Van security system

[Belize]

I have read everywhere that if someone wants your van, or to break in, they will. I understand. That being said, I believe in some form of security to make it more difficult than the next car, so the thief moves on.

I want to develop a 4x4 van security system. I have looked at the market and do not see anything close to what I envision.

First, a little about what I do. I am a photographer, specializing in landscape, wildlife, underwater habitats (http://tonyrath.com). This takes me to remote locations for extended periods of time. I am purchasing a 4x4 van to be an expedition vehicle that will support me for weeks at a time and carry my gear. As such, I want to develop a security system that protects me and my gear in three different scenarios.

1. When I am sleeping in the van in remote locations. I want 4 motion detectors (preferably Microwave) on the four sides of the van. The detectors should pick up movement to a minimum of 6m away and turn on lights in the direction of movement and also ring a buzzer inside the van to wake me up. The detectors should be sensitized to human sized motion to remove false alarms by animals or wind.

2. Parked in remote locations while I am away from the van. In this case, I want tilt sensors, glass break sensors and maybe motion detectors again to set off a loud siren. I will have a Ravelco device which will prevent the van being stolen (Google it if you are not familiar with Ravelco), but want to be notified if the van is tampered with.

3. Parked in the city or along streets. Obviously motion sensors won’t work here because of traffic, but would like the tilt sensors and glass break sensors to set off siren and send a text alert.

I would like to be able to turn the alarm on and off either via switch or remote, and to be able to simply switch between the different modes or just off.

There is nothing on the market anywhere that even closely approaches this as far as my research shows.

The van has a separate power system from the engine, and will be charged via solar and the alternator when engine is running. Regardless I will need to design for a minimal power draw by the security system.

I have some experience with coding (php, python, html, scripting, etc.) and electronics (electrical engineering in first year college and ham radio), though it has been a while that I have done either.

I have done some research on the Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms and have identified the sensors that might work. Is this a practical application for Raspberry Pi ( I think so from my research).

I am a pure beginner at Raspberry Pi and scratch programming, but am not afraid to experiment and learn.

To big a project for a beginner? Anyone out there hear of such a product? Doable? Anything I am missing that I should be considering? Anyone have a security system that works in these scenarios? Thanks!

[Twoxentrix]

It all sounds fantastic - if you identify anything close to what you've described please report back...I'm sure i'm not alone is saying "I have interest in what you uncover".

[AndrewInSeattle]

Speaking as someone with no recent practical experience in this area, just 25-year-old academic projects, this sounds like a good beginner project to me. That's based on your foundations and willingness to learn, so long as you don't expect everything to work on the first try or other miracles.

I would have guessed finding the right sensors would be the toughest part, but it sounds like you've got that covered. I'm sure others would love to see your proposed shopping list, and may have extremely useful feedback. In terms of hacking it together, you should be able to just do it incrementally and add in new sensors and outputs as you go, as long as you're comfortable living with a rat's nest of wires as you progress. That's because you'll want to leave everything exposed for testing purposes, and in case you end up discovering a component doesn't work as you hoped and need to swap in a new one.

The amount of code shouldn't be significant enough to worry about having to constantly change it as new hardware comes online. You'll eventually end up with spaghetti code, but that's par for the course in embedded systems.

I'm skeptical you'll be able to tune the motion detectors to avoid all false positives, but would love to be proved wrong. Deer and bears will likely set it off, which is fine for turning on a light, but I'd skip the buzzer and just lock the van at night, relying on the other sensors for more concrete break-in detection. But I value my sleep, a lot! As a photographer, maybe you want to be woken up to get a possible picture of a bear checking out your van.

[Twoxentrix]

Came across this Marine "Gost" system which seems to have a lot of what you are looking for - might provide some ideas to help your process...

https://www.gostglobal.com/boat-secu..._yacht-alarms/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4PIt1adhCM

[Scalf77]

I am not a code jockey at heart, I would think most of the scripting languages would fall short in your efforts. I haven't done much in python but it should work. In any advent I think Arduino has it own language.

I have used Phidgets in most of my van projects, they have a broad level of sensors. In any event it usually down to the sensor giving out a voltage level, so you don't have to use phidget sensors.

They were primarily usb connected devices, but now support a wifi hub for easy connection. They also have a nice single board computer that runs Debian GNU/Linux, programs can be written to run directly on it or a host machine. They support multiple languages C, C#, Python, Java, visual basic,and others. They also support multiple OS's Windows, Mac, Linux, Ios, Android, Phidget SBC. They have plenty of example code for all their devices to help bring you up to speed fast.

My use of the phidgets devices are seen in this thread http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/for...ram-21055.html. Keep in mind most of the data in this program is from other devices, but I do use the phidgets devices for all the IO devices and temp sensors, and some current monitoring.

I do also have some things that have to do with security, but have not written anything up on those. I agree this would be a good project, and certainly would be available to ping questions and ideas off.

I am currently looking into a new entire (new van) build, and much of the newer equipment now is moving to a RV-C interface standard (basically Canbus). I will be berried in learning that and my new build out or I might whole heartily jump in.

greg

[Belize]

Thanks Scalf77, this has given me a lot to think about. The closest system I found for security was: https://www.piratelights.com/captain...hts-the-system but very expensive.

Quick question, what is the interface between the tire gauges and your Phidget system? You said serial connection, but do the tire gauges come with a receiver or is it Bluetooth? Really enjoying this discussion.

[simplesez]

Seems excessively complicated. Just get a trunk monkey

https://youtu.be/Rx6WB5YJia8

[wanderers]

We were camped at the base of Hoosier Pass in Colorado this past fall and the wind was really rocking the van. It seems that motion sensors would have been triggered unless I had jacks at each corner. There were a couple of other stops that were almost as bad but you could put it in street mode if you keep getting nuisance alarms. Most places don't rock you that much, although at my age I often have to get up at least once during the night which might set it off, too, so I would probably only use two of those settings.

[Scalf77]

Originally Posted by Belize

Quick question, what is the interface between the tire gauges and your Phidget system? You said serial connection, but do the tire gauges come with a receiver or is it Bluetooth? Really enjoying this discussion.

The tire monitoring system is independent of the Phidget part of the program, the tire monitoring system I use is by pressure pro, it has a stand alone receiver, but passes the data along through a serial port option.



-greg

[Marcel Huijser]

We use ss autobolt as extra locks on all doors. Thieves can still break a window, but even when they crawl in through the window, they still can't open any door (unless they discover a secret hidden override that allows you to unlock the bolts when inside the van). Installation costs were high though; if you can get it to people who have experience with installing the system it is best.