Alarm and AS Monitor

This is precisely why I won't ever have another new motorhome. I've got enough money,  I just won't tolerate all these computerised electronics. I've been in electronics / radio / telecomms R&D all my life and I am fed up with it. My daughter's car threw a wobbly, the computer allegedly told me what the fault was. I changed the part and the fault was still there. These CAN bus computers tell lies.
So if I get another motorhome it will be a pre-2007 monocoque A/S. Tree wood. No leaks. No computers (hopefully). Built properly. Perhaps a mechanical injector pump. I have no need of going into Bristol or any other town that doesn't want me because I have an allegedly polluting vehicle where they run buses belching out black smoke. I have had four or five new or nearly new motorhomes in the last five years and every single one of them had design and build faults. So I will get an old A/S and refit it with new cooker, heater, fridge, lights and whatever else isn't controlled by a microprocessor.
I'll go to the NEC this week, but if I get pestered by a Gold Rolex wearing, perfume smelling salesman I will give them a list of the faults in their show model. Doesn't matter which one it is, it will be faulty.
 Must go now, the men in white coats tell me it's lunch time . . .

gassygassy wrote:This is precisely why I won't ever have another new motorhome. I've got enough money,  I just won't tolerate all these computerised electronics. I've been in electronics / radio / telecomms R&D all my life and I am fed up with it. My daughter's car threw a wobbly, the computer allegedly told me what the fault was. I changed the part and the fault was still there. These CAN bus computers tell lies.
So if I get another motorhome it will be a pre-2007 monocoque A/S. Tree wood. No leaks. No computers (hopefully). Built properly. Perhaps a mechanical injector pump. I have no need of going into Bristol or any other town that doesn't want me because I have an allegedly polluting vehicle where they run buses belching out black smoke. I have had four or five new or nearly new motorhomes in the last five years and every single one of them had design and build faults. So I will get an old A/S and refit it with new cooker, heater, fridge, lights and whatever else isn't controlled by a microprocessor.
I'll go to the NEC this week, but if I get pestered by a Gold Rolex wearing, perfume smelling salesman I will give them a list of the faults in their show model. Doesn't matter which one it is, it will be faulty.
 Must go now, the men in white coats tell me it's lunch time . . .

Oh dear, similar background similar thoughts, same men in white coats waiting for me.

I went and did it, bought the Nuevo. Told the salesmen I didn't even want relays switching everything consuming current,  give me a row of real switches. Of course we can't have it. Remis winding handle blinds, designed to last 2 seasons, change them for Heiki manual lift, can't  do it.

I even had to back away from a project with a friend who told me it was more important to introduce new features than spend time correcting reported programming errors. That is the prevailing attitude now, be it Banking or Engineering, I hate it, can't stand it. No no not the straight jacket again.

That's another reason why we've just spent over £5k on our 2002 Pollensa base vehicle (replacement gearbox, timing belt, water pump etc, radiator, chassis welding and repair of scuttle drain) because we hope to get another few years out of it.

The habitation area layout suits our needs, the AS build quality at that time was second to none and the control panel is the good old fashioned bank of knobs, dials and switches which means I can repair any faults myself plus if one thing goes wrong the rest is unaffected.

I've made loads of mods over the years to suit our needs, I know the conversion side inside out and can do repairs to that myself. I don't touch the base vehicle side as I've no skills there but we have a local family-run garage who look after it for me.

We've looked at later used and current new models with friends who've been looking to buy and have been totally unimpressed with the hab conversion quality. That plus the problems reported on here with the newer electronic panels just puts me right off. 

Fingers crossed our Pollensa keeps going for a while longer.

I'm being naughty here because this is definitely off topic but, having been formally trained in aviation radio/radar then moved to a career in terrestrial communications, I retain a van with a gas fire than doesn't need a fan, two large gas bottles with an auto changeover rather than a tank, an electrical system that just comprises on/off switches and basic indications. I do not have or want other than the base vehicle alarm/immobiliser and I don't want anyone tracking me or remotely monitoring/controlling any aspect of my base vehicle of motorhome.

Unfortunately I have to live with the blue LED's glued into the bathroom mirror......

So the big question is why do AS have to have the latest troublesome gizmos, other converters (including Autotrail in their V-line van conversions) use the simpler Sargent systems and systems other than Sargent are available.

As said in other threads, it's a mix of changes in response to what they perceive as customer demand, and being forced to make changes because of what's happening to the base vehicle.

And you can understand why some people want the extra features. I must admit that if my van had an option to remotely power-up the heating via my mobile phone, I would probably use it, because the idea of having a warm van to step into when you've been trudging through the rain for several hours is appealing.

And if I stored my van outside, I would probably want an alarm/tracker too.

The changes to the base vehicle are not something that they can do anything to avoid either. The use of smart alternators and regenerative braking mean that a traditional split charge circuit will not work, so they have to change to a battery-to-battery system. And the use of CAN networks to cut down on wiring means that they have to implement CAN in their own systems.

