Electric fence for bus

[jjrbus]

 After readeing Paso's post on theft. I feel bad for him, but he is lucky there was no damage done. I regularly dont lock my bay doors. I'd rather they took what was inside than destroy the doors.
Got me thinking, I have heard reference to useing electric fence equipment to protect a bus. I have never heard someone say they did it. Or seen directions to do this.  Is it possible? How would one go about doing it? Would it be worth while? would it be legal?
Not planning on doing it, just thinking in print. Then again, it might be fun!!!

[Jeremy]

I'm always worried about the safety of my bus, so I would also be interested to know if anyone has done this. I doubt it really could be made to work, and it would be no protection against rocks thrown at the windows etc, but as you say it is an intriguing idea. I did hear a story about a guy here who electrified the door handles on his car to prevent theft, but he fell foul of the law because the police argued that they, or a traffic warden etc, might legitimately need to touch the door handle, and would receive a shock - although to my mind if the shock is of a level to warn and discourage, rather than injure, it is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Electric fences in fields work in exactly that way, and they are legal. In South Africa incidentally, there are companies that will fit flame-throwers to your car to 'discourage' car-jackers, but I dare say the law there is somewhat less liberal than in the US or UK.

As an alternative idea - in the UK, and probably over there too, you can buy pyrotecnic 'security' devices for sheds and workshops etc (they are most sold into the Biking market). They consist of a tin, about the size of a paint tin, which you set into the floor of your workshop just inside the door. If the door is opened by a thief a small pyrotechnic device in the bottom of the tin explodes, making a very loud bang and sending the contents of the tin all over the thief - the contents can be anything you choose, as long as it does not cause injury - ie old engine oil, paint, or what ever the most unpleasant thing is that you can think of.

Jeremy

[FloridaCliff]

OK,

Lets forget about the LEGAL issues for sake of discussion.

I have considerable experience with fence chargers and it would be hard to make work, right.

You have to isolate your positive connection point from everything.  Kind of hard to isolate a bay door or entry door.

It will arc up to an 1" if the area is moist.

If there wearing shoes(lets say they are) they would have to touch your isolated handle....etc.... and the ground on the body....

I have 10,000 volt chargers and they barely shock me if the grounds not wet and I am wearing shoes.

Now if I am on my knees or barefoot.....I will scream like a little girl.   

But the real question is...Do you really want to P%#& OFF someone who can come back and really vandalize your coach?

Or maybe better to put an alarm (horn) with a strobe to scare them off.

I bet you shock someone and revenge will be served COLD.....

Cliff

[Barn Owl]

I agree with Florida Cracker, I have electric fences on my property, and there are too many problems you would have to overcome. When I mow, I turn my fence off, one time my wife not knowing what I was doing turned it on and I got into it. Just thinking about it Pi$$e$ me off, you never forget it especially since I was pinned between the fence and the mower! I could actually fell 5000v shooting into my butt cheek, traveling down my arm and into my new commercial mower, (It is a wonder I didn't blow the electronics in it). Not being able to control the mower, I let go, it shut off and I almost tore my fence down trying to get out of it. I agree you would not have a window left, or worse you wind up with a burnt out shell. It is better to use a more conventional method to deter or to catch the jerk.

[Barn Owl]

BTW, I was not mad at my wife; she is too kind and lovely. I was very upset at myself for not letting anyone know what I was doing. I deserved a good shock in the a$$.

[FloridaCliff]

Barn Owl,

As we both know....

Never aggrevate the wife before you work on the fence....


Cliff

[rv_safetyman]

In the past few months, the subject of perimeter protection has come up several times in our business.  I had three folks come to our booth at the FMCA rally in Charlotte asking about this kind of protection.

I am in the process of evaluating a specially designed motion detector that has a very narrow field of focus.  It is intended to be mounted on the side of a house and sights along the house to detect someone approaching.  It has two beams (one aimed about shoulder height and one aimed about knee height) and both must be tripped to set and alarm (avoids false alarms from animals).

This unit should work fine on a bus/motorhome.  It requires a 12V supply and would be one sensor (perhaps two if you wanted to protect both sides of the bus) in a security system.

I doubt that you would use the sensor as an full alarm system trigger, but rather, would set it up in the "chime" mode for letting you know that someone was close when you are "home".

I will try to post the results on our website when I get some testing done.

[Hartley]

I tried using motion detectors but found that anything used outdoors has a tendancy to false alarm " A LOT "

The thought of piping power through the chassis of the bus has certain disadvantages. Tires although made of rubber also
contain carbon compounds. 5 to 10k volts may jump from the rims to the tires and especially if the tires are wet from rain
or dew.

My dad tried that "back in the day" with a model A coil on his 40 ford coupe. he dragged a ground wire under the car
and my uncle who was the size of "Hoss Cartwright", BIG guy and ex football player was leaning in the passenger window
when my dad " tweaked the coil ", AS I heard it my uncle just about flipped the car over. " A mistake that was never repeated again ! " My uncle retaliated about a week later with a model A coil hooked to the toilet seat in the outhouse behind the gas station he worked at.... Well.. my dad tore the door off... They never did get along after that... Go Figure....

I would think that adding switches to the bay doors that triggered flashing lights and a really obnoxious horn alarm would
work pretty good. Kinda like transit buses that have the hidden emergency switch that flashes the marker lights and trips the signs to "Call Police ", I drove 50 miles with call police flashing on an RTS I picked up one time.

Anyway, Have fun and whatever you do, Please don't get yourself sued by the "victims" family...
"Survivors Talk" as they say....