Author Topic: Somebody is SLASHING MY TIRES & need help in dreaming up electronic prevention  (Read 5201 times)

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Offline Mister_RobotoTopic starter

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First let me explain, though my tires have been repeatedly slashed, my headlight smashed, my car damaged repeatedly for the past five months, we are not talking about vandalism.

What we are talking about is a campaign of violence and attempted terror that is being waged against me. I'm a veteran, and that's why I use the phrase "attempted campaign of terror", because the "terror" part isn't gonna work. The damage to my car, though, that continues to happen. The police can't help. No matter where I move my car, it still happens, it began when parking enforcement said I had to move my car, and I moved it to another block, and the damage began. I moved the car to other blocks and returned it to my own block, and the damage continues.

Before anyone feels sorry for me, I'm a US Army veteran, and I've dealt with many bad members of the human race throughout my life.

The reason I am here is because I've been dreaming up counter measures to prevent this asshole (can I say that?) from continuing to damage my vehicle.

I'm not a robotics expert, I know only the basics about electrics and less about electronics. I built my car, I wired my car, it's from the 1960's.

I'm here to listen to any ideas any of you may have for me, if you are like me, you like to dream up solutions to problems. I believe the members on this forum are by comparison brilliant and truly enjoy a challenge!

Here are a few of my ideas:

Surround the car with a two foot wide matt so when a person steps onto it, it activates an alarm, an old style 1950's burglar alarm type bell because they are painfully loud. My problem with this idea is I have not yet devised a way to provide the matt with a switch, switches that are all over the matting, no matter where he steps on the matt.

For example, while in the Army we were taught a simple style of switch, an old paper matchbook, foil, and a thumbtack. The tack is placed between the covers of the matchbook, and this placed under a carpet, so when a person steps onto the matchbook, the tack drives through the paper hitting the foil and completing a circuit.

In the case of my matt, I need it so ANYWHERE on the matt where he steps will activate the switch, and the moment he steps off, the switch goes to the "OFF" position.

I considered motion sensors but then the very loud alarm will go off every time a person walks past the car, or another car passes, and late at night, this will not make me any friends among the neighbors. Motion sensors cannot be limited to within on foot of the car, or maybe they can and I don't know about them? I could not find any.

I have considered making my own stun gun type set ups for each wheel well on my car, but I don't like this idea because an innocent kid may be retrieving a baseball and get zapped if the ball rolls to a stop by my tire and he goes to pick it up.


LET ME BE CLEAR, I AM NOT LOOKING FOR ILLEGAL BOOBY TRAPS!!

I've spoken to the police already and booby traps are illegal. I'm dreaming up counter measures that will dissuade this criminal from going near my car ever again.

I did install a "motion sensing" light in the inside of the passenger compartment, but I learned that motion sensors, at least this one, does NOT work through glass! This also precludes the use of motion sensing dash cameras.

I thought about building an apparatus that sits INSIDE the car, that turns on when a person approaches the car, an apparatus on a swivel that rotates 360 degrees in order to follow somebody who is circling the car, and on this apparatus I may mount a PHONY, A FAKE shotgun.

I have considered installing a large Tesla coil inside the car that when activates when anybody approaches the car, and the electric sparks and bolts of electricity would frighten the person away, but this became too elaborate.

Anyway, I'm curious to read comments of forum members who may ponder my dilemma and who dream up some interesting methods of dealing with this issue.

Thank you very much and I look forward to reading your comments. :-)

Offline mklrobo

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Hello!
I am deeply sorry that this is happening to you. As it is very emotional, being violated, I would offer some options based on your
statement;
The police can't help. No matter where I move my car, it still happens, it began when parking enforcement said I had to move my car, and I moved it to another block, and the damage began. I moved the car to other blocks and returned it to my own block, and the damage continues.

If your vehicle is being violated, in a neighborhood where no one else is having their cars destroyed, says something about your
neighbors. This would suggest that your quest for justice will be a solitary one. If your neighbors had the same problem, the police
would probably be more inclined for neighborhood patrols.
Options I could recommend would be;
1> cameras in the vehicle, or imbedded near the tires for taking pictures of the violators.
2> shields on the tires after  you park the vehicle.
3> investment of an alarm system on the vehicle
4> build a temporary or small garage to house the vehicle itself. (anyone going in this space will definitely have their picture taken!)
Harbor Freight has small, cheap car storage "sheds" for vehicles.)
The police have a duty to protect you, as they get paid by the public to protect life and property.
Physical cameras present a deterent, even if they do not record anything. If nobody still helps, you could record the violators
and put them on facebook. Social media may acquire the attention you may need
. I do not suggest these actions lightly,
and please take care in the defenses that you employ. I will pray for you.   :)

Offline FIFO

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    I would second what mklrobo said about surveillance. I would definitely look into putting cameras inside your vehicle.

    It is certainly possible to construct a pressure sensitive matt as you described, however, from your story, it would seem that these people are specifically targeting you because of your veteran status, and so are likely to be persistent and attempt to bypass the system. They could do this relatively easily by mounting knives on poles, or something similar, so that they can damage your vehicle from a distance, without coming in contact with the matt.
   
    Even in the best case, an alarm system will only succeed in frightening away the attackers, but a surveillance system has the possibility of bringing them to justice.

    Thank you for your service,

-FIFO

Offline Mister_RobotoTopic starter

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Hi, thanks for the two replies and kind thoughts, I appreciate it. The person(s) doing the property damage do not know I am a veteran. My guess is that they don't like my car on their block nor any block but the city parking enforcement leaves me no choice, cars cannot remain in the same place for more than three days. I use my bicycle mostly now, but I've begun driving again to do my errands, but despite that, the cars have to be moved.

This is the problem I found with cameras, I need the motion activated cams, and I already bought a motion activated security light, but I found that the light does not work through the car glass. When I have the motion activated lights inside the car, it will not work due to the glass preventing the device from detecting motion.

I am currently looking for a cam that will continuously record for at least 24 hours though.

Offline Admin

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Not really robotics related but I had been researching security cams to use on an RV lately, so I figured I should share what I've found...

If you have wifi near your vehicle I'd recommend something like this:
http://amzn.to/2b1nYHW

Otherwise this should last 7 days on a charge:
http://amzn.to/2bnBZRo

Hunting cameras should also be good...just make sure it doesn't use flash, or they'll smash your window in to steal the camera:
http://amzn.to/2bnbhcx