Proximity sensors any good?

[Blados 10+ year member]

I have a viper 79xv. Some people were shaking my car the other day and the alarm didn't go off. Do proximity sensors work? Are they worth the extra money? Any problems with them?

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[jrpro130 10+ year member]

i had one on my old car..on the viper 560 or something like that.

pain in the ass..anytime anyone walked by my car or even came close it went bizurk. at first it chirps and then it goes off

i didn' thave 2 way either so it would actually do more harm than good (attract attention w/o me knowing)

this was 2 yrs ago though...maybe things have changed

 

[RFCV 10+ year member]

I have a dual zone radar (proximity) sensor and have been running it for a very long time.

Here is what I recommend with these sensors:

If you get a dual zone (exterior & interior), install a cheap 12v toggle switch to turn off the exterior zone when you desire. With some alarms, you can use the remote to either turn off/on and adjust sensitivity. Example of situations where you might want to turn the exterior off: parked in a busy parking lot in the day or anywhere else where much traffic is always around the ride. The reason is it can be more of a nuisance than help sometimes (innocent people being subject to the warn away voice or chirps and kids playing with it or vandalize out of spite).

The exterior field really comes in handy when your ride is parked at night or somewhere where no one should be around it.

Keep the interior always on, but be very careful to adjust the field just to cover the inside and not extend out. Do a 'walk test' after sensitivity adjustment to see if the field extends outside. If so, decrease it.

* The main point to remember when using these sensors is proper adjustment of the sensitivity. The majority of false alarms are a result of alarm sensors set too high! This goes with all alarm sensors, but especially these. If there is not proper adjustment and using mods, like the 12v toggle to operate, these sensors can be just a plain pain in the ass. But if done right, they can come in handy to further protect the ride when someone approaches, window is left down or door is open.

BTW, to the original poster, proximity or radar sensors do not trigger by 'shaking' the vehicle. They are called 'motion' and 'microwave' sensors also, but not 'shaking', but by microwave field detection. Sometimes even a cop car can set them off by being on the same frequency with their radar.

The 'shaking' is a tilt sensor and a 'hit' is a shock/impact sensor or glass break with higher frequency for breaking glass, usually without tint on the glass.

 

[roadmasters 10+ year member]

Where is the most logical place the sensor should be mounted? (Just picked one up)

 

[RFCV 10+ year member]

Where is the most logical place the sensor should be mounted? (Just picked one up)

Preferably in the middle of the vehicle.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[HCCAfan]

middle of the vehicle and under the headliner.

rfcv was correct about his descriptions on what you need and what you should use, and the toggle is a great idea.

one thing you will notice is that if your in an area that gets cold, the zone changes with temperature, so in spring and winter you are readjusting your zones. Thats what i hated about my proxi, having to adjust all the time. The best proxi i ever had was made by a radar detector company, Cobra. I bought it with my crimestopper alarm, and had to diode isolate with the shock sensor, but it worked awesome, the zones were very close from season changes, so not much adjusting. The DEI ones i have used were very sensitive on the adjustments, seemed like you spent more time fiddling with it than installing the alarm. It allowed for adjusting on both zones, which was good, but it just seemed to be a pain in the rear. I installed on in my topper of my truck, and that was even worse, I ended up learning a new trick, proxi's need some sort of shield, and a fiberglass topper was not gonna cut it. glued some tinfoil to the roof with ca glue, and it became alot easier!!

 

[RFCV 10+ year member]

rfcv was correct about his descriptions on what you need and what you should use, and the toggle is a great idea.

WOW, what a surprise!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif Thanks Shane!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Chevillac 5,000+ posts]

Roadmasters, where did you pick it up?

 

[BigPimpin18 10+ year member]

they don't work if your windows are tinted.

 

[baseballer1100 5,000+ posts]

^^^Is this true?

 

[roadmasters 10+ year member]

Roadmasters, where did you pick it up?

ebay

 

[HCCAfan]

^^^Is this true?

no. your sensitivity needs to be adjusted for it tho. it does affect it but it doesnt disable it.

 

[RFCV 10+ year member]

they don't work if your windows are tinted.

Not true. I have 20% (at little darker than legal 35%) and it works great.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Maybe if you have limo tint (5%), the performance & range will be effected. But like Shane (HCCAfan) mentioned, adjusting your sensitivity up higher to compensate would most likely help.