Ok, so all in all, I am satisfied with the stock alarm system. The chip in the key deal gives me enough peace of mind (along with the full coverage insurance). Anyhow, I would however like to install a "scanner" on my dash so that it appears as if I have an alarm system. Obviously this is a pretty common install. They are even offered in a 3 wire set up so that you can wire it to just power on when the ignition is off. So I am assuming that the 3 wires are: constant power, ground, and a "control" wire that has 12v when the ignition is on, therefore turning the scanner off.

My question is that I woudl like to delay the scanner from turning on immediatly when I kill the ignition. So my thought was to wire up a capacitor to continue feeding the control wire for a period of time after it lost power. Does that sound like it would work to anyone else? Anyone see any flaws with my idea? and exactly what kind of capacitor would I need? The only type I am famliar with are rated in Farads. Obviously I do not need a huge Amp capacitor for such an install. But hwo many micro-farads shoudl I try starting out with?

Thanks in advance for any help/ideas/criticism.

 

nobody?

 

First I wouldn't bother with the scanner. You're not going to fool anyone.

But, if you really want to put one in and you want to delay the start time I would look for a timer not a capacitor. I haven't seen one that will do exactly what you're looking for but this one is pretty close and could be modified to work: http://www.quasarelectronics.com/3152.htm

I'm sure there are others on the market but this should give you some idea of what you are looking for.