Alarms, remotes, and other security issues.

[Griffin]

Hi all,

I noticed very few posts concerning electronic security for motorhomes (of for trailers.)

Lot's of good ideas on locks, doors, securing the hitch, closing the brakes, etc., b ut very little on integrating existing auto or home alarm systems into the Airstream itself.

I'm just finishing the install of MotoSat's DataSTORM two way internet connection and that fancy dish is a dream come true for a traveler like me. I am now assured of broadband connectivity wherever I roam (without crossing any big ponds, so far.)

Still I know that it's a walking advertisement for the computers, and other goodies in my home away from home.

Since my Classic MH has a solenoid activate remote locking mechanism anyway, I'd like to integrate an alarm system, and possibly a tracking system (like Teletrac(sp?) LOJACK.))

I wonder if any of you have done so already and what you experiences might mean to my evaluation of existing systems.

I'm definitely thinking that I'd like to look for a model with an auto start and ignition cutoff. My Airbrakes take a long time to presurize so I'd really enjoy an auto start feature. I know it might be better to hide a manual ignition kill switch, but I'm not well versed in these things.

Thanks in advance for the feedback. I'm glad to have the ears and eyes of such a great buch of enthusiasts.

Regards,
Griffin de Luce
95 Classic Diesel Pusher
88 Limited w/ F250 PSD

[Diana Langley]

I'd be interested in some ideas for a trailer alarm. Just last week I noticed someone had tried to pry open the door to my Globetrotter.
The metal is pulled out a bit on the door and scratch marks between the door and frame, but the lock held (this time). If they come back with a pry bar or break a window, I'm SOL.
Can you put a regular car alarm in and have it run off of the battery?

[74Argosy24MH]

I've been toying with this one myself, and have these thoughts. Are you plugged in all the time, or have solar to recharge the battery? If not active sensors will kill the battery pretty quickly, especially if it is not real good. A pin switch of the door in series with a horn won't draw any current until activated, but won't do anything to stop the damage like you suffered.

I don't know what the battery life is on the personal alarms that hang on the door knobs, but if long enough (and loud enough inside) one of them might work. Also an alarm sticker on the window, most thieves won't chance it.

John

[Pick]

Ever notice when someone's car alarm goes off in a parking lot, that everyone drops what they are doing and goes to the rescue of the vehicle that has it's alarm going off? Didn't think so.

In our County Dispatch Center, where my office is, we see a lot of alarm activity. A few months ago, I asked the dispatch supervisor what percentage of electronic alarm calls are real live emergencies. He said he could only think of one incident in the last five years. Alarm drops are just one notch above lock outs on the priority list. Why? Because 99.9% are falses. Chances are, that having "Alarm Stickers" pasted on doors and windows have just as much of a deterent effect has actually having an alarm.

Now, fire/smoke/temperature alarms are a different story.

[Diana Langley]

Yea, but the trailer is parked in front of my house. I'd hear it. I know they are doing this at night. the street is too busy during the day.
I'm tempted to sleep in it a few nights with a camera and baseball bat. What is ticking me off is that they are prying up the edge of the sheet metal. It looks like they tried again Saturday night. Fresh scratch marks.

I did put one of the stickers from my car alarm on the window next to the door. I hope that helps. What a pisser!!!

[evan]

They are cheap insurance and may even lower your insurance. They do work at keeping the vermin away. I put one in a B-van and had it for several years. It went off one night and scared the guy away that was trying to break in. Any competent stereo shop can install one for $250-$350 (motor homes do cost more). There are many options for door-locks, remote start, various sensors types etc., the sky ( and price ) are the limits. I plan to put one on my AS Motor Home. I figure something is better than nothing. The only thing with a stationary trailer/MH, unless you can keep the battery charged it will drain eventually. I do believe the battery draw is minimal, so maybe you will have to charge once a week?

[Diana Langley]

I'm going to check into that. I don't have a problem charging up weekly. I have two gel batteries in the trailer so it should last a while.

[Pick]

One of the best deterents for criminal activity is light. Lots of light. If there is some way that you could mount a dual floodlight fixture, with INFRARED light sensor, so that it faces the door of the trailer. Then when someone approaches it the flood lights turn on.

[Griffin]

I think that would be great if there was a way to make it a very focused sensor beam... Of course the Infrared detector would probably draw more power than a typical Sensor.

I'm going to research this further. Sligthly off topic, but I'm struggling with this now.

I'd like to pull a couple cables into the back bedroom of my 36' MH. one for Internet (RJ45) and on pair for speakers. Anyone done this without drilling through the floor and going outside the coach?

Thanks,
Griffin

[evan]

Could you find a routing path inside your upper and lower cabinetry? I did this on one of my AS trailers.I attached the wires along the top edge just behind the face of the cabinets, so they where out of sight. I was able to get from front to back though the cabinets. You will drill a few holes and use alot more wire length.

