This is more for car-jackers, but you could always rig this to an alarm system:

 

There are 16 pins in each cap, 6 are used, three will feed power when needed. There are multiple caps with different wiring arrangements. So if they take advantage of all the pins and
all the options they have tons of different cap options.. Now take away 3 of them because you get voltage you have 13 different places for each the other wires so that is
probably millions of options to get them just right. So with a enough time and a volt meter you could eventually figure it it.. BUT what thief would be smart enough to be sitting
in your truck for hours figuring this out? Would be quicker to jumper all the relays under the hood, haven't ever seen that done.

 

For GPS trackers, there is a pet product called Whistle - small enough to fit on a dog collar, about a 6-day internal battery when not actively tracking, and I'm fairly certain you could just leave it plugged in to its USB charger and let it run without problems. Not sure how long the battery lasts while actively tracking, but it has a "home" zone when in range of your local wifi - when it leaves that zone, you get a notification (customizable as any/all of the options of email, text, in-app alert) and then have the ability to track it. You can also add other "safe places", not sure of the functionality of that as I don't use it, but it may be useful for a work location or a friend's house dependent on how it determines those locations. $100 for the device plus $7 a month for service (if you do the 2-year subscription). $25 off the device right now. Requires a wifi signal to recognize your "dog" is at home, and uses AT&T to communicate with their servers so if you're in an area where AT&T is poor, probably not an option. You can track it on a Google map in near real-time, system latency is around 1-2 minutes in my experience.

You'd have to disguise/hide it, and it probably has some shortcomings that pro GPS vehicle trackers don't have, but for $75 up front and $7 a month, that's not too shabby. I've had one on my dog for two years without any problems at all. I have my alerts set up as both a text and in-app alert: I hear the text tone and then the (different) app alert tone, the combination lets me know it's important and it's also less likely I'd miss both.

https://shop.whistle.com/products/wh...tivity-monitor

 

Effin brilliant, prescot!
now a new thread of what our "dog" name is...mines now are Clutch and Merc

 

This won't slow a determined thief down by more than 4 min, but it certainly is a deterrent, I have proof of it.

I parked my truck at the Park and Ride near Auburn and took the train into Seattle for a game. Came back and my truck was still there, but the fellow with a 1999 F250 diesel parked 2 spots over, his truck was gone.
Due to the proximity of the park and ride, the thieves probably didn't have the tools or the time to take my steering wheel lock off. And it's very obvious sticking up over the dash too. Mine was in a slightly darker stall 2 over.

 

 

My friend had 3 of those GPS dog trackers on his huskies. Several times he got alerts of them getting out of the yard only to rush home and find them still there. On another occasion spent about an hour tracking signals and trying to find one of them and he was about a mile from where the device said he was. Don't know the brand. If you wanna go that route do some research on them, I assume there are better ones.

 

Another simple idea, if you have an android based radio head unit, is to plug in a SIM card that has some basic data access. Use your google account to Locate your android. Since the HU acts as a tablet anyways, you can use the data plan for maps, online streaming apps etc., along with being able to locate your truck.

 

My experience with this particular unit is absolute accuracy of about 100 yards, and 1-2 minutes latency. So a dog running after a deer in the woods would be nearly impossible to intercept, but once motion slows/stops, you have the area of a couple football fields to search... would suck in heavy brush looking for a shy or injured/unconscious animal, but a full-sized pickup truck not as bad. Underground parking garage would probably put it out of signal, probably some other things would make it useless.

I've had exactly two false out-of-zone alerts in two years, both were followed up within a minute with back in-zone reports. False alerts aren't any big deal, you just start tracking... if your dog is going 60mph down an Interstate, she's probably been kidnapped; if she's in the neighbor's yard sitting stationary, it's probably a false. Your wifi is going to determine the "home" circle, and if you park your dog at the fringe of wifi reception, you'll probably have more false alerts than if it's parked inside a reliable signal area. For the collar device to send an out-of-zone alert, it has to have x amount of "pings" missed between the router and the device before it sounds the alarm to minimize falses - I can usually take Koka for a truck ride and get about a mile away before the device decides that yeah, she really isn't at home anymore. If the objective is to know the instant your dog is kidnapped, this device isn't going to be the ticket, nor is it going to work if you're tracking it and trying to get a police dispatcher to relay to a unit exactly where your dog is at that very moment. But the information could be used to predict a destination, arrange for an intercept, or at least give clues to the general direction until the device is stationary for a few minutes. Not a perfect answer, but possibly somewhat more productive than standing there with your hands in your pocket looking at an empty parking spot.

Where I live, any stolen vehicle is probably going to head for a chop shop in PHX or straight to MX intact, just driven across the border. Given the distance and few routes between here and there, and understanding the limitations of the device and network, I feel extremely confident that I could guide personnel to a spot to intercept it enroute.

 

I just found a 25yr old The Club and threw it on..haha

 

One of the things I've done to a few cars that has worked great is to run your starter command wire through your cigarette lighter receptacle. Then get some like a air pump that works on a lighter and cut the end off. Pull it apart and wire the contacts together. When ya wanna start it insert the "connector" when u want it disabled throw it in your pocket and walk away.

 

When I bought my truck I had a Ravelco installed within the first week, couldn't really afford it but couldn't really not afford it if you know what I mean. Anyways had it installed
and within 30 minutes of it being installed, wife and I went to Costco in Tucson, AZ. When we came out someone had tried to steal the truck. Broke the door lock and the ignition
but truck was still there. Cost about $200 to replace broken parts. The Ravelco was $450 and I can testify that it works, saved me about $20,000 for a new truck. Definitely worth the
money. $500 isn't to expensive for something that works great. The Ravelco would take hours to defeat even if you knew what you were doing.

 

I have a passive Ghost Switch system of my own design. It requires key=ON, then two actions to enable the PCM and cranking. Neither of the actions are detectable from outside the truck, nor are they obvious to an observer in the passenger seat. The system remains in "run" until the DAB times out, or when the door is opened. So the truck is protected every time I get out of it, but I can shut it off to order my burger and restart it without going through the motions again. There is a WELL hidden bypass switch that isn't reachable from the driver seat (so a thief looking for it from the seat won't find it) in case the system malfunctions. But in 6 years and 90,000 miles it has been trouble-free, and gives me peace of mind that I've tried to do something the have my truck be where I left it the next morning.

"Kill switches" are great, but a passive system where you don't have to do anything other than open the door to arm it is better IMO. The truck is protected every time you get out.

 

I like this one!

 

What about the programmers like the Hydra with a "No Start" feature? Anyone have experience with those being bypassed? It would essentially be a free anti-theft device if you were buying the programming anyway...