Alarm sensor for truck canopy?

Hi Guys!

I have the alarm up and running now, and it works quite well. My next question is a little tougher though:

What is the best method/sensor for a truck canopy? It is very difficult to hook up a pin switch so another method would be preferable. Any suggestions??

Thanks again for all of your help!

Tim

Hi Jeff!

I finally got that Viper alarm working! But now I want to protect the contents of the canopy. I wanted to use a radar sensor but was told by another installer not to. He claimed that because canopies sweat, that the radar sensor would false all the time. As a fellow Canuck, I figure that you would be the best person to ask as you live in a similar climate.

If I do use a radar sensor, how do I connect it to the Viper alarm. If I use the door trigger wire, it is still going through the dome light delay(I have just learnt to deal with the extra chirp for the bypass notification). How will this be affected? The shock sensor is built in, so no wire there. Any ideas?

Help Please!!!!

Thanks

Tim

You can attach the radar sensor to the bottome side of the box and use the (+) trigger wire for the radar sensor trigger to the alarm. Most alarm systems have a (+) and a (-) trigger door system that you can use. Use the other and if you need to reverse the polarity of the trigger wire from the radar sensor use a relay to do so.

Hi Jeff,

The bottom of what box? The truck box? I only want to protect the contents with a radar sensor. Or are you saying to mount it to the alarm brain and have the entire vehicle protected? Can I narrow the field enough so that only the inside is covered?

What about the steam/sweat issue in the canopy?

I used the positive door trigger as it is a Ford, so I guess I will need to attach the sensor to the negative door trigger slot, right? How do I wire the relay to reverse the polarity of the sensor?

Thanks again Jeff!

Tim

The radar sensor will pass through anywhere you want it to protect. With the radar sensor being an eliptical perimeter, you are limited to the space tht you can mount the sensor. The canopy issue you will not know unless you try it. So I suggest you try it and before you do, tape up the sensor with waterproof tape ( leave the controls accessible ) and place inside the canopy. Do you have a (+) and (-) trigger on the alarm sysetm for the doors ? If you have a Ford you probably have a (+) door trigger system ( if it's an older Ford truck ) and a (-) if it's a newer truck. Any way if you need to reverse the polarity you need a 5 pin relay and wire it up liek this:

Hey Jeff!

I have a 1999 Ford Super Duty. It has the positive door trigger. My Viper alarm has both postive and negative door triggers, so I used the violet postive input for the door trigger.

 So, I can use the negative door trigger input on the brain and use your first diagram (positive to negative relay) right???

Regards,

Tim

What is the trigger polarity of the perimter sensor ? If it's a negative trigger then you really don't have to do anything except hook up the wire to the (-) trigger of the door. If the trigger of the sensor is (+) then you will need to reverse the polarity or use the (+) door trigger and diode isolate the two trigger wires from each other instead of using the relay. It's your choice which ever method gets the same result.

to protect the canopy (I am assuming you are talking about a bed cover) I use a mercury type switch.. the one I use has a little ball that moves back and forth with the opening and closing of the hatch... you will have to run a ground wire and a trigger wire to the switch because of the top being fiberglass (usually)  and silicone the switch to the top.

Also, another tip... you can use this grounding switch to install some little lights that will shine into the bed for nighttime digging for crap... If you fish, they will come in handy..

If I'm off base from what you are talking about, sorry.. just take the tip in stride..