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Old 03-19-2016, 03:29 PM   #1
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Theft Prevention: Ravelco

Greetings, joined the forum a month ago, looks like a good group of people. My 2013 E-350 is at SMB West for the full conversion with delivery in several months. The planning is finally finished, now it's a matter of coming up with the most effective ways to protect the van, unfortunately necessary for the times we are in. I have looked for discussions on security and anti-theft, the most extensive one seems to be "Let's Talk Security", on which the latest entry (besides my own) is over a year old. I am interested in finding out about more recent thoughts on security systems, which I haven't found in searching the forum, hence my reason for starting this thread.

There are two aspects to the security issue: theft of the vehicle itself and breaking into and stealing what's inside. As to the former, I am of the mind that it's better to prevent theft of the van to begin with than to try to track it down later. Ravelco repeatedly comes up as a device which reportedly does a great job. The way it works with multiple wiring splices to operating systems and a mechanical plug to activate their functions looks to be very secure - no wireless codes to hijack! I don't care much for wireless remote control, seems too easy for someone to mess with. And the company website testimonials are certainly compelling, as is the claim that no vehicle with Ravelco installed has been stolen in 40 years. I am leaning strongly in favor of this unit. To anyone who has this, are you satisfied with it? Has it thwarted any thefts? Are there any drawbacks, such as electrical problems, reliability, etc.? Has having it installed interfered with taking it to a shop to troubleshoot electrical/mechanical breakdowns? Or are there better theft prevention systems available?

The topic of breaking in and stealing stuff is a different issue for another time.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and ideas!

Jack

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Old 03-19-2016, 04:06 PM   #2
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I'm happy with mine, no issues whatsoever. And nobody has stolen my van. Of course, nobody has tried either.

It does give me a brief heart stoppage every once in a while when I forget to plug it in and the van won't start!
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Old 03-19-2016, 04:28 PM   #3
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I'm having one installed as soon as my van arrives this week.
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Old 03-19-2016, 04:41 PM   #4
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Having had my vehicle stolen from a trailhead by two murderous punks I approve of this message. Eventually got it back (recovered in Tennessee and stolen in AZ) but OMG that was a long day and never could get exercise the demons out of the thing.

Anyhow, subscribed. I've got an older Viper system and looking to upgrade...to something.
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Old 03-19-2016, 06:37 PM   #5
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Having had my vehicle stolen from a trailhead by two murderous punks I approve of this message. Eventually got it back (recovered in Tennessee and stolen in AZ) but OMG that was a long day and never could get exercise the demons out of the thing.

Anyhow, subscribed. I've got an older Viper system and looking to upgrade...to something.
Wow Joe! They obviously weren't too bright anyhow since a Sportsmobile is as easy to spot here in Tennessee as the Good Year blimp. Glad you got it back. I can definitely say that most of the cheap aftermarket alarm systems are essentially junk. I think a stealth fuel pump switch or a Ravelco is the way to go.

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Old 03-19-2016, 06:46 PM   #6
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Wow Joe! They obviously weren't too bright anyhow since a Sportsmobile is as easy to spot here in Tennessee as the Good Year blimp. Glad you got it back. I can definitely say that most of the cheap aftermarket alarm systems are essentially junk. I think a stealth fuel pump switch or a Ravelco is the way to go.

no, sorry if I mis-represented. It was a precursor to my SMB, an old trusty friend the Subaru 4wd wagon. Funny thing is you can start them with a screw driver but they ripped out half the dash. Not too smart but unfortunately just smart enough to kill people. My wife and I were back-packing and no doubt it was a good thing we didn't cross paths as they were desperate to dump their getaway vehicle and steal ours. There's much more to the story and it involved hiking 4 miles to a small store with a radio phone and then a rather unpleasant ordeal with the White Mountain Apache Tribal police.

Sorry for the hijack. I like the OP's point that it's better to not have the vehicle stolen at all rather than being able to track it. In our case the detectives would have loved to track our poor suby.
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Old 03-19-2016, 06:54 PM   #7
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Gotcha. I'm weird but I always feel totally violated after having something stolen, for years, or maybe even decades. I had a radar detector stolen from an unlocked car at my first rental place years ago. I've never forgotten. Like I said, I'm weird. I couldn't handle big city livin' again even though, and maybe especially since, I grew up in Memphis.

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Old 03-19-2016, 07:01 PM   #8
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JoeH, I don't mind the hijack, it's a good story. When you say subscribed, do you have a system which you pay an annual fee for? Anyway, it's a good thing it wasn't your Sportsmobile that was stolen.

rallypanam, it's good to hear that you like your installation. How long have you had it?

gcvt, congrats on getting your van this week, what made you decide to go with the Ravelco?

Thanks for the input, guys!
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Old 03-19-2016, 08:30 PM   #9
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JoeH, I don't mind the hijack, it's a good story. When you say subscribed, do you have a system which you pay an annual fee for? Anyway, it's a good thing it wasn't your Sportsmobile that was stolen.

rallypanam, it's good to hear that you like your installation. How long have you had it?

gcvt, congrats on getting your van this week, what made you decide to go with the Ravelco?

Thanks for the input, guys!
Seeing rallypanam's, and 1der's, and reading about them pretty much sealed the deal. Never having had a car stolen with a properly installed Ravelco sounds pretty good to me.
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Old 03-19-2016, 09:46 PM   #10
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Had my Ravelco installed a month ago and so far so good. Next up is an alarm system and a way to hook up video cameras with the ability to monitor the exterior activities.


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