Alarm advice please (1 Viewer)

[TestPoster]

Well we have finally got Woody home :thumb::thumb:
We need to get an alarm fitted and Travelworld quoted me about £700 to fit one so I declined the opportunity to buy the director a new Porsche
We had an alarm fitted to Rocky that was a Cobra (if I remember correctly) and cost about £150 fitted. It consisted of an immobiliser and an alarm that you could set to "night time mode" so the doors etc were covered but you could move around inside without it screaming.
I can't remember where we got the alarm from, lost the reciept... so I hope that one of you knowledgeable people could point me in the right direction to a company that will supply and fit a decent alarm for a reasonable sum?
TIA

Keith

 

[andyman]

I will send you a phone number of a guy that fits cobra's. He's from leicester fit all the alarms to my mates jap imports. I have just text him for a idea of cost

 

[andyman]

Full Cat 1 with all exras & certifacate £275, thats for a car but I can't see there being much difference. Let me know if you need his number.
Andy

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[TestPoster]

Hi Andy
Yes please, if you can PM me with his details I will call him tomorrow :thumb:
We do not need a Cat 1 alarm, just a bog standard unit will do. The last guys said that there was less to do with the RV than a car, so I guess that you are about right there matey......
Thanks again for your help..

Keith

 

[Digger Driver]

This little gadget is worth a look too!

Link Removed

 

[TestPoster]

Hi Andy
Thanks for your help mate..... Called your mate and he is coming round soon to fit the alarm :thumb:
Thanks again

Keith

Ps DD that is a flash bit of kit, but we only want something simple matey, but thanks for the link.....

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[andyman]

Glad I could help.

 

[656]

Keith

Safeguard motors in Peterborough did my Carioca. He has done RV's also. Give him a call his name is mick lofts - 01733 565110 -

Unit 6, Fenlake Business Pk
Fengate, Peterborough PE1 5BQ

Dave

 

[Road Runner]

Hi Andy
Thanks for your help mate..... Called your mate and he is coming round soon to fit the alarm :thumb:
Thanks again

Keith
.

What is that costing for a simple one Keith?

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[wildcamper]

hi kands i bought a cobra alarm on ebay brand new in box cat1
if you can fit it your self like i do you save a lot of money:thumb:Link Removed

 

[scotjimland]

Cobra are decent alarms but they have to be installed to by an approved company to Thatchem standards to qualify for Cat 1 status, they also need to be re certified annually to qualify for insurance discount.

The alarm on mine is a Clifford, factory fitted, but when I had it checked it wasn't installed in the Thatchem approved manner and didn't qualify for a discount.. something to do with wire colours and routing..

Personally I feel they are of little benefit, who ever bothers when a car alarm goes off .. ?

We wanted an alarm on the hab door to alert us if anyone tried to break in while we were asleep, a cheap and simple solution is a battery operated door alarm from Maplins, very simple to fit to doors or windows.. and it is very loud..

Link Removed

 

[Jim]

I agree that many people can get away without having an alarm fitted, I know one full timing member here who does not have an alarm, but whenever they leave their vehicle it is on a site and is very rarely, if ever, left in a public place.

If people own European motorhomes which they often park up in city centres and leave it whilst they explore, then an alarm is a good idea. Also if you leave your motorhome on your drive, whether European or USRV then an alarm just might save the day. If you can place that alarm into "part guard" so that it can protect the exterior as you sleep, the resulting peace of mind can make an alarm a good investment.

I would estimate that over 70% of crime against the motorhomer probably involves theft from outside the vehicle, and most alarms can't do anything about this. However some can, and if you have valuable bikes or Lafuma chairs etc its worth paying an extra couple of quid for an external alarm loop to protect these items because they can easily be taken when you leave the vehicle unattended or whilst you sleep in it.

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[eddie]

This is, I am afraid another subject like God, A Frames and Gas attacks.