[RoadKingMoe]

There are wireless solutions for both. They may be more expensive, but are a lot less work.

[evan]

RoadKingMoe is right, you could go wireless. It would be quite a bit more expensive. I have a totally wireless high speed set up for my 3 Apple computer network in my house. I am using the apple Airport system which is hooked to a cable modem. This allows high speed wireless surfing up to 150ft from the airport base station. Imagine sitting outside in a lounge with your laptop, being logged onto the internet! Airport system: $400 and will work with Windows machines.

[Griffin]

Well thanks Moe & Evan...

Today I celebrated a minor victory. I actually got the wiring finished to the front Driver's side (both RJ45 & RG6 Coax!) I installed a box with 4 keystone jacks (2 RJ45 and 2 Coax) near the bottom of the "door panel" (no door, just above the floor.)

I got the Network working with an Apple Titanium G4 PowerBook and the DirecTV working at the center console. I'm putting a Tivo Receiver (DSR 6000) in the front center console which will take it's programming information off the Internet (thus requiring no Telephone connection.)

I'm using the MotoSat DataStorm for the Internet and DirecTV reception and transmitting, which I finished last week.

Anyway, I've definitely decided to use an Apple Airport Extreme, although I love a good challenge so I'm still going to try to route Audio to the back bedroom physically. I don't want to have to power up the Inverter (2.5 KW ProSine) just to listen to music... and all the Wi-Fi solutions use AC to DC converters [Q: ANYBODY KNOW A GOOD source of custom 12Volt-XYZVolt adapters so one can avoid using an inverter? Targu makes notebook ones but their at least $100 and Radioshack's seem spotty in terms of reliability... could be user error ;-) ]

BUT ABOUT THAT AIRPORT EXTREME: I'm very excited to be able to use it as a Print Server also! I've got a little HP 420ci (?) ink jet which I'm going to plug in and I'm excited to be able to print from the lakeside/beachside/picnic table/etc...

As soon as Dr. Bott releases their ExtendAir Directional (http://www.drbott.com/prod/9142-QUSD.html) antenna I want to put one on the roof - mounted where my TV antenna used to be (took a hack saw to it to make room for the Motosat dish.) I REALLY WANT TO PUT IT ON A SERVO-MOTOR MOUNT just like the Spot Light on the front so I my "passenger/communication's officer(grin)/lovely wife" can run MacStumbler while we're driving around looking for the closest Wi-Fi hotspot... [Q: ANYBODY KNOW WHERE TO get the motor for the spotlight and the mechinism to point it?

Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to do more research on alarms... I'm definitely liking the idea of using the motion sensor to trigger lights, but I'm thinking now I'll try to integrate it into an existing alarm, using their Radar Zones to trigger a spotlight on a relay and maybe a friendly(?) chirp. Eventually I want to mount a SONY PUPPY fingerprint scanner outside which links to MacOS Server inside and triggers the door relay and alarm disarm on successful recognition. That way any family member can arm or disarm without a remote or keys to lose... (VERY VALUABLE AT BURNING MAN (grin) DURING A WINDSTORM)

Thanks all,
Griffin

[Pick]

Griffin, I just bought an HP 5455 Pocket PC with built in 802.11b. Works slick! Had a few initial config problems accessing the internet, but found out the problem was in my main PC running XP Pro, which a reboot solved. (2 NICs, one to cable modem, #2 to WAP11) Go figure! Any how I was lurking over at brighthand.com reading everything I could on the 5455, which does have biometric security. Some folks over there said that for some reason the fingerprint reader works much better after you wash your hands, even if your hands do not appear dirty. Those Sony Puppy readers sound interesting, not sure how well they will work at Burning Man, after reading that! After seeing others pictures, wife and I are planning on BM some year.

I don't think Ministumbler will work on a 5455, I'll give Pocketwarrior a look see.

[Pick]

Here is a picture of a Vagi antenna I just purchased from Fab Corp. I wonder if this would be an alternative the the Dr. Bott antenna. It does have a sharper pattern, but it may have less wind resistance mounted on the roof of the motorhome. It was only $40, buy two and have a spare!

[Hans]

I have a rather simple security device ...

