I‘m getting an alarm system installed in a ‘94 camaro v6 tomorrow and the guy is trying to sell me some add-ons but I don‘t know if they‘re necessary.He says for $39 they can put something in the engine hood that will set the alarm off if they ever try to open the hood. It kind of makes sense because if you open the hood and disconnect the battery cables the alarm will be useless, but is it really that easy to pop a closed hood without releasing the hook that holds it down? (Which can only be done from inside the car)
The installer is trying to sell you on a switch of several different kinds: 1) Regular spring-loaded hood pin switch which just connects to ground when the hood is opened, which triggers the alarm. 2) Mercury switch which is a little plastic tube with two contacts and a blob of mercury. When the hood is lifted, gravity allows the mercury to roll onto the contacts and complete the circuit, triggering the alarm. 3) Ball bearing switch which is the same idea as above. The ball rolls into the contacts when the hood is lifted. There may be some other fancy tilt sensor he might have, but it's one of those technologies on the inside of the plastic box. If it's $39 for the part and labor, he's not ripping you off. So it's up to you if you feel you need that feature. If it's $39 just for the part and labor is extra, it's too much. Really not much else anyone can tell you.
Totally unnecessary, the '94 Camaro is gonna break down long before they can get out of the parking lot.
