VanBitz Growler and Non-Starter Questions

HKF

HKF

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Joined
Jul 18, 2021
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Location
The Charente, France
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MH
Benimar Europe 740
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Since August 2021
Hi everyone :)

We're seriously considering getting the above but I have some questions;

  1. Has anyone had one of these false alarm? We often go away and leave the MH at home. I'd hate to think that people in the surrounding hamlets were being annoyed by something that I knew nothing about and had no control over.
  2. I'm worried about how loud these are. For a start, I'm really scared of alarms so I'm worried about this going off in the middle of the night and having to get out of bed to try to switch it off. I'm also worried about it damaging my eardrums, as most people seem to imply might happen. Is this likely, please? And how do you switch it off quickly enough before your eardrums burst?
  3. How sensitive are these? For example, if we disarm the internal sensors, will walking aroung the MH trigger the outside sensors? We don't use the rear stabilisers, so our MH does roll a bit if we move around.
  4. How much of a drain is this on the battery? Would anything happen if it was left for, say, 2 months? We have a lithium battery, powered by solar, which will obviously work in the summer but what would happen if we had the cover on over the winter?
  5. Do we need a smartphone to have one of these? I don't have a smartphone. My husband does but we don't always have it with us.
Thank you to anyone who can help with answers :)
 
We had ours fitted earlier this year. You probably won't believe the comfort it's given to us ( me mainly) we've had motorhomes for about five years but I now truly feel comfortable about leaving it at home or away and knowing it's as well protected as it could be, short of hiring a 24 hour security guard and taking him or her away with us!

1 no false alarms, just user error
2 if you turn off internal sensors it also turns off internal alarm (at least in my experience it does)
3 never had a problem. We always turn off internals when go to bed - I would add that I moved the internal 'isolation switch' to our bedroom area. The red light reminds me to turn off the alarm at night. I would suggest you ask them to fit that particular switch where it might be a nuisance when sleeping.
4 can't answer but never had a problem ...
5 you need some way to communicate ... We recently (apparently it wasn't we but me!) forget our password to reset the immobiliser, just before we set off for the ferry. I telephoned them and within minutes we were in our way. My ears hurt but that wasn't due to any alarm ......


I believe it to be money well spent ...
 
I designed it, I'm the only motorhomer that design a system because there was absolutely nothing on the market when we bought our first motorhome in 1988 in our twenties, travelling Europe with very young children, who are now men, running Van Bitz and other motorhome dealerships

Nothing is guaranteed but what is 100% guaranteed is if you have an issue Van Bitz sort it!

Find a negative review (genuine one) about their customer service record!
 
The only false alarm I've had was when I accidentally pressed the panic button :giggle: it has been incredibly reliable in the three years since it was fitted, you will need a smart phone to get the best out of it, if the alarm is triggered it will send you a text message so you can check out what's happening. Great bit of kit.
 
I've had a Strikeback fitted for over 7yrs and never had any issues whatsoever.
I had extra sirens fitted and once or twice I have accidentally set it off (when I have opened the door, having forgotten that the alarm was set) and yes, it is loud. Just what you want for a deterrent. I had no sirens fitted inside, only because we have a dog.
About 18mths ago I changed the battery in both fobs but other than that, it has had no maintenance.
Crack on.

Terry

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Best alarm system going. I was amused when a certain one man band rival messaged me on FB to diss the Strikeback Growler saying that multiple vehicles stolen etc. Utter garbage. I am on my fourth system and would go nowhere else
 
Terry242 said:
I've had a Strikeback fitted for over 7yrs and never had any issues whatsoever.
I had extra sirens fitted and once or twice I have accidentally set it off (when I have opened the door, having forgotten that the alarm was set) and yes, it is loud. Just what you want for a deterrent. I had no sirens fitted inside, only because we have a dog.
About 18mths ago I changed the battery in both fobs but other than that, it has had no maintenance.
Crack on.

