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Vandalized twice - Bigotry is alive and well on San Francisco Peninsula
- Thread starter NikolatheGreat
- Start date
use a small battery
a cheap way to power cameras when you are not in the car is to attach them to a 12 volt gel type battery as used in alarm systems. The cameras use 1/2 to 1 amp so the battery doesn't have to be big to get you 12 to 24 hours time. Since it's gel if it tips over no problem,but keeping it in the side wells of the trunk fixes this too. I use two, a front facing one on the windshield and a dual camera one on the trunk cover pointing out the side windows.
I use mine only when charging overnight at a motel. Hopefully a potential vandal will see the cameras and be deterred. If not you may have his picture.
a cheap way to power cameras when you are not in the car is to attach them to a 12 volt gel type battery as used in alarm systems. The cameras use 1/2 to 1 amp so the battery doesn't have to be big to get you 12 to 24 hours time. Since it's gel if it tips over no problem,but keeping it in the side wells of the trunk fixes this too. I use two, a front facing one on the windshield and a dual camera one on the trunk cover pointing out the side windows.
I use mine only when charging overnight at a motel. Hopefully a potential vandal will see the cameras and be deterred. If not you may have his picture.
strider
Active Member
It was real, back in 1999 during the first tech boom/bubble. After the tech crash it faded away but the feelings are coming back in the form of tech bus protests and such. There's a pretty well-written history of the conflicts and SF housing dynamics here (where I grabbed the image):
How Burrowing Owls Lead To Vomiting Anarchists (Or SFs Housing Crisis Explained) | TechCrunch
Three weeks ago I had my 9 month old car in for a few service bulletins and the battery shield install. And they also replaced my 12volt battery no questions asked. I do have the duel camera Blackvue installed.
There is really no need to brush all people with the same stroke simply by where they live. I'm sure the people who do these lowly deeds are less than 0.001% of the population of San Francisco. Sure, there may be many more people who carry some kind of resentment may be more but not enough to destroy someone's property.
mgdurand
Member
I love this play of anger/tolerance. The person vandalizing the OP's car could have just been some schizophrenic lady walking by. There is a tension now though, because the health indicators of our economy are not being reported accurately, and there are a lot of people suffering unnoticed. I.e. things are probably worse than they seem.
Let's be thankful for what we have, but cautious not to flaunt it in a "cake" sort of way....
Let's be thankful for what we have, but cautious not to flaunt it in a "cake" sort of way....
Canuck
Well-Known Member
I highly doubt it.
He parked his car in a parking lot. There was no flaunting. Let's be caution not to have a 'blame the victim' mentality.
More on this please. We have dash cams in all our cars that turn on when the power is turned out. But with the Tesla, you could leave them on all the time as the contactors will close and keep the 12v charged. If you've got a workable setup, I would like to replicate what you've done.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
I opened up TMC and saw this thread had popped up and instantly thought, "Oh no, what happened?" Sorry this happened.
Don't panic yet, there may be options. How deep is the scratch? Does it look like it was just paint or was some of the aluminum scratched away?
Briefly, your general options are:
- Buffing out: Minor scratches can often be buffed out using an abrasive that essentially files off nearby paint and uses it to fill the gap. Not as bad as it sounds, and can be very effective.
- Filling in: This is where the paint is touched up. Keyings rarely look good repaired using paint pens or brushes. You need something like Dr. Colorchip or Langka to do a proper job. I've used the former on a past vehicle and was astonished how good the results were, but I hear great things about the latter for larger damage areas.
- Repainting: The last resort, IMO. Others sometimes just skip right to this step, but I'd rather have factory paint that's been repaired than repainted panels. You may disagree. Either way, it's an option.
If you go to a body shop, they're going to recommend 3. That's really all they do. 1 & 2 could be done yourself, or through a detailer. Depending on how bad it is, my first stop would be to a reputable detailer in the area. I was very impressed with Joe Torbati in Orinda (this is his current shop, though I visited him while he was with a different shop): OCDetaling
Good luck! Let us know if we can help.
Shawn Snider
Member
Reading this thread makes me really sad that this **** happen's.. Sorry for your bad luck/losses OP.
This kind of **** makes me think of buying a powerful Tazer, Can't just shoot someone up here in Canadurr, but you can disable them while the Po-Po come! Zzzzzzzzzap! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzap!!!!!
Fry the m***********r
This kind of **** makes me think of buying a powerful Tazer, Can't just shoot someone up here in Canadurr, but you can disable them while the Po-Po come! Zzzzzzzzzap! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzap!!!!!
Fry the m***********r
anxman
Member
Redwood City Auto Body is fantastic. Ask for Alex. He repainted my brand new P85D that I scraped on a cement pole in my garage.
mike-415
Member
Useful info! I've had 2 cars keyed, and it's awful. My sympathy to the OP. I try to stay in secured garages now, but it's nice to have a shop in mind in case there ever is an issue.
UberEV1
Member
@mstew203: Depending on how long the scratch is, you may find luck with Glen at Finish Line Painting. Here is a link - Scratch Repair - to my own experience with a (self-imposed) scratch; the repair was done quite well (scroll toward bottom of page). Hope this helps.
MikeBur
ManualPilot
So sorry to hear. Good advice from gizmo. Hope they find the POSs doing this and good luck with the repair.
In the meantime, remember that visible cameras are not necessarily part of the solution, as you may find those being taken through breakins.
i much prefer the idea of 400V+ dc attached to the exterior of the car with multiple warning signs posted ;-)
Not tazer, but you reminded me of this old video..South African Car Flamethrower - YouTube
Love it! Best recommendation!
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Thanks Gizmotoy!
tliving
Member
With the blackvue 650GW the rear camera gets one cable which carries both power to it and the signal from it. So you don't need to find power in the back of the car.
In the front the mic cover may (depends on your car) have a permanent 12V supply available. Otherwise you can solve it several ways, I used a hack on the ODBII connector near the drivers left foot to get permanent 12V so I could catch things while parked like what the OP said (fortunately never happened to me as I think i'd have a heart attack).
