We've had several threads and discussions on this but it's become an expensive and annoying issue for me here lately. Got hit last week on a 3 acre site. Took 6 batteries out of the loader, track hoe and dozer - didn't get the compactors, probably got scared off. The broke the Cat locks and butchered the battery cables on the D5 and 953 - I guess they couldn't get them out easily. They didn't butcher the 321 as I had another round of thieves a few month's ago relieve me of it's batteries on another job site and the terminals were newer. $884 plus downtime to buy 6 batteries and associated splices, wire and terminals to put them back together. The site is for a water authority's new maintenance building. It's on the corner of two intersecting roads and the existing shop building on-site has dusk to dawn lights and security cameras - unfortunately we had parked the iron just out of the way of the cameras and in enough darkness to conceal their actions. We say their footprints in the dust and where they crouched behind the blade of the D5 to hide. They parked their vehicle on the side road and stage the batteries in one area behind the packer - all in the dark and out of site of the camera, they knew it was there. I was madder than hell and thought to myself how I would like to give them some lead at high velocity..:cool2 Now we corral the equipment up by the lights and close to the camera, it doesn't point out towards the worksite. Put the bucket of the track hoe close to the battery door on the '53, park the D5 right next to the 321 and have the 321's battery door next to the light pole with the lights, facing the parking lot. I haven't replace the batteries we took out of the compactor to put in the other machines yet. So I have been racking my brain on what to do in order to thwart this as much as possible, I know it can't be totally eliminated. Are game cameras worth it? Anyone use them to keep an eye on their equipment? I have thought about added stronger strap type locks with master locks on them but figured they would either destroy the doors/enclosures trying to get in or bust the glass out of spite - either way being much more expensive to repair than buying batteries.:beatsme
Hard to say on the game cam's the ones I have seen don't have super good resolution so you would have to get real lucky to ID someone and that's if they don't steal the game cam... Have you thought about marking/branding all your batts and following through to the nearest scrap yard or place that buys batts specifically I think even napa/oreilley's does around here, I know the scrap yards around here will work with you to track down thieves.
Yep, make you a cattle brand and mark them suckers, then have a local decal shop make you a easy to read decal and stick the decal on the battery door. Batteries Are Branded For Identification Scrap Yards Notified Then have a metal fabricator make you a CM cattle brand
Get a good game camera... Moultre is a good one.... picture's are worth a thousand words.
That's frustrating CM ... Buddy of mine travels quite a bit in his contracting work . He was telling me when they work some neighborhoods he has to hire a few locals to work on the job and that helps some on theft after dark . It is what it is ..... Another factor to consider when estimating jobs .
I've used game cameras to catch vandals in the parks I maintained when I worked at the Town and they were pretty effective. The key is locating them where they will take the best pictures yet be somewhat concealed or out of the line of sight. I put mine up high in trees and cut a wooden wedge to put behind it and angle the lens down on my target. One pothead spotted my camera, climbed the tree and spun it away from where he and his friends were smoking and brought the license plate of his car into focus LOL!! It wasn't too hard to find him. I had a young couple enter the park, then exit, then re-enter moments later naked, all recorded on camera!! I was able to catch vandals in the act and the Sheriff Deputy recognized the kids in the picture, they sure were surprised when he paid them a visit!!
How about a horn hooked up to a motorcycle or law mower battery in a hard to get at location on the machine. Use a normally closed relay in the horn circuit being held open by the machine battery. When a cable is cut or disconnected the relay closes and sets the alarm horn or siren off and it starts blaring. Most thieves will run when the noise starts. Is you have a battery disconnect you have to connect on the battery side of the disconnect. Most relays to not take enough juice to hurt the battery over night or weekend.
Replace the hold down bolts with all thread and use these for nuts: Gorilla locks.
Im going to agree with willie on this brand the batteries.. the camera idea is NOT WORTH THE EFFORT!!!! I had my shop broke into just before xmas got the offenders on camera taking my stuff, went to the local scrap yard got them on camera AGAIN with my stuff, cops say there was not enough evidence to arrest him. finally did arrest him he spent the night in jail & was out the next morning.... talk bout MAD!!!! I found out later they were on probation for stealing from a buddy of mine also... a full month later of me calling the proscuter trying to figure out this mess. the court date came about the judge took him into custody then... im still out a radiator,150' of welding lead & several batteries... just put a flash/bang under the batteries!!! just don't forget its there when you have to change it lol I HATE THEIVES!!! I really think our system should be like overseas 1st offense chop off a finger 2nd offense chop off the hand 3rd offense chop off the head of the offender cause they will never change & im tired of feeding them!!! sorry bout the rant but im still really upset bout the hole deal with my stuff. really bad part of this is I know all the guys that took my stuff for years & their parents!!!
I'm with ya on the rant FSERVICE!
willie, I really don't have a good answer to this problem & speaking with the police, proscuter & judge they don't have a answer either... the jail is full here so they have to put the ankle bracelet on them & send them home!!! there are no ramafacations for stealing from hard working people like us!!!
