Bongo Fury

I'm keen on learning about what my options are regarding increasing security on my Bongo following a rather unfortunate event on a recent trip .

Whilst returning from a mini euro-trip i was shocked to discover that someone had tried to break into the Bongo with my (6 month pregnant) wife and I inside sleeping! We were on a campsite, in France, about 25km southwest of Cambrai, apparently this camp-site has a problem!
Thankfully for some reason the intruder decided to target other campers after smashing my sliding door lock and damaging the door panel in the process. My guess is that we disturbed them/him in our sleep(top with the roof up)! That means I was 2-3 Feet away from someone trying to beak in to my space! If they/he'd got in there is no way i'd of caught them as getting down from the roof takes time. He could be in and out and away with all that matters! Thankfully he didn't!
FYI - He moved on other campers and on one cut out the front quarter panel of a transit type vehicle with a knife, opened the door and made away with ~£600, waking the occupants in the process!
It was a real shame as this was our 1st trip away and in the 3 day we were camping it happened on our last day.

So I've a damaged sliding door and lock barrel (the central still works) and rather than fixing i was considering de-locking. Has anyone does this on the sliding door of even the whole van?
I'm considering my options at this stage. I'd wire the damn thing to the mains elect if i weren't sleeping in it!!

Here are some improvements i'm considering:
Alarm (immobiliser already fitted)
Proximity Alarm, microwave etc.

I also thought of an alarm but if they can get in easily the alarm simply scares them off after more damage etc.
I have parking sensors front and back and was thinking of configuring them so they can be left running overnight as a kind of proximity alarm! However - Not sure how much juice they'd take. But this would only work for the 4x corners of the van.
Also i'm going to be installing a safe for obvious reasons.

With Bongo's not the most secure it's really got me thinking how lucky we were to get off so lightly and I absolutely don't want them or anyone to try again!

Accordingly I'd like to open this up to the forum. Has anyone had a similar experience? Got any nice deterrents or even fitted a safe? Have something fitted by a garage or authorised dealer? Was it expensive? De-locked the vehicle? or maybe sleep with a damn bat at your side !

Regards
Paul.

Very sorry to hear such a distressing tale.

Just had a v. interesting thought. If you bought one or more of those motion sensing patio alarm things and you were on hookup, you might have a very effective solution. Any approaching intruder would set if off (animals too unfortunately but still). You could even tap in to the sensor circuit so that a suitable (vibrating) alarm that only you could hear got set off. Even a CCT recording device.

And make sure you have some pepper spray and a taser on board

Hi - I've got an office in my back garden, which I keep nothing of value in, but probably looks quite tempting to an opportunist. It's got its own wired security alarm, but by the time that's triggered, they would already have caused damage while trying to gain entry. So, I decided to take the bizarre step of alarming my back garden (yes, I'm slowly driving my wife mad) B&Q used to do a range of battery powered PIRs that are weatherproof and talk wirelessly to a receiver/bell that you plug directly into the mains. I think they went under the brand "IQ". The batteries on the PIR last for yonks, and I've got several of these around the place acting as a "first line of defence". I think they cost around 30 quid for a transmitter and receiver pair. I reckon one of these would be good in an awning. Chances are, an opportunist would first have a look around your awning (if you have one) before attempting to break into the vehicle? I found these to be really good sensors, and haven't had any false alarms from birds, cats etc.

Thanks. Thats great stuff.
I really appreciate your support.

FYI that night there were only 5 caravans on the site. He/they mangaged to break in to 3, and we were pretty sure they'd had a walk round the others!

There were so many hit the police were called to the site. Although there was little they could do. The Manager'ess spoke English and was helpful in Translating to the Police.

For those interested I found the place where I and others had the problem:

http://www.camping-plaisance.com/
GPS: N 49.91778° E 2.93238°
route de Paris
80200 Péronne
France

More on:
http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/europe ... ce-103824/#

I have 4 corner sensors which are switch bypassed and I leave
them on when I don't feel safe. Over 3 years, several people
have walked round the the van in the middle of the night
looking in all the windows. When they hear the bleeper they
dissapear over the horizon.

They draw very little current when passive, probably a little
more when the bleeper goes off which is quite loud. You could
fit a 6 inch siren and it wouldn't use any current unless it went
off.

As you already have them fitted, I can assure you it's well worth
the effort to have them on as a first line of defence.

Ben.

patnben wrote:I have 4 corner sensors which are switch bypassed and I leave
them on when I don't feel safe.

Interesting. Do you need you ignition for the prox sensors to remain on in your case?
Have you had many false alarms?

patnben wrote:I have 4 corner sensors which are switch bypassed and I leave
them on when I don't feel safe. Over 3 years, several people
have walked round the the van in the middle of the night
looking in all the windows. When they hear the bleeper they
dissapear over the horizon.

They draw very little current when passive, probably a little
more when the bleeper goes off which is quite loud. You could
fit a 6 inch siren and it wouldn't use any current unless it went
off.

As you already have them fitted, I can assure you it's well worth
the effort to have them on as a first line of defence.

Ben.

Sheer genius

You could easily fit extra sensors by each door as well so that anybody approaching a lock will be in the beam, if you fitted them higher up then you wouldn't get animals triggering them either - in fact thinking about it , why not fit them on the inner edge of the AFT angled outwards so that when its raised you have in effect a curtain around the vehicle, you might need to de-sensitise them a little so that reflections from the ground weren't a problem but that isn't normally a problem.

