Thread: Ambitious Video Security System

Hey RetroPlayer all the details of this are way over my head, but it sounds like you're going to have the most badass security system imaginable. I definitely encourage to go through with it, don't let anybody tell you it's overkill and you should spend your money elsewhere, because while it may not be necessary, it sure is useful, and if you like doing it and actually have the ability to go through with it, you sir are awesome.

You have my full support! A lot of people asked me why I did my carpc, saying it was pointless, I just agreed with them and told them that it's something I like doing, plus they all know they're jealous anyway.

I am new to the CarPC world, however I have been in the car audio business for over 11 years. This idea sounds great, but if you have a security system on your vehicle (properly installed) you shouldn't have a need for additional switches on the dash etc... And if your going to have a CarPC, why not use it for your video security. You could purchase a secondary battery (deep cycle Optima) to keep your PC alive throughout the night without discharging the primary battery. I have been in stereo competitions and ran my system for hours with all my amps and lighting being used. I am sure the battery could power your PC for at least a couple of days without recharge. Purchase a couple of USB cameras and use your WIFI to send a signal to your wireless network in your house. And you can purchase a 2 way remote for your alarm for $60. If you need pin-outs for your alarm, e-mail me and i'll send em to ya.

Thanks, Spoonraker. I appreciate the support.

Yeah, I wasn't really looking for approval by posting here (not a dismissive towards you or anyone) but I can certainly understand the question 'why?'

I wanted to post this here because it allows me to document my ideas and progress, others may be interested, and of course I am looking for suggestions and ideas to squeeze as much functionality as I can out of it.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by extremeproaudio

I am new to the CarPC world, however I have been in the car audio business for over 11 years. This idea sounds great, but if you have a security system on your vehicle (properly installed) you shouldn't have a need for additional switches on the dash etc... And if your going to have a CarPC, why not use it for your video security. You could purchase a secondary battery (deep cycle Optima) to keep your PC alive throughout the night without discharging the primary battery. I have been in stereo competitions and ran my system for hours with all my amps and lighting being used. I am sure the battery could power your PC for at least a couple of days without recharge. Purchase a couple of USB cameras and use your WIFI to send a signal to your wireless network in your house. And you can purchase a 2 way remote for your alarm for $60. If you need pin-outs for your alarm, e-mail me and i'll send em to ya.

Yeah, unless I am a dumbass and forgot to arm the system. It is an additional layer for that part. If they are bold enough to continue with my alarm blaring, then the additional layers will kick in. Imagine 120dB INSIDE the car! Bouncing off the glass, etc.. Going to be very uncomfortable. Imagine a strong camera flash blasting your eyes every few seconds right in the area you need to see to work on.
In my area, a car alarm itself means nothing to a thief. They bust out your windows, rip out the stereo, speakers, amps, etc... long before the police ever get there. Thinking you are a badass that is going to run out to your car and confront the thieves would just be stupid! If you're lucky, it might be a single crackhead working alone (more likely to take off when the alarm goes off) but is more often a gang working as a group. Read above my description of how my previous theft went down. I would have walked into a situation I did not know at the time and things would have spiraled quickly out of control. With the camera, I might have known there was a second group of two guys in a car further down the street. But, there was no way I would've known that then.
This is not upper middle class suburbia where it is just a bunch of punk kids doing it for the thrill or money for weed. These are thugs that murder people in broad daylight on a busy street sidewalk two blocks from my house. It would mean nothing to them to come and firebomb your house if you caught one of them unarmed and beat the **** out of them. Yes, that **** goes on here quite often, it is NOT an exaggeration. You get one of them, you'd better watch your back the rest of your stay there. They kill people over lesser things, all the time. A friend of mine was murdered 2 years ago for about $120 in cash she was carrying. They slit her throat and then beat the **** out of her while she lay on the ground bleeding to death. People saw it happen and did nothing to help. Nobody called the police until they were sure she was dead (and after stealing **** out of her apartment.) They are spending 60 years behind bars, mostly because they had zero remorse for what they did. Prison life for them is better than what they had on the streets. Like I said before, my carpc is NOT worth any of that.
Anyway, with the proposed system above, I would have the evidence to hopefully catch the thugs AFTER the fact. The switches on the doors, facia, etc.. are used to trigger which camera to record from to catch the action as well as start the offense devices. My car alarm does not do any of this and I know of no alarm that does.
As for the suggestion about using the carpc, I addressed that above in one of my lengthy posts (buried.) The MAIN reason not to use the carpc is that if the thieves succeed in stealing the system, they also have the video. Does me no good, then.
Lesser reasons (but just as important):
The time it would take to become responsive enough to start recording would probably be unreliable.
It would be noisy all night as a giveaway
The PC would be all lit up like a neon sign saying steal me (I have the blaxtream single DIN carpc)
I would need a second battery, one of those dual charger deals (can't remember the name) bigger alternator, and still no guarantee that it would last me over an entire weekend or such where I may not drive my vehicle for a few days.
Webcameras mostly suck in quality
Interfacing the discretes I want to PC would be much more complicated than microcontroller
The whole system is then easily accessable to destroy if they figure out they are being recorded (the proposed system will be mounted in the engine bay.)
As well as countless other reasons. In the end, it saves me no money since those second batteries, alternator, dual charging deals are quite expensive. Probably would come to around the same overall cost, but with all the drawbacks mentioned above.