I have given up selling the "concept of alarms" What I mean by this is, when I am at a show or an exhibition, and some one walks up, folds his arms across his chest, leans back slightly and says

"Go on then sell me an alarm" (normally with one eye slightly closed) I normally answer by saying "Do you mean that you have decided that you want to have an alarm installed, and are trying to decide which system? because if not, and you don't think that alarms work, I won't be able to convince you! (and it’s a waste of time)

I hear all the time that alarms don't work! At the Stratford show this year, I was talking to a group of people and a passer by thought that they would in a loud "stage whisper" kindly enlighten us to their beliefs on "car alarms"

Heckler: "They don't work"
Me: " Sorry Sir what doesn't Strikeback or car alarms?
Heckler " any alarm"
Me: "Oh that's interesting, why do you say that?
Heckler: (now looking around for moral support of his group) "Well, we were in Stratford yesterday, and there was a car and the alarm was going off, and no one took any notice"
Me: "when was this"?
Heckler: "Yesterday"
Me: Yesterday? What time?
Heckler: " lunchtime"
Me: "What colour was the car?
Heckler: "Blue, I think"
Me: "what was the colour of the car either side?
Heckler: (getting frustrated) I don't know, why?
Me: "Well, it seems funny that you state that alarms don't work,
yet you remember seeing the a car with the alarm sounding yesterday lunchtime, the colour of the car was blue, but you don't recall any details of the cars either side. But your opening interruption was that no one takes any notice! Yet you obviously did! Had a potential thief been trying to break in you would probably be able to give a description of the thief as well!
Funny old world! oh:

This is the problem fundamentally you see. If you were to be walking down the road trying door handles of cars, opportunistically looking for an open car, if you opened a door and an alarm triggered, you would just keep walking. You would not stand there with your hands up saying "It was me, arrest me"

To the general public, those few seconds that it took us to realise which car was sounding, would be enough for the thief to have walk away and us to assume that the system has false alarmed!

Overnight, in an rest area in France, I can't guarantee that I wouldn’t be broken into, but if a thief is surreptitiously creeping around, you can safely assume he doesn’t want confrontation. (If he wasn’t worried about confrontation, he would knock on you door and put a knife in your face and rob you)

So as I say, I can’t guarantee that you wouldn’t be burgled, but if there were six motorhomes parked together, one very obviously alarmed with high intensity LEDs flashing front and back perhaps by the doors, and a visible security loop, protecting the car on a trailer (or God forbid an “A” Frame) International warning stickers on the windows and Warning stickers on the doors, I am fairly confident that you would not be robbed first. In fact, having robbed the other five motorhomes, I am still confident that the thief would probably still not risk waking everyone else up but chancing his arm.

If you put £1000 in a plastic bag, and left it on the dashboard of a car, with the window wound down and the door unlocked, you would stand a high chance that someone would reach in through the open window and steal your money. The simple act of winding up the window would lessen the chance of loosing your money. winding up the window, would lessen your chance of loosing your money and there are less people around who would be prepared to smash the window to steal your money. The simple act of locking the door, would lessen the chances of loosing you money, as there are fewer people around that would be prepared to “pick the lock”

The simple act of winding up the window, locking the door AND putting the money out of sight will dramatically reduce the odds of you loosing your money, because at each stage you are reducing your exposure to risk.

Sure some people can pick locks, sure, some people can smash windows and sure, some people will tackle alarm systems. But for the majority of people trying to do the best that they can to protect their property from the majority of the villains, a good alarm, professionally installed will raise the barrier out of reach for huge number of opportunistic thieves, the ones that you are more likely to encounter most of the time.

This is why, the advice from the Police, the Insurers and The Home Office, is the same Lock it secure it and alarm it. And these are the organisations that actually deal with crime and the effects of crime on a daily basis, so they really should know.

 

[scotjimland]

I agree that many people can get away without having an alarm fitted, I know one full timing member here who does not have an alarm, but whenever they leave their vehicle it is on a site and is very rarely, if ever, left in a public place.

If people own European motorhomes which they often park up in city centres and leave it whilst they explore, then an alarm is a good idea. Also if you leave your motorhome on your drive, whether European or USRV then an alarm just might save the day. If you can place that alarm into "part guard" so that it can protect the exterior as you sleep, the resulting peace of mind can make an alarm a good investment.

I would estimate that over 70% of crime against the motorhomer probably involves theft from outside the vehicle, and most alarms can't do anything about this. However some can, and if you have valuable bikes or Lafuma chairs etc its worth paying an extra couple of quid for an external alarm loop to protect these items because they can easily be taken when you leave the vehicle unattended or whilst you sleep in it.

This is, I am afraid another subject like God, A Frames and Gas attacks.

