Cheap as Chinese alarm - A review

[Suntoucher]

Morning,

Thought I'd do a write up for all those cheapskates out there contemplating an alarm, but seeing whether it's worth getting something off Trademe for $35, or to go the whole hog and get something proper. Having arrived today, will do an opening now and installation tomorrow.

Note: I'm coming from a trial and error background, having played with car wiring, knowing physics and general electronics and how it works, but having never touched a motorcycles electrics, so this can be considered a review for anyone as long as you have a basic understanding.

Price: $35 + ship

What's in the box,

The box is in basic retail packaging with a wiring diagram on the back in Chinese.



Package includes:
2 adhesive strips one for siren, one for box.
One key dongle
The control box
The siren
Handwritten English Instructions


And this is the bike in question, a 2007 Hyosung GV250.


Installation begins tomorrow, will also do a write-up for a Cameleon oiler as soon as it arrives.

[JimO]

i cant wait for episode 2

[varminter]

I have a captive Chinese student if you need a decent translation.

[Suntoucher]

Translation would be fantastic, the English instructions have literally been typed out on Wordpad and confirmation would be great.

Scan of box below.


Right click and select "View Image" to see it big enough to read. Else download it to the desktop.

[Suntoucher]

Attempt One:

Abject Failure

The alarm works and is extremely loud, just trying to get it functioning bypassing the ignition into the starter relay, as well as attaching to the lights in order to set them off if there's any power movement or touching of controls.

Will try again this weekend once I've purchased some more fuses, heh.

For construction I used 10A Automotive Cable, and wire joiners so that in the event of the alarm not working, I can quickly remove it without having to solder or have any exposed wires. Will also simplify my second attempt. Bike still runs(Hyosung conveniently provides a spare 15A fuse) but I don't want to blow it and be stranded.


Indecent Exposure

[Warr]

Attempt One:

Abject Failure
.....

I have no personal experience on this alarm, but Dargor has one on his FZR 400. Have borrowed it a couple of times and it blows fuses ... something to do with the Ignition bypass/ isolate circuit ??
If the alarm goes off... its time to replace the fuse. I havent investigated the wiring but you could be having the same issues. There could be an error in the wiring circuit wiring description...

Just a thought

Just had a look at the circuit diagram you supplied off the box .... Man tis a little er unhelpful. So I will modify my statement
"There is likely an error in the wiring circuit wiring description... "

[p.dath]

I have a question for you - really one to be considered before you buy the alarm, but still you can consider it now.

The first thing you need to do is decide how you think your bike is most likely to be stolen. Once you know that, then you can consider things that mitigate that risk, like an alarm.

From my limited knowledge, most bikes stolen are broken down for parts within 24 hours. They tend to be stolen by people with utes or trucks, so they can lift and take the whole bike away quickly.

There has been a recent spate of thefts involving two people visiting people advertising bikes for sales, one of them takes the bike for a test ride, and never comes back. The second person leaves shortly after the first one has taken the bike, and they vehicle they come in is stolen.

Bike alarms also have a habbit of flattening batteries, leaving bikes un-startable. So consider this also.

You can get disc locks. But peope have a habbit of trying to ride away with them and doing a lot of damage to the bike. Better to get insurance - the excess is likely to be cheaper than the damage.

When the bike is at "home" you can get a wire restraint and restrain it to a solid ground restraint, but evertything needs to be solid. Bolt cutters and a hack saw are readily available.

For my money, if I was going to get anything it would be one fo the cheap Chinese GPS/cell transmitters you can get from www.dealextreme.com. As long as you notice you bike has been stolen quite quickly you stand a chance of TXTing the unit to get the GPS co-ordindates.

[rustyrobot]

For my money, if I was going to get anything it would be one fo the cheap Chinese GPS/cell transmitters you can get from www.dealextreme.com. As long as you notice you bike has been stolen quite quickly you stand a chance of TXTing the unit to get the GPS co-ordindates.

Which will be great as long as they haven't bought one of the $28 GPS jammers from the same website I second the insurance and cable lock option.

[p.dath]

Which will be great as long as they haven't bought one of the $28 GPS jammers from the same website I second the insurance and cable lock option.

Haha. I have not heard of any instances of GPS jammers being used in NZ yet. I suspect it would tend to be used by people stealing expensive cars with the expectation that the cars would have GPS trackers. Especially those cars with the sticker advertising the fact they have a GPS based tracking system (Doh!).

I'd be surprised to see bike thiefs using GPS jammers this early on in the game.

[Warr]

...... Chinese GPS/cell transmitters you can get from www.dealextreme.com. As long as you notice you bike has been stolen quite quickly you stand a chance of TXTing the unit to get the GPS co-ordindates.

So is it this gizmo ? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39993
So to get this up and running you also need a sim card on a plan from your favorite Cell provider ?

And the relay shown can perhaps do the immobilising biso on command from authorised cell phone ??

[p.dath]

So is it this gizmo ? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39993
So to get this up and running you also need a sim card on a plan from your favorite Cell provider ?

And the relay shown can perhaps do the immobilising biso on command from authorised cell phone ??

That one looks good. I was actually lookng at another one last month that has a built in battery as well, and was about the size of a cigarette packet.

Remember, most bikes that are stolen are stripped down for parts within 24 hours. I think an immobiliser is not worth it because of this.

Now consider the tiny little unit with a built in battery that can keep running for a couple of days after the bike has been taken apart ...

[p.dath]

Something more like:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11314
or:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.34844

Basically you use the bike's battery to charge up it's internal battery.

[ExpertoCrede]

For my money, if I was going to get anything it would be one fo the cheap Chinese GPS/cell transmitters you can get from www.dealextreme.com.

I assume then that this company is safe to deal with (you appear to have dealt with them before) - don't like spreading my credit card details all over the world too much. This company seems to be Hong Kong based.

[bogan]

So is it this gizmo ? http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.39993
So to get this up and running you also need a sim card on a plan from your favorite Cell provider ?

And the relay shown can perhaps do the immobilising biso on command from authorised cell phone ??

i reviewed one i got from them a while ago thread is here

[imdying]

Maybe I'm just smarter than the average theif, but I wouldn't be nicking bikes or cars without a GPS jammer.

Now consider the tiny little unit with a built in battery that can keep running for a couple of days after the bike has been taken apart ...

It's not that tiny, and I tell you what, if I were stripping your bike down, and I found something with a couple of aerials sticking out, or something obviously not OEM, it's be getting the bucket of water treatment straight away.