I just added an added measure at protecting my rides while at home. I picked up a simple CCTV camera for $40 and added a DVR ($80 on eBay) card to my PC to record motion tripped video. Now, if anything gets near my bike, car or truck… I have full color motion video recorded to aid in recovery.

 

thats sweet dude, i was actually thinking of doing something like that myself. is there anyway it can alert you to, or does it just record it while you sit there unaware? also, the camera transmits to the computer, how far can it do that?

 

I'm still working on this... I haven't worked out a way for an audible alarm yet. The card in my PC has a connector for it, but I can't find it. That's the problem with buying from eBay. I plan on breaking out the multi meter and tracing which pins give a signal when the camera is tripped, then I can hook up a small speaker for a simple beep or light. Like I said, the camera isn't perfect... if someone wants the bike, they're going to get it. This might help in identifying them. Also, it's not wifi, I'm not a fan of wireless connections. They do have them and I have a friend that is using it with good range (about 25 feet). He uses it to view his yard and it paid off. He asked his neighbors to stop parking their cars on the edge of his yard. They would pull off the road a little and park mostly in his yard killing the grass and so on. They acted friendly to his face and then the next day while he was out... they did several doughnuts in his yard while it was wet... mud every where. Nice camera caught it all, car, color, persons in the car, license plate and all. He burned a copy of the video on CD and gave it to the police. They in turn contacted them and suggested they make good with the repairs... my friend didn't press charges, he just wanted if fix. And now the police know the history... so if anything else happens, they know whose side to be on.

 

oh thats pretty cool i was thinking about doing something smiliar, but i heard a little bit about lo-jack for bikes

 

I've looked into lo-jack... only offered in 3 large cites, not mine. I am looking into it still... there are a couple companies out that market to truck/delivery drivers. So they can monitor where the trucks go, how fast as so on. You buy the box for the bike and you get software for your pc to monitor it....... but if they take the bike and park it inside, you're still lost.

 

1st off whats lo-jack? and 2nd your gonna be watchin alot o stray animals walking past your truck, or is it garaged?

 

1st... lo-jack is a GPS tracking device on your bike/car. When it's stolen, you call the police and report it... then they track your vehicle and recover/arrest attempt is made. It's only offered in a few areas.... I stated three earlier, but I just checked again. Currently LoJack for Motorcycles is available for sale in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. If your bike is taken to a building... GPS doesn't work through walls very well. Here's the link to their site.

2nd... my camera software allows me to select the areas in the view I want motion to trip recording. I placed a line on my fence, my side door to my house and on all my rides. I have a good view of everything including the road in front of my house. Traffic doesn't trip recording unless they pull into my driveway, or if their lights hit one of my trip areas. It's no big deal, I have a 40gig HD just for recording and each day has a date/time stamp and is placed in it's own folder. If nothing happens, I can delete the folders as needed. Even on the highest quality... I'll never fill up the 40gig HD with motion detected video.

 

I think I will have to put a damn alarm on my bike for next year. I will be going to Wayne State for school and it is in Detroit.... I will have to find out if they have cameras in their parking garage or people watchin or something. I dont want to come out of class and have the thing missing half the parts lol.

 

That's a great idea! It's second only to a 12 guage suppository, but you can administer that when you catch the dirtballs in the act.

 

Great idea with the camera, the lo-jack sounds ok apart from the wall thing, here most bikes that are stolen get stripped and dealt out that way, so if your bike goes missing you can virtualy guarantee its goin indoors somewhere to be stripped.