Vandals

[ikabod]

I don't know in your area, but here in Southern California there are few incidents about crazy kids vandalizing outside Christmas decorations, I'm planning to put my first display for 08 but freaks me out of vandals, I don't want to get a $1000 close circuit monitor or I'll probably just get a pitbull tied in front of my lawn.

what do you guy's suggest to avoid vandals? moved to aussie :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Josh]

hey, look around the forums, there have been a few posts about this before.

Some of the things i remember are motion lights, small wire around the yard at about waist level, leaving a few static lights in the display... other things were mentioned but i dont remember all of them

[ben]

wow I think I had my first vandalization last night. a string of C9's were cut. It was clean so I ruled out animal. Its weird though since I have LOADS of other lights closer to the street and it was cut right at the bottom if my steps :?:

Ben

[shocker]

probaly wife getting sick of it

[ben]

probaly wife getting sick of it

I'm married!! at 14!! Thought that was illegal ;)

Ben

[shocker]

change wife for mom ;)

[ben]

change wife for mom ;)

THAT ONE I CAN BUY!!

[piesrule58]

what do you guy's suggest to avoid vandals? moved to aussie :lol: :lol: :lol:

I live in Australia and a couple of years ago we were vandalised in a big way.
3-4 teenagers cut up a bunch of our lights and ripped out a whole lot more and threw them up the street. Some were saved , but most were destroyed.
They were caught, but because of their age (13 & 14) they were given a slap on the wrist and told to behave themselves. Everyone knows them now so they probably won't do it again.
We have had a front fence built just in case.

[Walden]

ben you can wire nut the cut wires so you dont throw a whole strand away

[ben]

ben you can wire nut the cut wires so you dont throw a whole strand away I am going to use butt splices and put shrink wrap over the whole thing. more watertight.

Ben

[Walden]

i dont know what a butt splice is but if you wire nut and then tape it should be water tight enough.

[ben]

i dont know what a butt splice is but if you wire nut and then tape it should be water tight enough.

Its a splice open on each end you can crmp on and then heat shrink. It is far more watertight (and rolls onto my storage rolls easier) that Wire nuts.

Ben

[daviddth]

I live in Australia and a couple of years ago we were vandalised in a big way.

Same here, but I caught the vandal in the act, and taught him a lesson - I maybe big & slow, but so's a steamroller & I think getting hit by one of them would also hurt. He wont do it again for a while.

We have 6 security cameras up & I let the ones that look like they may do something when walking past know about them. You cant get in the yard without being picked up by at least 1 of them

One smart a$$ said "well i'll turn the power off" Um, yep sure, and you'd be 2 foot away from a camera pointing right at you when you approach the meter box. "Oh, well I'll rip the lines down off the pole". Yep sure you will, and keep smiling for the cameras as they are supplied from a 4hr duration UPS along with the PC. "oh, ok well I wont bother - too much hard work"

[Macrosill]

Ben, get yourself a can of Liquid electrical tape. smear it on the open ends of the splice and you should be good to go. It will seal better than heat shrink tubing.

[ben]

Ben, get yourself a can of Liquid electrical tape. smear it on the open ends of the splice and you should be good to go. It will seal better than heat shrink tubing.

I forgot about that! I have a bottle too. Thanks!!!

Ben

[ketas]

This aren't going to save your wires but I have a idea. Let's use lights as NC circuit. I thought about building something myself. Just in case. Except that's for my 24V lights that are on at night. First idea was to monitor rapid current fluctuations, like -/+ 200mA, no current or short.

[daviddth]

I ran a lead wire through about 8 items of my display this year. If it was broken (<0.25mm core, so easy to break) a small personal alarm went off inside as well as on the front deck. It never got tested in action, but did work during pre-christmas tests :)

[cizekjc]

I say we should get completly stripped wire, string it around the display, and hook it up to a powersupply. That takes care of the vandals real quick :D

[Jeff Millard]

I say we should get completly stripped wire, string it around the display, and hook it up to a NEON TRANSFORMER. That takes care of the vandals real quick :D

Hmmm... Thanks to the Mythbusters and this thread, I now have a need for a few Neon Transformers 8)

Always remember: "DON'T DO THIS AT HOME! WE HAVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE THAT KEEPS US SAFE!"

[ketas]

Set up a electric fence. At least it's not illegal and dangerous. At least for adults...