If you want to consider recording pictures then see this thread, not sure if there still available from Maplins however, there are similar devices on sale on Ebay if not. Fitting a large 4GB HCSD card gives nearly 2 days of recording at 1 frame a second, and the camera will loop around and reuse the memory after that so little chance of overwriting a recording as well. I have a pair fitted giving coverage front and rear when driving and the rear one will be reversible shortly so as to cover the inside of the van when we are parked up and away from the vehicle. Both will be left running continuously, see this page for the results just click a video camera way point ( these images have been heavily compressed and downsized to make them suitable for the web) the quality of the individual frames are excellent see this single frame full size 1280x1024. I haven't tried them at night yet, but the cameras themselves are standard 1.3MegaPixel cmos phone cameras so are normally Infra-red sensitive.

durnienp

It's a simple matter of finding the positive supply to the sensor
controller and re-routing this through a standard change-over
rocker switch which will fit into an existing unused switch
position behind the steering wheel. You can then switch them
on permanently or switch them back to operate normally.

Be aware that the lower banks are longer than the top ones
but both types are available from many sources. I have never
seen a Bongo with all switch positions used. Some switches
have LED indicators built in which will show you when the
sensors have been left on the permanent supply.

Of course, you shouldn't park up too close to any obstructions
which operates the alarms, but if you did you would be well
aware of this. Other than dogs sniffing around and piddling
on my wheels, I don't get any false alarms but different
systems may be less reliable, other members may have a
different experience ???.

I like my sensors, the possibilities are endless. You could have
a flashing blue light fitted on the rooftop or use it to switch
on the radio with a loud CD playing a pre-recorded message
with words that may suit the situation **** off etc.

Ben.

I would also suggest you add extra locks/bolts to the inside of the car doors cheap and easy.

Hi there,

Take a look on google, I did a while back and there are some good replacement lockign systems designed for vans.

Also my front/rear parking sensors come on with the first click of the key, easy to rewire to a switch to have them on when I need. That would be a simple option if you already have them. I don't think they take too much juice.

For a safe, check out halfords, they have 2 types they are reducing to sell off. Metrolock I think but I have the smaller one that is great for GPS etc, they do a much larger one for laptops etc. They are less than half price at £10 and £20 respectively, not all branches have them as they are selling them off now.

Delocking is an option, for a while VW based cars have a problem with being able to be broken into, hence they now replace the lock mechanism with a blanking plate. One downside is you still have to have the drivers door lock working and you do loose the ability to get into these doors via the key.

It's hard really, the more you protect yourself, the harder it is for you to use the car in a way.

Hi
A reasonable alarm, and a separate hidden switch, plus a steering wheel lock is all that you are likely to need when parked. If you want higher security, then yale locks are the best answer....All you are trying to do is delay someone, so that your car becomes unattractive, and the thief goes on to the next car. I doubt that the Bongo is no. 1 on the thieves top 10 "to nick", in spite of the recent spate....if we checked around, I expect it is just a general increase. REMEMBER....if it's only a moment, lock your car, as it is incredible how many people don't lock when they go into a shop
As regards being hit on when camping, Maxheadroom is right....BOLTS...from a garden shed or similar....but don't leave the kids unattended.
France and Italy have always been a problem with camping , and I remember hearing about it way back into the 50s....it shouldn't put anyone off, as it's just the way things are!...but....bolt in.....anaesthetic gas is readily for sale in aerosols in many parts of Europe, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise...I can walk into town and buy it tomorrow....without special documentation, but take care, go to a good campsite, and bolt in.....and have an enjoyable, trouble-free holiday, and let someone who isn't careful get robbed....they are the stupid ones----you're not.
Cheers
Helen

patnben wrote:durnienp

It's a simple matter of finding the positive supply to the sensor
controller and re-routing this through a standard change-over
rocker switch which will fit into an existing unused switch
position behind the steering wheel. You can then switch them
on permanently or switch them back to operate normally.

Be aware that the lower banks are longer than the top ones
but both types are available from many sources. I have never
seen a Bongo with all switch positions used. Some switches
have LED indicators built in which will show you when the
sensors have been left on the permanent supply.

Of course, you shouldn't park up too close to any obstructions
which operates the alarms, but if you did you would be well
aware of this. Other than dogs sniffing around and piddling
on my wheels, I don't get any false alarms but different
systems may be less reliable, other members may have a
different experience ???.

I like my sensors, the possibilities are endless. You could have
a flashing blue light fitted on the rooftop or use it to switch
on the radio with a loud CD playing a pre-recorded message
with words that may suit the situation **** off etc.

Ben.

Great post patnben! You have a similar set up to frewheelers bongo. I'd do the same if i had parking sensors on mine. (i only have aftermarket sensors on the rear).

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience paul.

Thanks for the support and ideas.
A friend to me that the use rachet straps when inside to actually strap all the doors together to stop them from being opened. I'd imagine this would be quite effective as the doors would not be able to be opened irrespective of the lock. Any thoughts?
I can only think that it would be a pain getting out in a hurry!

durnienp wrote:Thanks for the support and ideas.
A friend to me that the use rachet straps when inside to actually strap all the doors together to stop them from being opened. I'd imagine this would be quite effective as the doors would not be able to be opened irrespective of the lock. Any thoughts?
I can only think that it would be a pain getting out in a hurry!

I used this method on my old camper a couple of times, but I'm not sure it would be that easy on a Bongo. There's nothing to thread the strap through on the door .