And because - as I understand it - A/S are committed to using a pre-assembled, pre-approved electrical system, they can't do this by just adding extra boxes. Hence they have to go with ever more complex pre-made systems such as the ones from Sargent.

rogerblack wrote:That's another reason why we've just spent over £5k on our 2002 Pollensa base vehicle . . .

That is £5k cheaper than part exchanging it for another camper of the same year and same value . .

Stay near a big motorhome dealer, and at going-home time you can watch all the salesmen driving out the gate in their Aston Martins, Jaguars and Range Rovers. Where do you think they get the money from? People who don't spend £5k keeping their loved campers on the road, that's where.
I will take a cupboard front with me to the NEC and have a gentle word with the AS rep to see if he can replace it. . . . .

Peter Brown wrote:. .

Unfortunately I have to live with the blue LED's glued into the bathroom mirror......

No you don't. As you are a competent electronics engineer you are authorised and qualified to use a pair of cutters on the voltage supply wire . .

I just don't switch them on.... unless I want to intrigue a neighbouring camper!

Too late and no keyboard but my personal experience of home alarms, burglaries and consequences leads me to not bother. If they want it, they'll have it.

Peter Brown wrote:Too late and no keyboard but my personal experience of home alarms, burglaries and consequences leads me to not bother. If they want it, they'll have it.

And with my experience of the Police I wouldn't bother either. A) the Police don't exist and B) they aren't interested, even if you can contact them.
I saw a neighbour's house being broken into and dialled 999. An hour and a half later a Policeman came round and told me off for ringing 999 to report a burglary. His actual words were "Burglary is not much of a crime, we are not interested. You mustn't ring 999 to report a burglary". So when later I was in my house and someone was shooting at my windows and breaking the frames I tried to call the local Police station number, not 999 because of course shooting at people's houses isn't much of a crime. The phone wasn't answered and they didn't have an answering machine so I sent them a Fax. A week and a day later someone came round and claimed that it must be the 87 year old lady in 'that house over there' shooting through a 6ft thick, 8ft high hedge, and who has a magic gun that will make its bullets turn through 60 degrees after it had left the barrel. Idiot. They knew perfectly well who was doing the shooting but were too afraid to go and knock on the door and arrest them. Nothing was done and the Chief Constable of Leicestershire replied to a complaining letter from me and from my MP just spouting statistics of how crime levels have gone down and isn't he doing a wonderful job. No wonder crime levels are going down, nobody reports them because they know nothing will be done.
The only place the Police exist is at the viewing station of speed cameras. Commit an offence that they can take money off you for, and do it using a camera and not a person, and you will get done. Other than that forget them. You can shoot at people's houses, you can do burglary and nothing will be done. But do 35mph in a 30 zone and you will pay dearly for it.
When did anyone ever take any notice of a car alarm going off? On the occasions when for some reason I have accidentally pressed or not pressed the right button and my alarm screams around the neighbourhood, does anyone come and investigate? Do the Police arrive five minutes later? I leave you to guess the answer.
The only preventative measure, and the most effective, and the cheapest method of securing your motorhome is to wire in a secret switch somewhere that disables the engine. And preferably the same switch fires up an EHT generator that feeds 40,000v to a thin wire running round the steering wheel rim, and another to a metal spike sticking up in the centre of the driver's seat squab.

Yes that's a point. But you have to have all the tech and it has to be working. For exmple I had an electric car. I went to a motorway service station to recharge it. The charger wasn't working. A notice said 'in case of difficulty phone this number . . . .' The number wasn't answered and they didn't have an answering machine. "The office is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday". so outside of those hours no one can report that an electric charging point is not working. That was the high tech electric charging machine company. I had to drive home down the motorway at 30mph, which I can testify is not funny. Later, they changed the costing procedure for the charging machines. Now you have to have a) a smart mobile phone, b) a signal, c)charge in the phone, d) the app to pay for the electricity e) the knowledge of how to get an app and use it as well as f) an electric charger that is actually working. Another one I stopped at had been stolen and another one was also broken.
The other way of not having your vehicle stolen is to drive one like that in my avatar. :)

I fitted a tkstar tracker in my van it text me if motion senser or ring fence is activated uses a payg simm .no Fee's .not foolproof but what is ?.

If my van is stolen, I have no intention of chasing after it and coming face to face with those responsible. In majority of cases, I believe the van will be parked up somewhere whilst the perpetrators wait to see if fitted with a tracker. I have put in a simple tracker (marketed for dementia sufferers to track them if they wander off), I send it a text, it replies by text with a Google map showing location. Tracker cost me £16 off eBay, pay as you go sim costs 20p per text. Tracker lasts around 18 days between charges. It doesn't tell me when it is stolen but as it's parked on my drive, I can see if it's missing by looking out of the window.

Paul- you say the tracker lasts 18 days between charges. Can't you keep it connected to the engine battery volts so as to not need recharging?

Probably but that would probably be easy to find and be ripped out. Its no big deal to get it and charge it, its only on the drive. It will probably last about 23 days, it sends a text when battery down to 20% which is about after 18 days.
 I know thieves have jammers for tracker signals but that can only work when they stay in the van. Once they leave it I can get a text from it.