Terry
Click to expand...
I locked the van once after having persuaded the van obsessed cocker to exit and wonder why the alarm went off. Opened up and exited a slightly dazed but already deaf Jack Russell cross. Never saw him sneak in and curl up in the passenger footwell…….. :doh:
 
Had the Growler Alarm fitted, in conjunction with the Non-Starter System three years ago. Total peace of mind leaving the m/h anywhere. No issues at all. Yes, not cheap, but worth every penny. And the guys who fit the system ? Well you will not know they have been in your van. Neat, tidy, truly professional engineers.
Friendly too, they even keep smiling when taking your payment ! 😉😂😂😂
 
I had a vanbitz alarm system on my first motorhome when I bought the motorhome and used it without any issues it had been working well for 20 years when we part exchanged it for a newer one and on the way home with the new to us motorhome we stopped at VanBitz to get the grower and tracker fitted.
We have had it fitted now for a year and the only issues with it have been caused by me well I'm a old man so I forgive myself.
If you value your motorhome and your peace of mind you can't do better than get one fitted with the tracking system.
And they will look after you one of the best companies I have dealt with for honesty and service and they dont pay me I am just giving a honest opinion of the product and the company.
 
We have Strikeback and non-starter:
1 We had a couple of false alarms at first, they had the van back virtually instantly to remedy a wiring fault.
2 it’s possible to disable the internal sensors leaving the perimeter alarm, and bike loop, active.
3 See above.
4 Ours is left for long periods of time on a standard panel with lead acid battery, there is imperceptible drain, including in winter.
5 A smartphone is useful, I think it’s the best way to communicate with the device or anyone else for that matter.
I dont imagine buying another Motorhome but if I did the VanBitz alarm and nonstarter would be a priority.

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  • Has anyone had one of these false alarm? We often go away and leave the MH at home. I'd hate to think that people in the surrounding hamlets were being annoyed by something that I knew nothing about and had no control over.
Only 'false' alarm we eventually tracked to the settling of the suspension, caused the fridge door to swing open as it was not secured
.
  • I'm worried about how loud these are. For a start, I'm really scared of alarms so I'm worried about this going off in the middle of the night and having to get out of bed to try to switch it off. I'm also worried about it damaging my eardrums, as most people seem to imply might happen. Is this likely, please? And how do you switch it off quickly enough before your eardrums burst?

It's loud, but no worse than say the mosh pit at a Deep Purple gig. ;)
The arm/disarm button on your keyring will switch it off in under a second if you are fast enough.

  • How sensitive are these? For example, if we disarm the internal sensors, will walking around the MH trigger the outside sensors? We don't use the rear stabilisers, so our MH does roll a bit if we move around.

If you sent the external alarm (only) on, then you can 'rock and roll' all you like, the external alarm would only be set off if a door or locker is opened.

  • How much of a drain is this on the battery? Would anything happen if it was left for, say, 2 months? We have a lithium battery, powered by solar, which will obviously work in the summer but what would happen if we had the cover on over the winter?

I have a single conventional lead acid leisure battery (and also one engine battery), I have one solar panel. my van is parked under trees for weeks at a time all through the winter. The bit of daylight the solar panel gets is enough to keep the batteries topped up and the alarm system on.

  • Do we need a smartphone to have one of these? I don't have a smartphone. My husband does but we don't always have it with us.

Ideally you not only fit the alarm, but also the engine immobiliser and the tracker as well.
The alarm is to warn people off and should discourage smash and grab type thefts.
The immobiliser means that if they break in they will be unable to start the engine, even if they have the key.
The tracker means if they have broken in, found they could not start it, but bought along their own transporter at least you should be able to find the van
(The tracker also works in large carparks and when your other half want to know your ETA for supper)

To use the immobiliser and the tracker ideally you need a smartphone, but a laptop or an ipad would also work.

