cokentizer Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Hello everyone, This is my first post and look forward to hearing from all you experienced motor homer's out there. We recently exchanged our Auto trail Mohican 07 for a Chieftain 08. At the moment we are just navigating our way around the van and looking forward to our first proper tip out in it To my surprise I found the van has no alarm fitted, so would like to have one fitted for my own peace of mind. My last van had a Cobra fitted, but found this sometimes annoying when setting, but that's just my own personal opinion. Anyway I've briefly looked around at the various types which only serves to confuse. Has anyone got any suggestions, ideas or experience of their own that can be passed on. Look forward to hearing from you. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I've had Autowatch on last and present vehicle never had any problems with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I've a Cobra. It is OK if you keep it on separate fob so you can lock vehicle without setting alarm when you are inside. If you have it linked to vehicle fob then you have to go through a rather silly procedure to isolate the internal sensors when you want to lock it when you are inside. Costs around £300 mark although one agent advertises it at over £500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markh1 Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I have Autowatch too, good system, not twitchy at all and you can have wireless sensors wherever you want them, cost me approx £550 with 4 sensors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cokentizer Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 Thanks guys, I'll take a look at Autowatch and get some quotes. Cheers, Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 paulmold - 2014-10-27 12:18 PM I've a Cobra. It is OK if you keep it on separate fob so you can lock vehicle without setting alarm when you are inside. If you have it linked to vehicle fob then you have to go through a rather silly procedure to isolate the internal sensors when you want to lock it when you are inside. Costs around £300 mark although one agent advertises it at over £500. It seems there may be different Cobra models, we have a Cobra fitted to our Fiat X250 with a single key fob. To deactivate the internal sensor, a second press of the key fob after the initial lock press and the alarm gives three pips to confirm the internal sensors are off. ( If you dare to leave dogs and children in the m/home unattended *-) ) I just lock up inside by pressing the fob twice whilst inside the m/home. Then all h@ll breaks loose when I open the door in the morning, having forgotten its alarmed. Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 tonyishuk - 2014-10-28 5:11 PM paulmold - 2014-10-27 12:18 PM I've a Cobra. It is OK if you keep it on separate fob so you can lock vehicle without setting alarm when you are inside. If you have it linked to vehicle fob then you have to go through a rather silly procedure to isolate the internal sensors when you want to lock it when you are inside. Costs around £300 mark although one agent advertises it at over £500. It seems there may be different Cobra models, we have a Cobra fitted to our Fiat X250 with a single key fob. To deactivate the internal sensor, a second press of the key fob after the initial lock press and the alarm gives three pips to confirm the internal sensors are off. ( If you dare to leave dogs and children in the m/home unattended *-) ) I just lock up inside by pressing the fob twice whilst inside the m/home. Then all h@ll breaks loose when I open the door in the morning, having forgotten its alarmed. Rgds With mine (only fitted in March this year), I have to switch ignition on, then off, then press button on dashboard within 5 seconds until LED lights up, then press key fob, wait 25 seconds before waving hands in front of sensor to make sure it's worked. Can't lock doors from inside either by fob or door buttons without the alarm being set which if we had separate fob we would be able to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Has anyone mentioned aftermarket mortice type deadlocks, my prime interest would be keeping the buggers out, not some alarm going off that everyone ignores while they nick your stuff. http://www.motorhomelocks.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chudders Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Got an Autowatch on current motorhome and had same on previous motorhome. never had a problem or false alarm (7 years approx in total) other than when I have opened the hab door without deactivating on the fob you can deactivate the internal sensors if you want to set the alarm at night on the doors but on the occasions I have done this I have forgotten to deactivate before I go out of the hab door in the morning so now I don't bother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Joe90 - 2014-10-28 10:01 PM Has anyone mentioned aftermarket mortice type deadlocks, my prime interest would be keeping the buggers out, not some alarm going off that everyone ignores while they nick your stuff. http://www.motorhomelocks.co.uk/ I have an unused set of these for the X250 if anyone interested - £50 inc p&p http://motorhomelocks.co.uk/images/569.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 If you want the bees knees, have a look at Van Bitz. Best alarm I've had was fitted by them. I had a dealer fitted Cobra on my last van which enabled me to switch on a perimeter alarm without using the internal sensor - hence the dog could be left in the van and we could sleep with the alarm on if necessary. Worked OK for the 8 years I had the van without any problems. Current one is a dealer fitted Autowatch and I'm not impressed. It seems to be a car alarm with added bits to cover the lockers and garage. Does the job though in that it goes off if I open the door or lockers without switching off the alarm. Also has a quiet setting so you can switch the alarm on and off without it beeping. Wife likes the fact that you have one button for on and a separate one for off. Don't have the perimeter only alarm although I think it's an option on my 458RL model. None of the alarms I've had have gone off by accident. Thunder and lightning seem to affect cars and houses but none of my vans. If I was buying from scratch, I'd start by looking at VanBitz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Our last van had a Vanbitz "Strikeback T" alarm, that the previous(first) owner had fitted when the van was new. (I found the invoice and I think was for around 700 quid in total?.). It had sensors on all the external lockers. movement sensors which could be switched off when you were inside and an umbilical loop, which could be used to alarm bikes on a rack etc(it was even long enough to secure them if the were just left out by the van). As for how good it was?...well, the van never got stolen..not even a little bit. Whether that was down to the alarm, is anyone's guess. