Well my 5th wheel got broken into last week. I keep it on my property about 2 hours away from home. It is kept accross the street (about 400 yards) from an elderly couple that live there year round (house).

The dirt bags broke the back window (the one hidden from the neighbors house), and did not take a thing. They did spray the fire extinguisher all over the place, and the window frame and glass are busted. Probably kids who are bored.

I was thinking about putting in some type of alarm. I do have electricity (a box with a meter at the road), but I don't leave the camper plugged in when I'm gone (the electrical box gets locked also).

I also disconnect my battery in the camper to prevent it from draining down while Im gone.

Anybody got any ideas on an alarm. Even a home made system would be fine. My only concern is power. Probably 12 volt would be the best, but worried about draining batteries down. I visit the camper about once every 3-4 weeks at the most in the winter, more often in milder weather.

Was thinking about a siren up in the A/C housing on the roof. Any ideas?? I did see a "pressure alarm" on ebay, but looks kind of cheesy. Not sure about a motion sensor, or door/window sensors (alot of wiring and wall are solid foam).

I did leave a note on the window that says "smile your on candid camera", just before I left the camper (after I replaced the glass). I also told the sherriff they better find them before I do Thanks, Kevin

 

I dont know how remote of an area your trailer is sitting at but you could try a couple of professional surveillance signs on the trailer. If they arent serious about stealing anything maybe they will pass it up so they arent caught on film. Plus I also have heard of phony cameras that will move if they sense movement and flash a little red lght. Stupid hand written or threatening signs only seem to egg kids on. They have to think it legitimate. Sorry to hear about the trailer. Might be worth having it home if you have the room.

 

Go to a company that install automobile alarms. They can wire in remote intrusion/motion systems that can even cover your basement storage areas. You can maintain battery condition with a solar charger sufficient to power the small drain an alarm pulls. Put the siren in the refrigerator compartment up high aimed toward the vent. Total cost for me was just over $300 for everything except the solar. I also use a lock on the king pin - - anything to slow them down and make them more obvious. I was most concerned about them getting my generator.

 

The solar chargers are definitely the way to go. That way, even if the alarm runs the batteries down, they will recharge the next day and not stay down. It also gives you more options since your power regenerates itself - like some outdoor motion sensitive lights.

An auto alarm isn't a bad idea, but in an area with that much isolation, kids might turn this into a game - intentionally setting off the alarm, hoping to kill your batteries.

A neat alarm I saw once was a motion sensor alarm that sounds like a very large dog barking. Works very well for a while, but they might eventually figure out that it is fake.

I'm also partial to the printed signs that say "Property protected by Smith & Wesson." Even if they are convinced no one is around, the subconscious thought will make even the bravest burglar a little less confident.

 

Sorry to hear about your 5th wheel break in. If you do put an alarm on it, make sure you tell the couple accross the street and give them a key so they can turn it off and call the sheriff.

 

Thanks to all, so many choices! I did think of a way to "hide" a power wire to keep the battery charged. I was thinking of sneaking a wire up through the tripod support for the hitch pin. It is homemade and has hollow black pipe for legs, so a set of wires could be snuck up there.

I would install a small 12 volt charger at the electrical box on the road (about 100 feet away under a locked cover) and of course bury the line. It's low voltage so I won't have to worry about getting sued when one of the vandals hurts themselves trying to defeat the alarm by cutting the power. The battery will still provide the power should they figure out how to find the wire.

I am seriously thinking of a hard wired system with magnetic contacts on the windows and doors, but that is alot of wiring. The next idea is a motion detector inside the camper. The problem with that is they have to get in before the alarm goes off (causing damage).

The windows have a lip that you can easily slip your fingers under and pull away about an inch before resistence is felt from the lifting mechanism. That is the part they broke along with the window. So this is where I was thinking of placing the contacts. Another option is a good old fashioned mercury bulb that will trigger the alarm (set on each window). My thoughts are to get the alarm to sound the minute they start prying on the window, before any real damage happens.

I suppose they could break the glass, but the windows are only 9 inches high before you encounter an aluminum frame and then another 9 inch high panel of glass, so climbing through it with all that broken glass would be a problem. They opened the window after breaking the lifting mechanism from the frame. Of course the door could be pried open, but a set of contacts on that as well, not sure how I would prevent the door from being pried on.

If anybody wants to play devil's advocate on my ideas, please do. I need to come up with something that is not prone to false alarms (thus, my reasoning for hard wired). I am still trying to gather options. Not looking forward to trying to fish wires through walls that are filled with stryofoam, but it can be done. I have 9 windows, one door, and 2 roof vents.

I do have a car alarm that I am not using, I should see if it has a "shock/motion sensor" for when the glass get broken. I like the idea of the siren in the refer access panel, I thought about putting one on the roof, under the a/c cover. A little harder for them to get at it.