Hence the reason we say "a padlock is only effective in keeping an honest person honest". :yup
I really like the electric fence charger hooked up to the equipment idea!!! we can identify the offenders by their curly hair!!! LOL
How about gluing the batteries down with rtv. at least glue the corners where you can't see it. to release get a little xylene
Thanks for the comments, I really like the branding idea. A siren or car alarm rigged up to the door is another thought, thanks old-iron. The game camera would be beneficial mounted up on the track hoe boom or in a tree if one was available. Although the time before last when they stole the batteries, they also climbed up the boom and stole the work light. Ironic part of it is that we finished a job in a very rough area in the city - 4 months. I was worried about theft and vandalism - not one problem. This job is out in the country (1 hour drive, one way), for a rural water authority.:beatsme Another problem is we probably have 20-30 small scrap yards in the area - some above board, some not. Called the same 4 in this area to let them know, of course we heard nothing.
Metal mites......they got me....it hurt.....don't remind me.... I'd rather forget. Ps I would Never buy anything I thought was Hot no matter how Good a deal it was
But go to that same scrap yard and try to buy something. .. you would think it's made of Gold
with the noise to scare them away... could you rig up a big 6v battery as power for the horn or alarm put it away from battery compartment and use a relay tapped into main wire circuit to trigger a relay but then again.. why should you have to spend money on modification to prevent the theft of something as small as batteries
Ankle braces don't work either. Two weeks ago a good friend that lives in Duluth, Mn was on a fishing trip. On Saturday night his house got broke into by a druggie that walked into the bedroom and beat his wife in the face and head with a heavy vase looking for money and jewelry. He already had an ankle bracelet on from a house arrest on an armed robbery charge he is awaiting trail for. She just got out of the hospital, now scared ****less, still mostly blind, and looking at needing at least 4 more reconstructive surgeries besides the first patch her up one. Meanwhile only after the thugs picture got taking at an ATM machine 5 days later trying to use her cards, the police recognized the guy. Only then did they look at his ankle bracelet monitor and the GPS tracking showed him going to my friends house where the assault took place and home again. He cut his bracelet off the day after the crime and they had not even followed up on that yet. Now they set bail at only $100,000 on him. They told my friend that it will be a year before they go to trial and that their stolen items have to remain as evidence until then. The lawyer that I am paying for with my taxes said at his arraignment that he is not responsible because he is "sick" with a drug problem. If they had keep him in jail the first time he would not be on drugs. Sorry for pulling the post sideways but if the court system worked we would all have less problems.
Wow that's terrible Old Iron ! I've been lucky, came to work one morning and every battery on the job was unhooked and hold downs off, something must have spooked them as they were all still there. Would have been a couple thousand $$ to replace, theft and vandalism is a constant worry.
Old Iron Habit, sorry to read that. I hate guys who beat up on women.
It's a sad state of affairs, but these days you absolutely need a monitored alarm system in your home and shop, doesn't need to be expensive, but it does need to be armed especially when you or your family are at home. In my case I tell people it's to let the police know to bring chalk to mark where the intruder(s) end up on my floor. Not by any means criticizing people that don't have alarms or firearms in their homes, I had neither for many decades. Times have changed and obviously the number of police available to stem the tide are fewer, and fewer of them are "good guys" in my opinion. My shop alarm is silent by my choice and it alerts me by text message then I get a call before the police are notified in case it's a false alarm. From where I live I can beat the police there most of the time and wait at the gate for them, lights on, weapon in the glove box and hands very much in plain sight with my ID! Repeat after me: "He had a weapon, he lunged for me, I was in fear of my life and I defended myself" YMMV state to state and IAMNAL
that's the words the officer told me I need to be sure I say first "I was in fear of my life" its a shame that it takes something like that guy beating up a woman to get the jail to keep them in there & not just let them go till their court date, I still say chop off a appendage for each offense!!!! I garentee they will start being less crime that involves other peoples property
We should contract with Mexico and send the violators down there to serve their time. It would probably be cheaper and I bet effective as a deterrent. Hola.
Pfffttttt, we should invade Mexico, make them a state and thereby force the duty of taxes on them. Solves the illegal immigration problem at the same time. :tong
Willie have you been watching Ron White lately? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO5EFYY6P14&index=6&list=RD6OOCk7GdWNY
LoL, no, it's just a thought, haven't expanded that thought to a "bigger picture".
i think if we are gonna sent them somewhere they ought to go to the aleucian islands so they are isolated in the cold if we invade mexico we should keep that for the tourism
Now we're invading Mexico in my battery thread? Damn that's a good hijack. :trdjk :tong
This is great!!! I always wanted to visit Mexico but didn't want to leave the US
Sorry cm so have you figured out what security system you are going to use or will it be a combination of things? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
My apologies for the hijack cm. I should have vented somewhere else.
Park the equipment so the batteries are on the "inside" of the circle. Crooks only steal what they think they can get away with easily, any work required and they move on.
Maybe while in Mexico, you might check for Cm's batteries. There we pulled the tread back to continuity!!! :cool2
What is the continuity pos or ground lol
No worries, I have been know to hijack too many a thread in my time here on HEF. Vent on Old Iron, that's what we're here for. :drinkup That's what we've done. Parking all the equipment close the parking lot, next to the dusk to dawn light and close to the security camera although it doesn't face that way. 321 bucket against the 953 battery door, D5 parked close to the 321's track and 533 backed up into the parking lot where the light shines. The 321 is parked with it's battery door facing the parking lot and under the light. They're probably in Costa Rica by now, I need to call Pio - I bet he has my damn batteries..
These batteries are going to Mexico!