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 pepe63 - 2014-10-29 2:37 PM As for how good it was?...well, the van never got stolen..not even a little bit. Whether that was down to the alarm, is anyone's guess. ;-) ....well, none of my 9 'vans (nor contents) have been stolen - and none of them have had an alarm. So on your logic, a Vanbitz alarm is no better than no alarm. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Joe90 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Robinhood - 2014-10-29 2:51 PM pepe63 - 2014-10-29 2:37 PM As for how good it was?...well, the van never got stolen..not even a little bit. Whether that was down to the alarm, is anyone's guess. ;-) ....well, none of my 9 'vans (nor contents) have been stolen - and none of them have had an alarm. So on your logic, a Vanbitz alarm is no better than no alarm. ;-) I've forgotten now.....where did you say you normally park it again. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Who me/mine?.. ..well,by all accounts, 'twas usually within a foot or so of a little white marker post.. (lol) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 pepe63 - 2014-10-29 4:45 PM Who me/mine?.. ..well,by all accounts, 'twas usually within a foot or so of a little white marker post.. (lol) ;-) ....and was it level? ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EJB Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I believe that the 'Strikeback' is generally the most popular among MHers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Robinhood - 2014-10-29 4:57 PM pepe63 - 2014-10-29 4:45 PM Who me/mine?.. ..well,by all accounts, 'twas usually within a foot or so of a little white marker post.. (lol) ;-) ....and was it level? ;-) but of cause..one has standards. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Purely personal view. I have never yet had an alarm on any vehicle that has not at some point begun to malfunction. So, I intensley distrust alarms. Modern vehicles have good immobilisers, which have substantially reduced the number of vehicle thefts. They also have better locks, often deadlocks, that make entry more difficult, or dependent on the thief having specialised kit. It also seems that when alarms go off no-one takes the slightest notice, so I rate their effciacy as at best marginal. For some reason, and desipte the above, many insurers insist on alarms being fitted once the value of the vehcile exceeds some arbitrary limit. If it does, one has no choice. I had supplementary Abus door locks fitted to our van, but still had to subimt to the insurer's requirement for an alarm. Alarms possibly have some use when the van is parked and no-one is in occupation. If occupied, I can see no point in setting an alarm. If one feels the need to sleep with an alarm armed, I'd question the choice of stopping place. On "sensible" parking places, the ordinary locks should provide adequate security at night, providing at least the cab doors have deadlocks or supplementary locks. The rest depends on where one lives, and where one's van is normally parked. In areas of high vehicle crime, even if parked on one's drive, I would have an alarm with an internal sensor fitted for peace of mind, in the hope an intrider would be frightened off before they got too far in. Windows are far "softer" points of entry than doors, so I think an alarm without an internal sensor would be poor value. If the van had to be parked away from home, fitting an alarm would depend purely on whether there was normally someone present to react to an alarm. But, unless an EHU is also on offer at the remote location, a solar panel of some kind seems essential to prevent the alarm flattening the starter battery. Otherwise, for preference, I would eschew the alarm. There but for the grace of God etc; but for our eight years of motorhoming around a biggish chunk of europe up to 2013, we had no alarms, and experienced no hint of attempted break-in. We just used reasonable care when leaving the van unattended, and never felt it necessary to leave one of us in the van when visiting supermarkets or attractions. But, as I say, personal view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Maybe I should think about an alarm now that we have an appreciating asset ;-) ............... Although we do have some pedal clamps made by the FIL which are quite substantial :D .............. Plus a sticker in the window saying........ "This van is protected by a state of the art alarm"......in several languages (lol).............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazooka Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 what works for me is a curtain drawn across the back of the cab seats.then we also have the interia sencors on our cobra alarm which cost £160 fitted two years ago. Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cokentizer Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 Hello everyone, Many thanks for all your input. I've finally decided to go for the Autowatch 695 Deluxe Motorhome Alarm, from "Rammobile". It has all the necessary things I want from an alarm, and after shopping around to get at least a reasonable deal I think I've achieved that, saving at least £150 after my first quote from Camper Uk. To give a visual deterrent I'll also be fitting Fiamma locks on the garage doors, where I suspect thieves target thinking there will be lots of goodies stowed. Even though I live in a low crime area and prey I'll never be targeted, it will at least give me some peace of mind. especially next year when we intend to travel to France. So fingers crossed now and hopefully I will have a trouble free future. Happy motorhoming Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldi Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Afternoon all,, They are supposed to be thatcham spec with a certificate to prove to get insurance reduction . norm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete-B Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Is the Van Bitz Strikeback Thatcham Cat 1 approved because I read somewhere that it may not be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Bulgaria Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 One factor to note is that some alarms draw a highish current even when on standby. I have an Autowatch fitted to my Hobby Van. Works fine as an alarm, although never been used in anger, but draws around 60 mA current from the engine battery, even when not turned on. The base vehicle and other motorhome systems draw only 17 mA total. Fine if you are on a hookup or have a solar panel, but limits the time a vehicle can be left standing, for example when in storage over the winter, to about 3 weeks tops. This might be fine for a vehicle that is used regularly, but less so for infrequent use. There are alarm systems which draw a much lower standby current, so this may be an important consideration when purchasing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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