 
I have had a couple of false alarms, but as Eddie has said the service has been fantastic and the Control unit was replaced, job sorted. You can switch off the internal sensors and horns just leaving the external sensors and their horns to operate if any doors or bonnet are opened.
The control devise will switch the alarm on and off with one press so no worries there.
If you are stood next to the van and it goes off it will make you jump the first time but after that you will know what to expect.
The whole point of having the alarm and its horns is to deter scrotes from even bothering to attack your van, with the blue flashing lights and signage, if they do try to gain entry then the internal horns will harm them 👍🏻👍🏻 they will not be able to stay in the vehicle for a few seconds thus they shouldn’t cause any damage to your dash board wiring and steal contents.
Just ask Vanbitz ‘how many reports have they had of vans with their alarms fitted being stolen and not recovered?’,
The peace of mind of having Vanbitz system means that you can feel free to leave your van anywhere and be comfortable.
 
Brains said:
The immobiliser means that if they break in they will be unable to start the engine, even if they have the key.
Click to expand...

Do you keep the keys and the ID tags on separate keyrings?

Ian

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bigtwin said:
Do you keep the keys and the ID tags on separate keyrings?

Ian
Click to expand...
Yes we do. But close by as have had a few calls if too far apart. With the raptor system on the current van, the non starter automatically sets when the alarm is set and then it can be double immobilised via the app. And the OBD locked as well. It gives us a lot of confidence
 
bigtwin said:
Do you keep the keys and the ID tags on separate keyrings?

Ian
Click to expand...
Our system (4yrs old) does not have ID tags.
Just an arm/disarm remote which lives on each keyring.

It means if they stole the keys they could disarm the alarm and open the door and put the key in the ignition and the dashboard lights would come on.
But due to the immobiliser the engine would not start.

To unset the immobiliser you either need an app on your smartphone, or, a special fob which we keep in a safe place and has to go to a particular point in the motorhome (which is not near the ignition).
 
HKF said:
Hi everyone :)

We're seriously considering getting the above but I have some questions;

  1. Has anyone had one of these false alarm? We often go away and leave the MH at home. I'd hate to think that people in the surrounding hamlets were being annoyed by something that I knew nothing about and had no control over.
  2. I'm worried about how loud these are. For a start, I'm really scared of alarms so I'm worried about this going off in the middle of the night and having to get out of bed to try to switch it off. I'm also worried about it damaging my eardrums, as most people seem to imply might happen. Is this likely, please? And how do you switch it off quickly enough before your eardrums burst?
  3. How sensitive are these? For example, if we disarm the internal sensors, will walking aroung the MH trigger the outside sensors? We don't use the rear stabilisers, so our MH does roll a bit if we move around.
  4. How much of a drain is this on the battery? Would anything happen if it was left for, say, 2 months? We have a lithium battery, powered by solar, which will obviously work in the summer but what would happen if we had the cover on over the winter?
  5. Do we need a smartphone to have one of these? I don't have a smartphone. My husband does but we don't always have it with us.
Thank you to anyone who can help with answers :)
Click to expand...
Ours threw up false alarms on the hab door and locker circuit on and off for quite a while. When I decided to pin it down properly I found that everything worked perfectly with the accessory loop fitted, whether that bit of the circuit was armed or not. That discovery enabled Ash to conclude the accessory loop switch was at fault ( going open circuit intermittently, I guess). New switch sent by VanBitz, five minutes for me to fit, false alarms eliminated.
 
We had a Growler and non starter fitted to our previous MH and it did run down the battery when the MH was in storage.

I received a text at 4am that the alarm had been triggered so as soon as possible headed to the storage to see what happened. The van was fine, but the starter battery was flat. Every time I tried to start the engine, the alarm triggered again.

I phoned VanBitz, who talked me through resetting the alarm, and told me that the flat battery had triggered the alarm. I fitted a solar panel and battery master and never had the same problem again.

However, I decided to use a different alarm/immobiliser system for our new MH. There are alternatives out there.