I am confident that if the siren goes off, then the nieghbors will call the sherriff, but they are elderly and I don't want false alarms to be a problem.

The solar charger is a great idea, I am sure it's pricey, but if it helps keep damage away then I will be ahead of the game. I do have a smaller solar "maintainer" that I use while the camper is sitting idle.

Thanks for the info so far, still doing my homework and thinking out loud. Kevin

 

Kevin,
The hard wiring on a fiver is not all that hard. I did not wire the windows - - I use the motion for that. The door is hard wired, but that is right by my storage. All main storage doors are hard wired - - again, easy run. I use a 25w maintainance solar panel mounted inside the unit in my skylite. I remove it and store it when using the unit. I also have wired the batteries so that when I store, I turn off the 12v disconnect switch. However, I have wired around this switch with two circuits - - the plug for my solar unit and the power for the intrusion alarm. This keeps my batties charged right up yet kills the "other" power robbers. I did fuse both these circuits perchance ??? . Works very good. Like you, I could not see trying to do each window - - too much hassle. The unit is armed and disarmed with a remote. Never had a falsie yet. : Hope I don't - - the people near it would not be happy campers.

 

FiverBob, thanks for all the good info. Thanks to everyone else as well.

I'm thinking that I do want to hard wire the windows as well as the door and access panels. I know, lots of work! But I want the alarm to scream the minute the window(s) are pulled slightly from the closed position. As I stated earlier, it is very easy to pull the window corner about 3/8 of an inch away from the frame, even with your fingers.

If I understand you correctly, then you have a moton detector installed. What kind of detector is it? My concern is false alarms on a windy day, and if adjusted to prevent false alarms, then will it work when the chuckleheads come to play at my expense.

I agree the solar panel is the way to go, and I have a similiar battery switch setup (similiar to yours) already in place.

I took a look in my hobby electronics junk box and I have plenty of magnetic reed switches, relays, mercury motion detector bulbs, contact switches, and miles of phone wire, and a few infrared senders and receivers (I am a model railroad junky as well) 8)

Gonna start surfing the net for some circuits and ideas, who knows what I am getting into but we shall see.

Any tips or ideas still gladly accepted! Thanks, Kevin

 

Use a cover with mercury switches in the bottom seam of the cover. As soon as the cover is lifted, before any damage is done, the alarm goes off.

 

[quote author=kd460 link=board=11;threadid=20584;start=0#msg193575 date=1065473563]
I would install a small 12 volt charger at the electrical box on the road (about 100 feet away under a locked cover) and of course bury the line. It's low voltage so I won't have to worry about getting sued when one of the vandals hurts themselves trying to defeat the alarm by cutting the power. The battery will still provide the power should they figure out how to find the wire. [/quote]

Be sure to check the voltage at the battery connection. That long of a run will drop a lot of voltage @ 12 volt dc. You will want at least 13volts to keep the battery charged. You might want to check the voltage at the end of the cable you use before you bury it. I would hate for you to go through that much work to only find 9 volts going to the battery.

 

I'm not sure of the company that makes it, but my grandparents have a wireless system for their home. There is a base station that you place centrally in the home, and it plugs into a 110v outlet. Everything else (except for the siren, not sure about it) is wireless. The sensors and the signal to the siren are all wireless. All the sensors, control pannels, etc are powered by 9v battery which last about a year before they recommend changing, even though they may actually last longer. There are controls on the base station, so in your case you would probably not need an additional control pannel. Also, the window sensors have they capability to hard wire other nearby sensors. For example if you had 3 windows side by side (or at least ones that are close enough to jump a wire to) you put one wireless sensor, and send a wire to the nearby windows and hard wire those to the wireless one.

They have had it for many years and it hasn't given them any trouble as of yet. They have never had to use it, however, hopefully never will.

There are many add on accessories such as pannic buttions, etc. Depending on how far the neighbors are, you might even be able to get a device for their house that would notify them.

Not sure about pricing, and like I mentioned, they got this quite a while ago, so there might not be anything on the market like this any longer, but seems to me this would be perfect for your aplication.

Josh

 

I have a 5er at my lake lot....I have a Radio Shack wire-less alarm system installed in it...it needs A/C power for the console...it also has a auto dialer to call 4 phone numbers...sensors are wire-less costs about $150

 

Yep, I'm reviving an old one.

Lots of good info here. Anyone have any new ideas they care to share? Also, does anyone use a security system in their trailer when they are staying in it?

 

Yeah... Forget the hardwiring... Go wireless... there are tons of wireless sensors and contacts that are very inexpensive and dependable... Then do like Pappyman said and get a dialer that will call you when the alarm is tripped.
Also check into something like this:
http://www.lasershield.net/
Laser Shield is a wireless alarm that has everything built in so you don't have to worry about a complicated installation.