I have given up selling the "concept of alarms" What I mean by this is, when I am at a show or an exhibition, and some one walks up, folds his arms across his chest, leans back slightly and says

"Go on then sell me an alarm" (normally with one eye slightly closed) I normally answer by saying "Do you mean that you have decided that you want to have an alarm installed, and are trying to decide which system? because if not, and you don't think that alarms work, I won't be able to convince you! (and it’s a waste of time)

I hear all the time that alarms don't work! At the Stratford show this year, I was talking to a group of people and a passer by thought that they would in a loud "stage whisper" kindly enlighten us to their beliefs on "car alarms"

Heckler: "They don't work"
Me: " Sorry Sir what doesn't Strikeback or car alarms?
Heckler " any alarm"
Me: "Oh that's interesting, why do you say that?
Heckler: (now looking around for moral support of his group) "Well, we were in Stratford yesterday, and there was a car and the alarm was going off, and no one took any notice"
Me: "when was this"?
Heckler: "Yesterday"
Me: Yesterday? What time?
Heckler: " lunchtime"
Me: "What colour was the car?
Heckler: "Blue, I think"
Me: "what was the colour of the car either side?
Heckler: (getting frustrated) I don't know, why?
Me: "Well, it seems funny that you state that alarms don't work,
yet you remember seeing the a car with the alarm sounding yesterday lunchtime, the colour of the car was blue, but you don't recall any details of the cars either side. But your opening interruption was that no one takes any notice! Yet you obviously did! Had a potential thief been trying to break in you would probably be able to give a description of the thief as well!
Funny old world! oh:

This is the problem fundamentally you see. If you were to be walking down the road trying door handles of cars, opportunistically looking for an open car, if you opened a door and an alarm triggered, you would just keep walking. You would not stand there with your hands up saying "It was me, arrest me"

To the general public, those few seconds that it took us to realise which car was sounding, would be enough for the thief to have walk away and us to assume that the system has false alarmed!

Overnight, in an rest area in France, I can't guarantee that I wouldn’t be broken into, but if a thief is surreptitiously creeping around, you can safely assume he doesn’t want confrontation. (If he wasn’t worried about confrontation, he would knock on you door and put a knife in your face and rob you)

So as I say, I can’t guarantee that you wouldn’t be burgled, but if there were six motorhomes parked together, one very obviously alarmed with high intensity LEDs flashing front and back perhaps by the doors, and a visible security loop, protecting the car on a trailer (or God forbid an “A” Frame) International warning stickers on the windows and Warning stickers on the doors, I am fairly confident that you would not be robbed first. In fact, having robbed the other five motorhomes, I am still confident that the thief would probably still not risk waking everyone else up but chancing his arm.

If you put £1000 in a plastic bag, and left it on the dashboard of a car, with the window wound down and the door unlocked, you would stand a high chance that someone would reach in through the open window and steal your money. The simple act of winding up the window would lessen the chance of loosing your money. winding up the window, would lessen your chance of loosing your money and there are less people around who would be prepared to smash the window to steal your money. The simple act of locking the door, would lessen the chances of loosing you money, as there are fewer people around that would be prepared to “pick the lock”

The simple act of winding up the window, locking the door AND putting the money out of sight will dramatically reduce the odds of you loosing your money, because at each stage you are reducing your exposure to risk.

Sure some people can pick locks, sure, some people can smash windows and sure, some people will tackle alarm systems. But for the majority of people trying to do the best that they can to protect their property from the majority of the villains, a good alarm, professionally installed will raise the barrier out of reach for huge number of opportunistic thieves, the ones that you are more likely to encounter most of the time.

This is why, the advice from the Police, the Insurers and The Home Office, is the same Lock it secure it and alarm it. And these are the organisations that actually deal with crime and the effects of crime on a daily basis, so they really should know.

Good advice from both.. I stand corrected, duly chastised .. :Blush:

I do have an alarm and do use it, we also have separate door alarm which I think is worth while too.

 

[Supertractorman]

An alarm system I believe gives you peace of mind that at least you are trying to protect your property, and may well keep the opportunist thief away, so that he attacks a less secure van.

D

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[TestPoster]

WOW Some interesting replies there, thanks......
The alarm is being installed by a competent fitter to satisfy the requirements of our insurance. We do not need a Cat 1 system, just a basic alarm and an immobiliser. It is going to cost around £250 ish, which for our piece of mind is very good value. It will have the ability to have the internal sensors isolated and leave the outside (doors etc) alarmed so that we can be inside the RV and still have the piece of mind that if some A Hole opens the door we should be woken by a hugely irritating noise (unless we have been "gassed" first of course ) and hopefully, as Eddie has said the stickers will be enough of a deterrent to prevent the wayward soul even trying his luck in the first place, which is really what we want to achieve :thumb:
Thanks again all

Keith