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  • Thanks
Reactions: HKF
HKF said:
Hi everyone :)

We're seriously considering getting the above but I have some questions;

  1. Has anyone had one of these false alarm? We often go away and leave the MH at home. I'd hate to think that people in the surrounding hamlets were being annoyed by something that I knew nothing about and had no control over.
  2. I'm worried about how loud these are. For a start, I'm really scared of alarms so I'm worried about this going off in the middle of the night and having to get out of bed to try to switch it off. I'm also worried about it damaging my eardrums, as most people seem to imply might happen. Is this likely, please? And how do you switch it off quickly enough before your eardrums burst?
  3. How sensitive are these? For example, if we disarm the internal sensors, will walking aroung the MH trigger the outside sensors? We don't use the rear stabilisers, so our MH does roll a bit if we move around.
  4. How much of a drain is this on the battery? Would anything happen if it was left for, say, 2 months? We have a lithium battery, powered by solar, which will obviously work in the summer but what would happen if we had the cover on over the winter?
  5. Do we need a smartphone to have one of these? I don't have a smartphone. My husband does but we don't always have it with us.
Thank you to anyone who can help with answers :)
Click to expand...
Just to add to the positives of the system.

We have had 4 vans. The first 3 vans we had the full system fitted and never had any problems other than user error.
Yes it is very loud but I doubt it would damage your ear drums. Especially if you have the fob at hand. I kept the keys next to me when sleeping.
I found it useful to set the alarm off sometimes if I thought an undesirable was around. Least they know that they are not going to get in quietly.

It gave us great confidence when on the road as we generally off grid and was always comfortable alone on aires with the little blue led's flashing away.

Customer service is also Excellent as most will tell you.

Van 4 has the auto watch alarm. Already fitted by IH motorhomes. Yes it works. But it doesn't give me the confidence the Srikeback and Growler did.
I've already spoken with Ash and I'm now saving hard to have it on this van as we want to keep this one. Honest:ROFLMAO:

You won't regret it.

Edit. just to add we turned off the internal sirens when alarmed and us inside, also we could freely move around with the van rocking and alarm activated. :unsure: (don't go there).
We only had a lead acid battery and solar and it never had a problem all winter
 
Last edited:
The non starter is very effective and definitely gives peace of mind, but it was incredibly frustrating to use on a journey.

Every time the ignition is turned off, we had to either dig out the hidden key fob, or go through the smart phone override process. So if we filled up with diesel, we had to go through the disabling process again. Stop for lunch, and yep, you’re disabling the non starter again.

It became so impractical on a journey that i put the non starter into service mode at the start of the journey and hoped I’d remember to disable service mode at the end of the day.

In contrast, our current system has a completely transparent immobiliser engagement/disabling process. It just works without us jumping through hoops every time the ignition is turned off. Also the 24 hour monitoring service can remotely disable the engine, if need be.
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: HKF
CRD said:
The non starter is very effective and definitely gives peace of mind, but it was incredibly frustrating to use on a journey.

Every time the ignition is turned off, we had to either dig out the hidden key fob, or go through the smart phone override process. So if we filled up with diesel, we had to go through the disabling process again. Stop for lunch, and yep, you’re disabling the non starter again.

It became so impractical on a journey that i put the non starter into service mode at the start of the journey and hoped I’d remember to disable service mode at the end of the day.

In contrast, our current system has a completely transparent immobiliser engagement/disabling process. It just works without us jumping through hoops every time the ignition is turned off. Also the 24 hour monitoring service can remotely disable the engine, if need be.
Click to expand...
Hi all,

Just to add a little update to this last post, the version this is referring to has now been upgraded. As with all electrical equipment, improvements are made over time to make useability more seamless. We listen to our customers and always try and make improvements wherever possible. This one I am pleased to say has made a real difference.
With the current system there ae multiple setups and depending on the specification chosen, it can either have it automatically arm the immobilisation feature every time you turn off the engine (as described above), you can have it so it only arms on request through the app, or you can have the system with remote ID tags that will automatically arm the immobilisation as you walk away and disarm it when you return to the vicinity of the vehicle (this is the most popular option). The new system also features a Bluetooth override that is built into the app. This means if there is a network failure either from the local masts or from your mobile device itself, you can still disarm the system to prevent you from becoming stranded.

If anyone has any questions I am more than happy to helps

Kindest regards

Ash
 
CRD said:
The non starter is very effective and definitely gives peace of mind, but it was incredibly frustrating to use on a journey.

