We are deep in winter here in Austria. The van cover is on and everything is under a meter of snow patiently waiting for the weather to break so we can get back on the road. We are both using this travel downtime wisely. Leela is busy painting and organising new exhibitions all around her busy work life and I am trying to create her a website that is worthy of advertising her creative abilities as well as using this time to make some upgrades to the van ready for our re-start.
Headlights
The Fiat van is amazing. The driving experience is better than your average car and the engine is so smooth. But if you only have the base model it is supplied with standard headlights and not LED. And whilst driving in the dark these are actually really poor and give terrible lighting on dark roads or in bad weather.
I had looked at replacing the bulbs for LED but after a lot of research found that it is actually illegal to put LED bulbs in a headlight of a vehicle that was not originally designed to take them. So now I have changed the dip and main beam to upgraded Halogen bulbs from Osram that claim to be the next best thing. And on testing them there is definitely a huge difference between them and the standard fitted bulbs. I can now see where I am driving.
Campervan Security
Last on our upgrade list was the very big and important question of camper van security. Last year we spent most of our time staying either at campsites or choosing park-up’s that were as safe as possible. We took far too many chances leaving our valuables around and even though we don’t have expensive laptops and camera equipment, our wallets, passports and phones are all interesting to the average thief or opportunist unsavoury passerby.
Security Safe
We have been searching for a small safe but nothing would fit or go exactly where we wanted and have finally found the right one. We both detest violence and especially guns but the only safe that would accommodate our needs was indeed a handgun safe from Rottner. We found a model that would fit where we wanted and it has the advantage of being pretty secure.
Thitronik Campervan Alarm
And last on the security and something that I have been pondering and researching for over a year now is a habitat alarm system. All new vans come with a pretty good door deadbolt and vehicle security alarm as standard but of course once you cut huge holes in the side and roof and fit plastic windows the security drops somewhat dramatically for attempted break-ins. Thus the requirement for much better living area security.
There is so much crap out there it’s unreal and trying to make sense of it all is a minefield. Austria, unlike Wales, does not have a Thatcham system for vehicle alarm quality and the insurance companies offer no discount for fitting such a device which is also quite disappointing. So installation is up to you as well as the choice of a quality product.
After trying a few cheap options that I really would not recommend we looked at complete alarm systems designed specifically for camper vans of which there is only really a choice of two in Austria.
Pandora alarms are just ridiculously expensive and offer no different options to Thitronik. Both are overly complicated with App options that are unnecessary and asking for trouble. As well as being stupidly overpriced.
But we finally settled on the Thitronik system just because of price as both functioned the same. And after getting a price from our local handler, I decided to do it myself and save over €1700 in installation costs alone.
Installation was slow, precise and very stressful. I fitted the components that were necessary for us and now the habitat area of the van is protected and wired/operated with the Fiat standard key system.
A word about self installation. Yes you save between €1200 – €1700 on labour costs which is incredibly substantial but you really must be very competent and patient. The mistakes can be somewhat expensive also.
We are hopefully done with modifications and upgrades so we can now concentrate on travel. Once the winter calms down a little that is and as always your comments and questions are really appreciated. Maybe you have found better security solutions, and if so we would love to hear from you.
Thitronik update:
Having now used the alarm for over a year throughout Europe I can confirm that it functions very well and has saved us at least one definite break-in if not several. The incident in question happened when travelling in Wales (unfortunately) and although the thieving toerag managed to physically break the side window, the alarm was enough to send him running.
The attempt did cost €75 in repair costs but a whole lot less than the damage he could have caused if he had managed to get inside of the Camper.
So we can recommend the Thitronik system although don’t bother with the Bluetooth and Tracker as their functions do not justify the extra cost. The bluetooth is never used and a cheaper and more functional tracker is available. The Gas Alarm is also a little temperamental seemingly being set-off in random situations. But we do use it as it could be a life saver and just put up with the occasional false alarm.
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