Have you ever had your hood star ripped off? - Page 3 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

EricSilver · #31 03-06-2003, 10:57 AM

Yes, you can attach a wire or cable to the star -- and I would suggest attaching that to a switch that activates the horn (and the lights if you want to get fancy).

At the first (hard) tug, the horn blows, scaring the heck out of the person. He is unlikely to keep at it since he would draw too much attention to himself. People will ingore steady, alarm horns, but will pay close attention to irregular, annoying horn blowing.

Seems all that is required is a strong wire from the star spring that opens/closes a heavy duty under-hood momentary contact switch, and a pair of wires that run along the edge of the hood and splice into the horn circuit. Tug the star (hard) and the horn blows. Release the star and it stops.

I was thinking also of a an interior strobe that would flash twice to fool the perp into thinking he had been photographed by a hidden camera. But then he might be motivated to break in and find the camera, or steal the car altogether, so I scratched that idea.

need2speed · #32 03-06-2003, 02:48 PM

A couple of years ago it was quite the fashion for kids to wear hood ornaments on a chain around their necks. Seems the Mercedes star was most popular!

Anyways, the local dealer simply offered a free star to anyone who came in and asked. Small cost to them and saved big inconvenience to customers. The parts manager said only two people came in but the vandalism has gone way down.

Seems driving a stolen Neon is even more fashionable now.

BTW, first "accessory" I put on the E500 was a flat hood badge from Bekkers. Why tempt fate?

BoostnBenz · #33 03-06-2003, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by EricSilver
Yes, you can attach a wire or cable to the star -- and I would suggest attaching that to a switch that activates the horn (and the lights if you want to get fancy).

At the first (hard) tug, the horn blows, scaring the heck out of the person. He is unlikely to keep at it since he would draw too much attention to himself. People will ingore steady, alarm horns, but will pay close attention to irregular, annoying horn blowing.

Good idea, but it'd take a little time wiring everything up. After all the horn shuts off with the key, also if they moved it over without putting it back your horn would blow until the battery was dead. I've been thinking of my own camera idea, I was fixing a camera of mine (swapping internals) and accidently touched the capacitor.

That'd get someone's attention, but I figured it wasn't the best approach because: 1) Some little kid walking by accidently hits it, 2) If the person was willing to rip off my hood star, they probably wouldn't hesitate to key the car and do more damage. Just like the chain idea, it'd only end up doing more damage.

I have only had my (84) Mercedes since August of 2002, so far nobody has bothered it. From time to time I have seen the star on a different angle than I left it, but I'm pretty sure it is just people bumping it walking through the parking lot at my university.

~jm

EricSilver · #34 03-06-2003, 07:31 PM

Hi Jm,

Perhaps rigging a secondary horn (I still have one int he car from the PO's alarm system) would to the trick.

There are also a lot of of very loud piezoelectric buzzers and other noisemakers that you can buy really cheap from Radio Shack or some other electronics places. They can be rigged quite simply and consume very little power.

The more interesting the sound the system makes, the more attention it will get, and more fear it will inspire. The ideal thing would probably be a the typical Woop-Woop sounding police siren, with red and blue flashers through the grille.

That would drive people away in a huge hurry. Then again, the temptation to switch the thing on in traffic would become very strong, landing you in a heap of trouble...

I thought of the battery drain issue and my very low tech, but cheap, solution is to have a somewhat under-rated inline fuse as part of the circuit. If the star is accidently or deliberately jammed the the fuse will overheat and blow, killing the noise. The delay should be about 2 minutes.

Just fantasizing...

richunters · #35 03-06-2003, 09:44 PM

A friend of mine told me, about ten years ago, the stolen star problem in the US is nothing compared to parts of Asia. The problem was so common that MBs were routinely parked by the owners, or their drivers, with the star removed.

These days the MBs are more commonplace, so hopefully the thefts are less of a problem.

BoostnBenz · #36 03-07-2003, 03:50 PM

I just thought of something that may work even better to stop the alarm, setup a spring on the bottom side of the star. No matter how many times it gets hit, it goes right back to center.

Kind of like those springs they use on CB antennas, or a spring door stop.

Then again maybe it isn't worth worrying about, my 84's star is so old (and not taken care of) that the chrome on it appears to be faded from sun.

Jeff M

need2speed · #37 03-14-2003, 02:57 PM

Came across the hood star alarm on eBay, check it out:

Hood Star Alarm

Disclaimer: no, I'm not affiliated in any way with this item

Aaron · #38 03-15-2003, 10:31 AM

The part of Cincinnati that we live in is called Mount Adams. It's a small community which sits atop a giant hill overlooking downtown Cinci. Anyhow, we have lots of "trendy" bars in the neighborhood where all the young yuppies come and get loaded on their Bud Light or Michelob Ultra or whatever it is they drink, and unfortunately drive home when the bars close down. Since my cars that aren't in storage have to sit on the street, I've had a number of instances with not only hood star theft but keying and someone putting a pumpkin under the car (420SEL) near the fuel pumps, which, when I backed up, jarred the pumps and caused them to spring a leak.

Nobody has ever touched the 280SE, but my 300SD's star was just stolen about a month ago. I stocked up at the local dealer just in case it happens again.

EricSilver · #39 03-16-2003, 11:46 PM

A pumpkin?

Hmm, I thought I saw it all when someone hid a *waffle* on my air intakes beneath the windshield.

whunter · #40 01-29-2005, 12:41 AM

What foul creature would dare touch my star.

#41 01-29-2005, 08:54 AM

Unfortunately, Some idiot has taken the "STAR" off of my mom's car several times. I on the other hand was fortunate. Do you think they take them off now more than they did in the 70's or 80's?

Ali Al-Chalabi · #42 01-29-2005, 09:11 AM

It has happened to me in a parking lot. But at the time, there was a very considerate citizen that saw the event and immediately notified a nearby cop. The two 14 year olds that stole it were arrested for stealing my hood ornament. I wonder what the chances of getting caught for that are.

When I returned to my car, there was an officer's card in the door jamb with a phone number to call and, of course, no hood ornament on my hood. When I called the number, an officer came and explained the situation and had the two offenders in the back seat of his car.

Cateaux · #43 01-29-2005, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoostnBenz

I just thought of something that may work even better to stop the alarm, setup a spring on the bottom side of the star. No matter how many times it gets hit, it goes right back to center.

Kind of like those springs they use on CB antennas, or a spring door stop.Jeff M

If anyone wants to trigger a switch only when the hood star is being pulled, I think ingnition points would work perfectly. You've got a spring with plenty enough tension to hold the star down, and a built-in contact switch capable of handling thousands of volts of electirity!

One could then wire it to an alarm, horn, lights, air raid siren, etc.. Model rocket fuses are electrically operated and can trigger something like a smoke bomb. What would a star-thievin' punk think about the strange colored smoke billowing from under the car

? Or, if you want to be more agressive, wire it into an ignition coil. One could put a toggle switch under the dash to turn the system on and off.

190D22 · #44 01-30-2005, 11:20 PM

I too have thought of getting the hood star charged to thousands of volts... but this is considered a "booby trap" and is HIGHLY illegal... I would LOVE to do this... but that is asking for a law suit. I also do not know if it will work or not, I haven't figured out a way to complete to circuit.

Gurkha · #45 01-30-2005, 11:39 PM

Living in Staten Is. NY would be a monthly affair with my 240D, used to be a pricey one to as the dealer in Elizabeth, NJ would charge me $80. I found a cheaper source on the back of C&D mag at $35, still used to be a royal pain replacing it every month or so.