[evan]

Be sure to post some PIC's when you get this all put together. I have a HP D135 printer networked for all three MAC's. Standard Airport system linking everything together. I use AT&T broadband service hitting speeds of 1+ megs per second in download. It was all plug and play for me and has worked absolutely flawlessly since I put the system together. I have been at least a 100ft away from the base station and still been connected. I am very happy with Airport. You may have a few issues to work through to intergrate all that your attempting. As far as a universal adapter, have you considered a small plug-in inverter? I purchased a Vector-Maxx SST power inverter, the 225 watt model. It is compact 4"X6" weighs about a pound and will run any 110volt appliance. I picked mine up from Ebay for $30 new in the package. They come in all sizes up to 6000watts. Below a pic of a 400 watt model. Since your talking stereos have you checked out the apple ipods? I have a 10gig ipod which I use in my MotorHome through the in dash stereo. The 10g ipod holds up to 2500 mp3 files. Sounds great, near CD quality and you can leave all your CD's at home. The ipod is plug and play with the Apple OsX ( itunes) operating system. Highly recommended

[Griffin]

Hey there, today was fun. I spent half a day at Mobile Fantasy in Sherman Oaks outside Los Angeles looking at Stereo and Alarm Toys. Haven't really checked in on this market since we did my wifes car a few years back.

I have to say the Viper 790 VX is a very neat system, and I think it's going to work out well with PICK's idea about a sensor driven light. I'm thinking of wiring the proximity sensor around the motorhome to the "Warn Off" audio feature of the alarm as well as the door handle and the curb side proximity sensor to a spotlight AND A DIGITAL CAMERA. This will give me a log of entries, if not exits.

Neat antenna, Pick... I'll look into it. Good point about wind profile... Although if I can emulate the Spotlight mountin mechanism you seen on so many Airstream MH's I think it will be okay. (Haffta look into how they avoid cable wrap.)

Anyway, I bought two Wagan 350 Watt small inverters at Fry's (God bless Fry's Electronics! Please open one in SF!) down in Burbank, although I crashed my other towed vehicle through the front entrance (http://www.kaluta.com/media/frys-burbank.jpg) Tripple A wouldn't tow it without proof of alien quarantine on my pet Runchie.

I am thinking about taking the Wagan's back though because I'm worried they don't do sine wave output... I'm thinking my Tivo and MotoSat modems might be tempermental without that.

BACK TO AUDIO: After listening to components I'm deciding to keep my old head units an put what few toy dollars (Post VIPER 790 VX) are left in my rapidly dwindling budget into the amp and seperates (Boston Accoustics) and bridge my MP3 server to the stereo... You're right, Evan, I've got an iPod although it's only 5 Gig... Still my current fave's fit on it and I've got a 400 Gig Big Disk full running off the Titanium which I'll connect to the in "car" system with some "Griffin Technologies" toy (Not my "other comapny" although I should own stock with the bucks I send their way.)

Keep the faith,
Griffin

[evan]

This little cheape Vector Maxx inverter does have filtered/modified Sine Wave noise reduction technology. Also rated a "Soft Start" device for delicate electronics. In other words no big power spike on start-up. I have run my laptop without problem as well as lights & TV. Comes with 2 year warranty but even if it quits I will just buy another for the $30 price. Back to alarms, I put a Clifford system in a jeep Wrangler. Being a convertable I needed something that would protect from someone reaching into the vehicle when the top was down. The shop installed a motion detector that will trigger a warning chirp then sound the alarm when it detects a body in close proximity. The system is smart so it knows the dif. between someone "reaching into" vs "someone just standing next to" and will act accordingly. I imagin on a large MH that several motions sensors placed strategically would be necsessary.

[Griffin]

Well, I got the 790 VX fully installed yesterday... I was leaving the motorhome unattended overnight on the street in Los Angeles so I really wanted to get the alarm installed and it works like a dream.

However, we didn't add any Warn Off sensors, as the guy said it doesn't work through aluminum... I'm not entirely convinced, but I did decide I needed to have basic alarm functions and that I could add to the system as I perfected the design... The 790 VX has a bunch of relays and aux functions so I think the best option is going to be to actually add a Motion Sensor and a Light in the same Glass enclosure above the door. As opposed to putting the sensor in the window to the right or left of the door.

The Viper 790 VX has a great remote, with two way communication, paging and confirmation features which make it really nice when I'm in a best buy, walmart, target, etc... I can take my time without needing to check in on the motorhome. I can arm and disarm to test the range if I wan to...

Anyway, I also replaced my head unit and integrated the G4 and iTunes into the stereo... I've got the Sat dish rigged to the in house TV and I'm installing the upgraded/internet aware Tivo next week...

Still haven't pulled any cable to the back bedroom but thinking about maybe through to the underside of the coach and pulling 2 Cat 5e RJ45s, 2 Coax RG6, and 5 Speaker pairs (for eventual Dolby 5.1.)

Here's the neat remote:
http://www.evosoft.dk/hViper/2_way_system.gif

Anybody here got a big white loveseat type chair opposite their couch in their motorhome? I can't figure out why Airstream put this thing in... I DOES seem to sit above a wheel well, but It seems to have an awful LOT of mass, and I'm thinking I'd like to modify it or replace it.