Break-in or theft

Air tag is only a locator. Not an alarm.

jacqueg said:

My understanding is that a Club can be readily sawn. The folks who stole my van carried a saw which they used to saw off my ignition, so they were carrying a saw anyway. I doubt if a Club would have helped me.

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The Club has hardened parts I believe, however an angle head grinder will cut through hardened parts easily, like padlocks and such. A saw would have a hard time on hardened parts, though they may well have had one to cut catalytic converters out.

Edit: Just saw all the other posts that I didnt see before I posted. If the steering wheel can be easily cut to remove a Club its not doing as much as one would hope.

Happy Camper said:

Please don't take this the wrong way. You live in your van with a full set of drums? My daughter has an electronic drum set, and that would be hard to work around.

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All the drums are on a 2'x4' cart. The cart is up against the back of van. A Tommy liftgatre drops them down.
I used to have an electronic kit. The kit was small enough, but then I had to have an amp, mixer and speakers.

Are you often parked out of cell service range?

Happy Camper said:

Are you often parked out of cell service range?

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No, but I was hoping to be able to go anywhere if the fancy struck me. It won't kill me if I can't. I was just trying to find out the possibilities.

While there are solutions to protect your van, it would cost in money and space to do it from anywhere you went, if it's out of cell range. You're looking at satellite internet and some airtags, security system, solar and batteries to power it all. And backup power if they disable your primary power, so the system can still alert you.

Completely doable, but probably more than makes sense, tbh.

If I really wanted to scare a thief, I would probably put some simple tiny cameras on my rig, and have a motion sensor turn on a screen that shows them being recorded.

Add a graphic that says the video is being transmitted live and saved, and most will walk away. Doesn't need to be a large screen. Just large enough that when they see it, they see themselves in it. Good times.

Happy Camper said:

While there are solutions to protect your van, it would cost in money and space to do it from anywhere you went, if it's out of cell range. You're looking at satellite internet and some airtags, security system, solar and batteries to power it all. And backup power if they disable your primary power, so the system can still alert you.

Completely doable, but probably more than makes sense, tbh.

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I agree. I just have to accept the fact that I can't go just anywhere.

do best ya can and never 'let possibles' stop ya from enjoying life

I sure don't. best any of us can do thru it all, lol.

tradesman said:

Here's a very good lock for doors:


another one that looks simple to use but needs to be professionally installed and looks to be only in the UK: https://theftstop.co.uk/

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Looks very good, thanks!

I have this crazy idea, but don't know if it works. I though I'd get an old iphone, port the number over to StraightTalk (walmart pre-paid phone/data plans). Then set it up in my icloud acct and activate "find my iphone" feature. I'd then let the pre-paid plan lapse and securely connect it to a 12v charger that's hidden under the dash or under a seat. It would stay there/on indefinitely and if the vehicle was ever stolen, I'd go down to wally world and get/activate one of those pre-paid montly data plans for $35 and go track it in icloud. Seems like it might work, but I've not tested it.

You can essentially do the same thing with an airtag. With less effort. And no monthly fee.

You can also buy cellular based GPS trackers that you pay a monthly fee for.

But you can also use a tile tracker or airtag, among others.

Ways to find your stuff is becoming easier and cheaper. Ways to prevent having to find it remains problematic depending on the situation.

fairman136 said:

Does anyone ever worry about someone breaking in or stealing the vehicle while they're off walking? I want to get something like LoJack. It's expensive but I think worth it.

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Prius V I have a camera watching my car. Cover it with a sheet trying to conceal that it's the #1 car cat thieves target. Very concerned about that type of theft. My car is totaled if they take my catalytic converter.