Scott

This is kind of random, and I'm not trying to be a smartass, but maybe you should get a garage, or just move.

With money for your car and all this equipment you can't be hurting to much in the financial department. I only say this because it seems like you are almost certain that your car will get broken into. I myself have never once even worried for a second about my stuff getting stolen, but I live out in rich white people land.

Spoonraker, you are of course correct. And while I would love to, unfortunately there are several complicated, personal reasons why I cannot do that. At least not right now.

And no, I am not CONVINCED my car would get broken into. There are hundreds of other cars around me that would make easier targets. With more marketable systems. I don't think a carpc is something many of the thugs would even understand. If they catch a glimpse of it, they most likely would think they are getting an in-car DVD player.

Mostly, this is just for the fun of doing it, but if something did happen, it just might be the one thing that gets at least a couple of these thugs off the street. Stealing a $1500 carpc would elevate the crime to grand larceny I believe. not sure about that, though.

It probably sounds like I am because I have spent so much defending WHY this is better than just my factory alarm. But, that has been most of the replies. To be honest, I would much rather talk about features and ideas for its use. I am convinced I will build it (already spent too much to back out now.) So, maybe I should just stop defending the WHY.

Thanks (your logic is reasonable, no smartass-ness taken)

Scott McDonnell

Well I guess then the only thing left to discuss is the details of your system, and it seems to me like you've got pretty much everything covered and well thought out.

Obviously all the basic and advanced car alarm functions are there, lights and sounds and all that. I had a very similar idea to you with the recording video and audio when the alarm is triggered.

My idea, and I didn't even seriously consider this at all, I just thought it would be a good idea, is to have video cameras and microphones that are triggered with the alarm, that send their data to your computer in your house, which then automatically saves the files to your drive for you to do with what you will. So if your stuff gets jacked, you just have to burn the video to a CD and take it down to the police, or at least it would make a hell of a case for an insurance claim.

Another idea, and this is assuming you have your car parked in your driveway or just outside your house, is to have some big bright floodlights that shine on your car when the alarm is triggered, mounted to your house or wherever. That would spook people, they'de either think somebody was coming out, or they'de just be scared of the fact that their lit up like a christmas tree.

Maybe some kind of a fake police siren or something? That's just me getting really crazy lol

Just some extra suggestion to help you integrate your idea...You can set up your alarm to arm and lock the doors automatically after you exit your vehicle. You can also use the siren output (it's 12V+) with a relay to activate your video system instead of adding additional switches.