Every time the ignition is turned off, we had to either dig out the hidden key fob, or go through the smart phone override process. So if we filled up with diesel, we had to go through the disabling process again. Stop for lunch, and yep, you’re disabling the non starter again.

It became so impractical on a journey that i put the non starter into service mode at the start of the journey and hoped I’d remember to disable service mode at the end of the day.

In contrast, our current system has a completely transparent immobiliser engagement/disabling process. It just works without us jumping through hoops every time the ignition is turned off. Also the 24 hour monitoring service can remotely disable the engine, if need be.
Click to expand...
We never had this issue ever on all 3 alarms and immobilisers we had.

User error ?

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Last edited:
AshVanBitz said:
Hi all,

Just to add a little update to this last post, the version this is referring to has now been upgraded. As with all electrical equipment, improvements are made over time to make useability more seamless. We listen to our customers and always try and make improvements wherever possible. This one I am pleased to say has made a real difference.
With the current system there ae multiple setups and depending on the specification chosen, it can either have it automatically arm the immobilisation feature every time you turn off the engine (as described above), you can have it so it only arms on request through the app, or you can have the system with remote ID tags that will automatically arm the immobilisation as you walk away and disarm it when you return to the vicinity of the vehicle (this is the most popular option). The new system also features a Bluetooth override that is built into the app. This means if there is a network failure either from the local masts or from your mobile device itself, you can still disarm the system to prevent you from becoming stranded.

If anyone has any questions I am more than happy to helps

Kindest regards

Ash
Click to expand...

Hi Ash

I have to admit that when I read the above, I got to 'The new system also features a Bluetooth override..' and thought this is just too complicated for us. But, I guess once we've decided what we actually want, you've installed and set it up, it'll be easy to use on a daily basis? We're just not 'app' people and we don't live on our phones, or always have them with us. Is it a requirement to always have a phone with us, please?

Also, Flairy said above, "Mines 20 years old still perfect I bought a sim on a monthly account otherwise they network switch it off thinking it’s no longer in use." Do we need a separate sim to run the system, please?
 
AshVanBitz said:
Hi all,

Just to add a little update to this last post, the version this is referring to has now been upgraded. As with all electrical equipment, improvements are made over time to make useability more seamless. We listen to our customers and always try and make improvements wherever possible. This one I am pleased to say has made a real difference.
With the current system there ae multiple setups and depending on the specification chosen, it can either have it automatically arm the immobilisation feature every time you turn off the engine (as described above), you can have it so it only arms on request through the app, or you can have the system with remote ID tags that will automatically arm the immobilisation as you walk away and disarm it when you return to the vicinity of the vehicle (this is the most popular option). The new system also features a Bluetooth override that is built into the app. This means if there is a network failure either from the local masts or from your mobile device itself, you can still disarm the system to prevent you from becoming stranded.

If anyone has any questions I am more than happy to helps

Kindest regards

Ash
Click to expand...
Hi Ash

It’s good to hear that the non starter has been updated. Ours was three years old.

It would be good if you could answer to help potential purchasers:

1) Was our non starter firmware upgradeable? We received updates for the Metatrak app but never received notifications from you about any firmware upgrades to bring our system up to the latest specs.

2) Did our non starter need hardware upgrades or to be replaced to bring it to the latest specs? If so, what is the replacement cost, including installation? Are there any discounts for hardware replacements if required? I never heard anything from VanBitz about upgrades.

3) Does non starter have the remote enabling (disabling the engine) of the system via Metatrak? This is very important if you allow users to disable non starter (like I often did via service mode).

I sometimes received emails from Metatrak reminding me that our non starter had been in service mode for five days. If the van had been nicked during that time with remote control room disable functionality they could remotely disable the engine.

4) Does the smartphone bluetooth disable feature work like a wireless tag, or do you have to go into the Metatrak app, and find the disable function within the app? It’s buried away in the Metatrak app version that I used and is cumbersome to use.

Thanks
 
Fragle said:
We never had this issue ever on all 3 alarms and immobilisers we had.

User error ?
Click to expand...
Nope. As Ash has stated, we had an obsolete system, even though it was only three years old.
 

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