Is it possible to look under the car and see if the siren is visable from underneath? If you can’t clip the wires, a shot of expanding foam from Home Depot will quiet it down.
It’s being guarded by the minions of the law, who I think should be being plyed with coffee by all the neighbors. “Gotta pee? Sure, use my bathroom.” Then lock him in for five minutes, so that your solution can be implemented.
Hour number 14. The long, slow, agonizing and obviously painful death of the battery has begun.
It would be comical if this was some sort of parody of a horror flick with stupendously bad special sound effects.
The good news is that, while it still sounds like a cow being slaughtered near a whore house with microphones in all the back rooms and a $10 PA system, the volume has dropped significantly in the last 45 minutes.
The constable wandered off about 20 minutes ago, presumably to give his ears a rest. Either that or he’s gone off someplace less public to commit suicide. I’d vote the latter.
The end appears to be near. Four of my neighbors are coming over in just a while. We’re gonna BBQ some steaks and celebrate the pending and greatly anticipated silence.
Thanks for lending an ear.
That reminds me … anybody got some ears of corn for the BBQ? 
Lucy
Thank you.
Just … thank you.
And I am so stealing that line.
Jesus, you are a saint. I have money and a great lawyer. I head out, disconnect the battery and if they catch me they can charge me with breaking into the car. I think I can beat it.
Now you and your neighbors can get the pitchforks and torches ready for the owners’ return.
That’s awful.
But you must tell me the shitstorm which arises when 200 pissed-off neighbors march into the idiot’s doorway screaming bloody murder and calling for a hanging.
There are some crimes you don’t commit because a jury of your peers will, in full accordance with the law and after due process, may punish you. Then there is the stupid shit you don’t do because people rip you apart.
“Your alarm was on all weekend!”
“Aw, it wasn’t that bad, was it? If it was I’m sure the cops would have stopped it.”
Somethings need to be experienced, I’m guessing.
Holy shit, 14 hours?
I always wondered how long one of those could go off without some kind of time limit or the battery dying. I figured it would be somewhere in the 1 to 3 hour neighborhood. Fourteen hours is some serious disturbance of the peace.
If the car alarm was going off and bothering me, and I happened to look out the window and saw the car being stolen, I would probably close the curtains and go back to what I was doing - the thief is taking the noise away. And I’m a NICE person!
Car alarms must be outlawed.
Oooh, Lucy I have a terrible plan - with the co-operation and knowlege of all the neighbours, I suggest that payback can be a real bitch - for a couple of hours around 3:00 am for the next couple of nights when the neighbours get back in their house. See how they like it.
I had typed a reply, but it was based on a misreading of another post, so…hang in there, Lucy! One way or another, it’ll all be over soon.
25 Hours, 40 minutes. Give or take a bit.
You can still see a dim flicker of light from the headlights about every 10 minutes or so, and every so often the little beastie lets out a slow, soft moan that sound somewhat like a distant foghorn on a foggy bay.
The BBQ was pretty fun. The constable came over and had a steak and baked potato with us. He finally got permission to leave about 9:30 PM. One of the neighbors brought some sparklers and a few left over fireworks - added a somewhat festive ending to what was, at least for me, an otherwise lousy day.
We explored a number of creative revenge scenarios (some were actually quite evil) but ultimately decided that we should take no immediate action.
My mother always told me that revenge is a dish best served cold.
A few of the neighbors plan to gather and snicker when the kid tries to get that POS started to go to school tomorrow, but most of us leave for work long before that kid gets out of bed.
I’m with all of you that think car alarms should be outlawed, but somehow, I kinda think that the product will eventually go the way of the dodo. I sure hope so. LoJack and Onstar are so much better as antitheft devices. A brief (and probably ineffective) search on the 'net didn’t turn up a single confirmed instance where a car alarm stopped a thief (except a couple of ‘testimonials’ on websites that sell alarms). But then again, my googlefu has never been very good. Us old farts sometimes don’t pick real good search terms …
26 hours now. Lights just flashed again. I am so going to find out what brand of battery that is.
Time to go over to one of the other forums and find out what y’all are up to.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Lucy
j666, glad you liked it. Every now and then I get lucky. But you don’t need to steal it though, I give it freely unto you as a belated (early?) christmas gift.
The lights were flashing in addition to the alarm? I was shocked that a car battery could run an alarm this long, much less be flashing the lights on top of it.
If I may be so bold, and hopefully the occasion would never arise again, but consider calling your local tv station when this happens.
Hours of horn? BBQ? Sheriffs and a judge? Man, local news salivates for a story like this. A crew drops by and an hour later packs up and heads home to edit. A few hours later it airs locally, then CNN picks up on it and it hits the feeds, shown hundreds of times around the country.
What then might happen is that with publicity comes a change in the law, and the next poor sod calls the cops who drop by, slim jim the lock, pop the hood & diconnect the battery.
ETA: Another thought for the future - pile blankets and tarps around the front of the car - bet it would drop the sound dramatically.
Well it is clear now that your neighbor, in order to live must now appease the neighborhood.
The best way of course if for him to find out where the sheriff, DDA and judge live, go park his car legally near their house, set the alarm, set if off and disappear for 24 hours. I think once they had 24 hours of this they might have a new attitude! Since they will live in different neighborhoods it might take awhile–I would start with the sheriff first, because the DDA and the judge won’t be sympathetic, then the DDA, cause the sheriff will tell him to go fuck himself, then the judge cause the other two won’t care at that point!
We have this ALL the time on the ferries here in Seattle. You are on a boat, in the water and you set your fucking alarm? What you think someone is going to drive your precious somewhere? Always is a BMW, AUDI or Mercedes–always. Dumb fucks. They always make an announcement over the PA on the ferry, and everyone watches the stairways down to the car deck to see who the dumb ass is 
Only gratifying moment of the whole situation.
I bet you’d have the backing right now to have a local ordinance passed. Strike while the memory is strong. Who’s going to protect the ass that owns the car when they return, and I bet the car has a mishap before long. All those people annoyed that long is going to have at least a couple people get even. Maybe everyone can get the sheriff to bill the guy for man hours required to guard the car, because that’s beyond normal services.
We tried. TV not even remotely interested. “Call us if the thing blows up or somebody starts shooting.” :rolleyes:
Local newspaper said they’d send someone out - but they never showed. They’re owned by some big publishing conglomerate from back east somewhere. We have trouble getting any, you know, actual local news any more. :mad:
Man, where were you last night?? No one thought of such a simple fix!!! :smack: :smack: :smack:
Shocked? Merely shocked? We’re all flabbergasted! I will learn what brand of battery is in that car!
Lucy
My guess is an Interstate deep cycle. I had one in my old Plymouth that lasted over 7 years.
Please do, and post it. Us cold-starting folks can always use the name of a powerful battery. Something good can still come of this bad thing!
Ooh, I thought of another terrible plan - take turns with the neighbours going to the assholes’ house and waking them up in middle of the night, telling them you thought you saw someone messing with their car. With enough neighbours in on this, you could do this for weeks.
You, madam, are an evil genius.