[ChrisMal]

First off, I don't think that posting this will give would be thieves any great benefit, however if you think so and give a convincing argument, I will be happy to take this down.

A little background. As a new owner of the 23 SS 1LE, I am not overly concerned in my day to day life, as she is tucked away in a garage, keys in a faraday box in the house, bag when I'm out and about and not driving. Car parked behind in the driveway, etc.

My concern is for when I take it to track days, or any other (rare) time when it might be at a hotel, in a parking garage, or unattended overnight outside.

So I contacted Ravelco, and they have no installers for me, same for IGLA. I really like the idea of a purely mechanical (electrical? no software) solution. Ravelco is essentially a fancy kill switch. I like the kill switch in theory, but I struggled with the idea that I need to find a place to hide it, that is convenient enough for me to use it, but hard to find.

So what if I built a kill switch that I could still make not obvious, but not be overly concerned if it is located? Enter the rotary switch. Layers of security are good, why not add layers to the kill switch?

In general terms here it is. Rotary switches. 3 rotary 1 pole multi position switches in series or 4 or however many you want. These come in everything from 2 position, to 24 or more, but let's keep the cost reasonable ok? 3 10 position switches wired in series gives 1000 combinations, 12 positions gives you 1728 combinations, only one of these completes the circuit. You can get these switches in multiple deck configurations, meaning that you can make one set of switches break/complete multiple circuits. You could wire in a pilot time delay relay, so that it takes x seconds once the switches are in the right position and there is no immediate indication that the circuit was complete. If you have to pause 3 seconds for each switch combination in a 3 switch 12 position setup, that is 40 minutes to get through half of the combinations.

Now the obvious gotcha is if you can access the bottom of the switches. So mount them in a steel outlet box and fasten the top mounting plate with security screws or get creative. These boxes will have knockouts that you can run flexible metal conduit into to make accessing the wires difficult. There's more you can do/I have done to make it so that even if you do find the box, open the box and access the bottom/business end of the switches and wires, that's not the golden ticket, but I don't want to put all that in here.



tldr; rotary switches in series act like an electrical combination lock, prevent access to the business end of switches, have a plan for the wires coming out of your switch containment area.

Again if this is too much info, mods feel free to delete, or if I get a good argument how this helps a would be thief, I will delete it myself.

Happy motoring, and may your Camaro remain your Camaro.

[Curr]

1st, avoid Ravelco, it can be easily figured out by anyone with a $20 tester off Amazon and watching a YT vid.

Multiple switches though, it's a good idea, from a purely 'what if' standpoint. The weak points would have to be assessed.

From an engineers view point some stuff off the top of my head before I've finished my coffee....
You'd have to bury the cable ends, otherwise you could just rip out the goes-into's and goes-out-of's and bridge them with a clip lead or two. (Now, what crook carries that... they could always come back...)
Install could get pricey, and timely. Do you have the expertise to cut holes where they need to be, run armored cable, hard mount boxes... somewhere? More expensive than a trip to the nearest IGLA dealer in a neighboring county / state? Mini-vacation for a day? Day trip?

[fj5gtx]

Adding a kill switch will help. Likely they aren't going to spend anytime trying to figure out what is going on. Thieves know what to do with the factory setup, they are practiced and well prepared for what GM provided. Anything off script will defeat them, they aren't going to spend time trying to figure out why they can't get the car started.

Thief might break your glass and rekey your car before they discover they can't take it. Might want to think about what you can do to deter before they start doing damage to steal it.

[ChrisMal]

All good points. I have a background in aircraft maintenance and avionics, and dabbled in airframe repair before I decided it was more fun to break them than fix them.

Cost wise it's not really a discussion, unless I bill my labor time to myself. Even then it will still be significantly less.

Mounting and location are sorted. Wire ends at the switches are contained inside the steel box, armored conduit begins inside the box. Exit location from the conduit is not accessible without significant mechanical and/or destructive disassembly. IDing the wires from here will be difficult, even for me, so i have pictures and installation steps for myself, so that in the event i need to troubleshoot, or uninstall, I dont have to reverse engineer my own work. There are other measures to prevent an easy detection and bridge of the correct wires.

Is it foolproof? Of course not. Given time, determination and a disregard for damage, most systems can be defeated. Or a tow truck. Or a carjacking. Maybe IGLA is the one foolproof best answer, but if I'm going to burn a day, I'd rather be in my own garage and not pay someone for the privelege.😁

In the end I'm trying to deter the thieves, make it more difficult than breaking a window plugging into the odb and driving away. In my highest areas of threat, there will likely be nicer, more desirable cars to take.

