fortunately not as badly as mike, however some scrote went into my van last night (which was parked 8 feet under my bedroom window in my drive) and nicked a LARGE bucket of scrap copper (i mean about 40kgs of pipe). Now the silver lining, he/they didnt take a dewalt circular saw that was sat beside it, or any other tools (total value of stuff in the van must exceeed 2k). But now i need to waste time, money and sleep sorting out my diabolical lapse security.

Conincidentally, my outside light stopped working 2 days ago, though it appears to have burnt the bulb rather than been tampered with.

Measures i can think of so far:

2 extra lights to get total coverage of the drive
alarm on the van
large padlock on the back door (doesnt currently lock)
pair of cameras
new house alarm
maybe garage alarm
certainly a large padlock on the garage (you guessed, that doesnt lock either)
maybe a drive post to deter total removal of a vehicle

Now, since the back doors on the van are bent beyond all recognition, how hard is it to get an entry alarm to work? Are the all infrared or do some work off the door actually being moved? Need a good immobiliser too, but ideally one that can be fitted by myself.

Another thing that bugs me is that uPVC doors dont lend themselves well to yale type locks, so you have to lock it manually everytime you come in. That pisses me off, when i do the extention i will have a hardcore wooden inner door for security.

Oh yeah, forgot, my dewalt router went missing since last friday, but i noticed that gone yesterday when the copper was still there, so effectively ive been bummed twice this weekend bastards. Replacing stuff and getting security sorted is going to waste about a grand.

Any pointers on the van alarms?

to immobilize very cheaply, remove main ignition fuse... saved my car once because it wouldn't start.
also, here at work someone stole about 500 lbs of copper, made them payback and then they were immediately fired.

[Edited on 20/2/07 by 79 civic]

Joel - could you not fit one of those 35 quid Xena alarms to the roof of the van so at least a siren will go off that is independant to the van alarm. Might be a quick fix to buy you some time.

I wonder if a pucker camera just screwed to the outside of house might be a deterent. I know the fake ones look fake but you may get a proper camera head off ebay for not a lot of money. I guess you dont have to have the recording gear to go with it. mind you you might want place your bullet cam on window sill pointing at the van for a night or 2.

All this talk of thefts is really making me think.

Sorry to hear about that Joel

How about a large angry dog to add to your security plans. You could even let it sleep in the back of the van

big dog in van

Sorry to hear about this Joel. There are too many bastards in the world!

With repect to the alarm and sensing the opening of the van doors, this can be done very easily. Nearly all alarms have a sensing circuit that activates when it is earthed out. You can use door pin switches (same as used to turn courtesy lights on), easy to install and so basic that they can hardly ever fail.

If you want cheap but effective DIY job i would reccommend one of the ones maplin sell. It is a integrated alarm and immobiliser made by shark. I have this one on my locost. Comes supplied with 1 door pin and 1 boot pin. Also has adjustable shock sensor and can be upgraded with interior radar sensor, central locking output etc. Imobiliser simply deactivates ignition feed to coil, ECU or whatever you need.

Also, rather than use the supplied pin switches you can use the existing courtesy light switches, without losing their current function (if fitted). I have a pin switch on the bonnet of my Locost.

INstallation of the system is very simple, especially as the alarm and immobiliser are housed within the same small unit.

Heres the maplin link:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=33313&doy=20m2#overview

(maplin doesnt mention immobiliser but i am pretty sure this is the one i bought)

hth

Rich

Reverse the van up to the garage door, job done

I do that to lock my garage, just drive the car into the door and as the car is alarmed...

There are a couple of transist that occasionally part at the end of my street. They park back to back with millimetre clearance between bumpers. It's sad that you have to do that sort of thing though.

one of my drivers managed to weigh in 32 tonnes of steel in 3 weeks.

The gun soon went BANG

I beleive his is now inside............

so watching cable and eating better than me now.

quote:

---

Originally posted by smart51
There are a couple of transist that occasionally part at the end of my street. They park back to back with millimetre clearance between bumpers. It's sad that you have to do that sort of thing though.

---

leave em in gear, got to get inside then.

I never use the handbrake anyway.

put a stun grenade in the van, and attach a cable to the back door at night. then when they open the door, brown trousers time!! Also good fun to just do it on a mates car . .
Regards
Matt

proper alarm with entry triggers,knock sensor and interior sensor to create no go zone on the outside as well as inside.anyone who evens looks through the window let touch your van will trigger alarm

wow, some good ideas there. I currently leave my little car (the ax) reversed up to the garage door, trouble then is i go out in it and its back to square one! I will reverse the van up to the fence tonight, trouble in the long run is one day i will demolish it in a rush!

Big dog cant be done unfortunately, the wife doesnt like them!

I did buy an alarm for the garage whilst i was out, simple pir sensor and a 110dB alarm with a remote to turn it on an off. It was so cheap i got one for the van too! Only £8 plus vat, gonna have a little test tonight.

Cameras are a must i reckon, someone posted a link to some argos ones the other day but im going to spend some time researching on quality to make sure i get a decent image. Dont know nothing about camera quality right now, so a lil bit of learning is in order.

As for the house alarm, im going to get a wireless one cos i dont have time to run wires in. Need to make sure its expandable and ideally have a master and slave keypad so i can turn it on and off from upstairs or by the door.

Then i just need to buy a lathe and make a large cannon!

There is a company (client of mine) near me called Sheffield Forgemasters if you need a gun Apparently they have some experience with the manufacture of big guns...

Steve

wireless alarms, the one B&Q do (response) has up to (i think) 20 items, can be remote control activated, 6 zones, can have more than one keypad, and the remotes have panic alarms.

range about 70m in open space, reduced by brick walls etc

You can also rig up fire alarms to it!

(ok, so i like it so far)

put a hidden switch under the dash in line with fuel pump etc, wire all the interior lights to the horn with a switch on the dash, this way when ever the interior light comes on the horn will go hence the switch, plus with a van they need to open a dooor toclear it out,

Move away from Leeds.

Cheap baby alarm in the van, the 'Parents unit' next to your bed. Then at least you can hear the bastards nicking your stuff.....

If its any consolation mate, and I know it isn't really, but you're most definitely not on your own. I've just got back from work and it seems to be silly season with theft of and/or from motor vehicles in Manchester at the moment. So a heads up to anyone else, oh and handbag snatchings, though I'm only assuming but I guess that most here don't have them, but, each to their own