Theft Prevention: Ravelco

[skyrat]

Ravelco installed!
I feel better already!

[Jack K]

Originally Posted by skyrat

Me too! Rich at Ravelco CA said that they had been to SMB Fresno many times to install on vehicles that were in production. He was very familiar with them and that gives me even more confidence in the people and their product.

Thanks for your post! It's great to hear that Ravelco installs their system up in SMB Fresno, which is where our conversion is taking place as I write. Will have it done there and have that feel better state of mind from the moment I drive it off the lot (and into the Sierras for a week!).

Jack

[1der]

Just a heads up - We have wireless motion sensor in each car we park in front of our house and it it went off last night about 11:26 . I flipped the outside lights on and it took me about thirty seconds to get outside to see what was going on. I checked the car doors and noticed the passenger door on our Honda FIT was ajar. No one was around.

I checked our surveillance cameras for the front yard and was able to see a guy walking up the street checking door handles to see if they were open ( or possibly using an electronic gadget to open car doors, not sure which). The video showed him getting into the car and exiting it when our front lights went on. He then walks up the street triggering the motion lights near our garage. Nuts.

We posted on NextDoor and one of our neighbors up the street found a guy in the same type of clothing checking the car door in from t of his house shortly after 11:30 pm.

The motion detector saved the rifling of the inside of the car. I really wish there was a way of tying the car motion detectors into our house alarm so they arm while we are inside and disarm when we disarm the alarm. Pretty sure there must be a way. But for now, these little $25 motion detectors did the job!

[arctictraveller]

Ray, could you clarify where your motion detectors are mounted? Are they actually in the car and van, or mounted on something outside? What type of detectors are they and what do they trip? I assume that if they are outside there 110V, but if inside, are they 12v? Do they alarm in the house, turn on a light or something? Glad you foiled the bastard, did you call the police and show them the video?

[1der]

The motion detectors are "1byOne Driveway Alert" - check Amazon, we got the two sensor /One Siren model.

We just place the sensor up on the dash under the windshield. In the vans we have them on the center console or pointing towards the side barn door. These are battery operated 6volts?, cheapy things. They wirelessly connect to the Siren which we have near the front door.

We just put them in the glove box when we get in and take them out when we park in front of the house. They will do nothing at all if out of range, so no good for shopping center, workplace, trail head, etc. But they work with the cars parked on th street in front of our house.

[arctictraveller]

Thanks Ray, they look like an inexpensive addition to the security plan. I'll be ordering a pair soon, I can see some additional uses for them too, like the back deck of our boat and in our back yard. The fact that they worked for you and saved your car sold me. Greg, have you ordered yours yet? Thanks again..............

[daveb]

Originally Posted by gcvt

I think the installer disconnected the house batteries at the battery isolator when he did the install on my van.

Originally Posted by rallypanam

Permanently or just during installation?

Either way, I did neither during my installation.

Just depends on what kind of relay is in the vehicle and how it operates. There are so many variations it could be hard to tell what is what. Some workers can't tell the difference between an isolator or separator plus they have no way of knowing when/if an automatic breaker can operate so yes it is a safety issue. Most SMB's with solar can (with enough sun) force the separator to close at a most inconvenient time. Having dead lines come hot to where ever they tie to the vehicle battery might be a big surprise to worker. The other issue is how some separators and isolators work. A visual open that you can actually see is always the best choice if ya want to be sure. Any time I send my vehicle to the shop I either manually open the separator from the remote control switch (that my specific separator has) or go to the separator and manually lock it open. If that's not good enough, they can disconnect the main buss wire going to the standoff lug where the inverter and separator taps off of. My set of shop keys has a warning note on it about both the inverter and the separator hazards.

[Jack K]

Conversion by SMB West is complete and we're back from our shakedown excursion into Kings Canyon. The project is done! (except for a roof rack, Door Talon, pop-out rear windows...etc., etc...) One of the last of the Ford E-series through their production line, for which we bought the van new three years ago. We humbly now consider it to be magnificent. I want to thank all for their comments on this thread, and have incorporated several of the ideas discussed here (1byone, Ravelco). A picture of the beast in its natural environment is attached.

Happy Independence Day!

[tk3]

Hi all, just had a Ravelco installed on a 2014 E350 with the 6.8L V10. I've noticed that if I insert the plug and immediately try to start I get a long 4 second crank. If I wait a few seconds after inserting the plug and then try to start I get a normal crank time. Every subsequent start has a normal crank time if i don't remove the plug.

I talked to the installer afterwards and he confirmed he was killing power to keep alive memory (KAM) with the plug removed. I am assuming that the initial long crank is the PCM having to sync itself once it's supplied power. My concern is the loss of power to KAM every time I remove the plug and thus a loss of learning in the PCM (fuel trim, transmission shifting, adaptive learning that takes place from normal driving). Am I now re-learning every time I start the van? If so, this seems insane.

The installer said the same wiring was used on hundreds of vehicles and he never had a problem but is it just that people didn't know what was going on? I also called the Texas number and was assured that the initial long crank is normal in E-series (and doesn't happen in F-series) but I wasn't really put at ease about the whole killing KAM and constantly relearning thing.

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

Thanks so much for your time.

[Tienckb]

Interesting, mine is an 08 V10, I don't recall a 4 seconds crank after I insert the plug. Let me pay attention with my next start and let u know.


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2002 LX470 expo ready
2008 Ford E350 EB V10 4x4 Sportsmobile PH top
Custom off road trailer