[ChrisMal]

Originally Posted by fj5gtx

Adding a kill switch will help. Likely they aren't going to spend anytime trying to figure out what is going on. Thieves know what to do with the factory setup, they are practiced and well prepared for what GM provided. Anything off script will defeat them, they aren't going to spend time trying to figure out why they can't get the car started.

Thief might break your glass and rekey your car before they discover they can't take it. Might want to think about what you can do to deter before they start doing damage to steal it.

You snuck in while I was replying. I've given some thought to deterring the broken window scenario. Short of a club, which may actually invite them to break the window and cut the steering wheel before they realize there is more, leaving me to replace a steering wheel too, I'm still pondering.

Maybe a decal on the window that says I have hidden several no speaker air tags, can you find them all?

It is a good question that I'm still working on.

[CalgaryZL1]

How about a decal that says “door is unlocked help yourself good luck”. If I was a thief, I might think twice after reading that. And it might save you from a broken window.

[Caerus]

Originally Posted by CalgaryZL1

How about a decal that says “door is unlocked help yourself good luck”. If I was a thief, I might think twice after reading that. And it might save you from a broken window.

and/or "OBD-II de-activated, good luck."

That is an entirely possible scenario that could deter a thief to move on.

[fj5gtx]

Originally Posted by ChrisMal

You snuck in while I was replying. I've given some thought to deterring the broken window scenario. Short of a club, which may actually invite them to break the window and cut the steering wheel before they realize there is more, leaving me to replace a steering wheel too, I'm still pondering.

Maybe a decal on the window that says I have hidden several no speaker air tags, can you find them all?

It is a good question that I'm still working on.

Yeah steering wheel is alot more expensive than door glass. Put the club on, but don't lock it?

I'm not a fan of letting them know about my gps mitigation, I'd rather show up and collect my car w/o them suspecting I'm coming.

I suspect there may be a sensor out there that could be configured to detect proximity or touching the car, but I haven't turned over every stone to find it. I know they have proximity sensors for convertibles, and there is an oem proximity sensor in my 06 mustang.... basic tech is out there, just not applied to our application yet.

[ChrisMal]

I do like the door unlocked, good luck idea. Maybe paired with alarm active, gonna get noisy when you get in.

Unlocked club might be something. I just don't want to post instructions on what they need to bypass if they're just making a first pass recon for something like a trackday, where they know I'm likely to be back in the hotel lot the next night.

Hate that I/we need to be this paranoid. At some point it's not worth it, and I'll just take the insurance payout and be sad. Buy a C7 and some sorts and a pair of NB.😂

[CalgaryZL1]

Of course, there’s always an and with the warning! It’s complicated enough keeping the stealth fighters running, never mind pulling a fuse.

[The Maverick]

Originally Posted by ChrisMal

Unlocked club might be something.

I like that idea as well. In part because my car sees commuter use, so it would be a bit less of an inconvenience. Also, one of the things that has kept me from buying a club for use as a visible deterrent is the number of reviews noting cheapass lock failures, which leave you unexpectedly stranded. And then there's the thought of having to replace a broken window and cut steering wheel if there is a break in.

The unlocked club might be a good middle ground approach. Looks like I am going club shopping again...

[KuroOkami]

I think your idea is interesting, but far more time consuming than I want to get into. As far as actual anti-theft deterrents go, I have a multi-stage plan in action so even if you find and bypass one, it doesn't mean the car is there's yet.


As for a visual deterrents to stop them on the outside before they start, I have this on my car.

[ChrisMal]

Originally Posted by KuroOkami

I think your idea is interesting, but far more time consuming than I want to get into. As far as actual anti-theft deterrents go, I have a multi-stage plan in action so even if you find and bypass one, it doesn't mean the car is there's yet.


As for a visual deterrents to stop them on the outside before they start, I have this on my car.

Yep layers are the way. I like the deterrent sticker very much. My problem is that my boxer might look scary, but a snack, a ball, or a pet on the head is the surefire way to defeat that "deterrent." Be does make a lot of noise though.

[Kamero6]

One of my friends in high school used to unscrew his shifter and take it with him in his manual car.

You could also make a resisitive window fuse system, where you need to plug that in with the correct resistance value to be able to energize the relay. Kind of a VATS system, where the key had a resistive value and the ECM will only allow cranking and Fuel if the resistance was between certain values.

I haven't tried but there is a Pin lock feature in the infotainment system right? Without the pin you can't start the car. That and the OBDII delete should be more than enough.