - this means that if anyone hits the call button on your channel, you will receive that on your unit and assume it is your bike being set off... " - Method.

Have you considered the fact that these radios have a CTCSS system installed. Not only does one select a channel (1 to 8) but one also has the option of selecting one of 38 'sub-channels' (wrong term actually but it will do) to reduce the chances of listening to someone elses transmission?

Look! all I want this to do, is tell me when to brandish the bat and meet the theives on my driveway. I have no intentions of marketing the product or rivalling a Thatcham approved system.

Kind regards

Gordon

[mattjs895]

being a maplin worker (while currently at uni) if you live anywhere near kingston i can get a discount for you if you need it.

but year you are right with the radio business having 8 channels and 32 ctcss channels.

oh and by the way, they have a 4 pack of radios on promotion at the moment for £39.99 which means you could have one nearly everwhere you go

[Arfdog]

I think it's a great idea Gordon, very enterprising.

I think crosstalk wil not be a problem. I even get relatively little crosstalk on mine when walking around glastonbury festival where hundreds of people are using them.

Potential problems are battery life, however since it only calls when triggered and you have a charger hooked up, the battery life should be pretty good.

I would also disconnect the speaker on the bike end though, in the even of crosstalk, you wouldn't want your bike to draw attention to itself by talking to people!
____________________
I'm a lover, not a fighter.

[cestrian]

Arfdog, I had thought about disconnecting the speaker but forgot to mention it. Thanks for the reminder!
G

[The Tot]

I'm thinking of the american pie 2 scene with the kids and walkie talkies when Oz and Kevin were being voyeuristic with the walkies.

I'll be interested in what the results are. I've tryind boobie trapping a rape alarm to the handbars of my bike when I left it over summer, but to no avail.
____________________
The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[Method]

Theres no need to get grumpy about my comments.

I was simply putting forward my concerns. You may not find them usefull, which because of your attitude - i couldnt care less about, but others might.

You may not want to use this as a fail-safe security measure, but there may be others looking at this and thinking it could be the answer to all their questions.

All i was doing was straightening out some of the issues you may find with your new system, in the same way that others have done to me in the past. 9/10 times they have come up with something that i had forgotten about or not realised - which in the end saved me a pretty penny and also helped me improve any work that i have done. If nothing else it gave others with less knowledge but a lot of interest - an insight into issues that may not have occured to them if not mentioned.


____________________
CBT Aug '03 ... Gilera GSM 50 ... Honda NSR 125 Aug '04 ...
Full Test Dec 04... Suzuki GS500 Jan 05... Suzuki SV650 Mar 07... Gixxer 6 K5 May 08... Oh and my 'Rado
My Bikepics.com - No Brakes, No Gears... No Fear.

[cestrian]

[mr.z]

I got myself a tomy baby monitor for the princely sum of £1 works well, I'd considered fitting a bleeper to it for when it reaches the red led's luckily its pretty safe in the garage and unappealing to tea leafs so not really used it yet..

If you wanted something a bit flasher, a microwave switch would work very well in place of a tilt switch, but this would depend on where you'd be parking it..

Good idea though, i have a pair of them as well so might give that a try if i get a bike that might be nicked ever another thing could be done would be to use radio controls, i.e. for planes, these use different crystals you plug in for different frequency's, dunno the range on them but after amplifying them a bit perhaps it could be useful..

I have seen radio sets that operate on their own pmr sub frequency (well switches between two) but they are £250 odd :/
____________________
>RidingSkills<->Tech Tips<->MyBikes<

[cestrian]

I screwed up on the update...........

The alarm seems to work as well as I expected. The range is good, I can hear the alarm quite well at my workplace, which is about 300m (as the crow flies) from where the bike is parked. There are also some large buildings in the way.
The tilt switch is as reliable as it first seemed. If I park the bike on uneven ground, I can adjust the tilt switch to suit the angle of the bikes 'lean'.
The power is provided by a mobile phone charger which gives 5.5 volts, just enough to run the radio. After three days sitting on my drive, the system has not drained any appreciable amount of power from the battery. The bike started first time this morning, no problems.
So far its a success at a total cost of about £10

For those wondering why I would want an alarm on a bike that I can't possibly get to in time to save, and I'm the only one who can hear it, well, if the alarm is triggered and I can make my way to the bike whilst on the phone to the police who can (in turn) alert the CCTV guy and the wardens, There may be a slightly better chance of getting it back.

[quik_d]

[mattjs895]

no problem, where abouts in kingston do you work

[mattjs895]

cestrian is it possible to get a list of all the product you used for this alarm witht he maplin codes if possible as well please

cheers

matt

[Ted]

[nrml76]

If your alarm goes off, can you use the two way radio to shout out at the meddler/thief, 'Oi! take your hands off my bike'? It might perplex a chav or two .
____________________
Everyone who lives dies, yet not everyone who dies has lived. We take these risks not to escape life, but to prevent life from escaping us.

[cestrian]

Ted, you're absolutely right!

Yeh I'll make a parts list and post it.

nrml76, yeh I guess you could

[cestrian]