Anyone use a door alarm?

[TheBlurb]

I'm thinking of ordering a basic door sensor alarm for my pup. A little security, a little peace of mind. Anyone have success with one?

 

[tombiasi]

What are you securing against?

 

[TheBlurb]

What are you securing against?

Anyone entering.

 

[tzmartin]

I don't know anyone who uses one. I believe that camping has almost a zero rate of criminal activity. Perhaps there is an occasional beer or cooler stolen but a crime against another person would be very remote. In my opinion, the door alarm would be more annoying with false alarms than helpful. But the golden rule of camping is that you do what makes you comfortable as long as you don't bother others enjoyment of camping.

 

[gladecreekwy]

Here’s my door alarm

 

[roybraddy]

I use motion detector that turns on outside lights ... My PUP has the velco strip around the door and all you do is slip you hand inside the door and open it from the inside haha... Standing in front of the door with groceries it is faster doing this them fumbling around for the door keys...

I like having the lights coming on when someone or some larger animal walks up to patio area... I also have a pocket transmitter that will turn on the outside lights with a push of the button.. I can do this up to a 100 feet or so... great for finding your trailer when you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night haha...

Roy Ken

 

[jmkay1]

I remember reading an old post where someone was planning to use an alarm similar to keep his mentally challenged child in, or at the very least notify him she was on the wander.
I’m sure it can work I do question if it can go off prematurely if it’s windy. My door jiggles quite a bit if it’s windy. I would really hate to be woken up with a screaming alarm just because of wind. If you ever get your heart out of your throat I know for me I would never be able to get back to sleep afterwards.

I live in the city so know what your afraid of. However in all the places I camp, I’ve never felt insecure. Then again I camp at state and National parks so alcohol is very limited and rangers are quick to throw riff raff out. I’ve only had curious kids walk in my site while camping but it was never in the middle of the night. Food container was raided but judging by the teeth marks I’d assume it was more a wild critter. When I was away from camp, according to my camp neighbor I did have some kids playing under my bunk touching my propane but the neighbor chased them away. I’ve even camped by myself many times too. I’m more afraid of what is happening at my home while I’m away then I am afraid of a breakin at camp. Do what makes you comfortable, but please don’t disturb the neighbors over false alarms. Gosh knows there is enough car alarms going off prematurely because people I swear sleep with keys in their pocket and the panic button is pushed.

 

[NMroamer]

Anyone entering.

What are you going to do if someone does come in?

 

[eoleson1]

What are you going to do if someone does come in?

It's likely that anyone with bad intentions would run when the alarm went off.

 

[roybraddy]

I was camping at ELKMONT in the smokies one time and across the side road was another camper all setup. He had a rather big GENSET chained to a tree... He was rather proud of his genset... I got the tour on well it worked for him haha... I left camp one morning and came back a couple of hours later and found I couldn't drive the side road ofr a downed tree... I drove around to the other side of the road I was setup on and sure enough someone came in and cut down the not too big tree and stole this guys GENSET. I noticed his truck was gone... A little later I saw him back at his cam site just staring at the downed tree and missing GENSET... geesch....

I too have a GENSET but it is secured in the tail gate of my covered and secured bed cover. It goes where I go haha... Its only a 2KW Honda but will charge up my depleted battery bank to a good 90% charge state in about three hours of run time...

Roy Ken

 

[kitphantom]

As jmkay1 has said, there have a been a few posts about people using them to warn them if kids (very young or challenged) open the door in the night. It's just what you're going to be comfortable with to sleep well. At 65+, sometimes camping solo, I'm OK without door alarms, but I know there are some who prefer to have them.
We never bothered with such things on either pup, nor on our current TT. Granted, after years of tent camping, we were used to not having a locked door, though an opening zipper is a pretty good alarm. We did lock the doors on our popups, for the opportunist wandering around, and in the first one, it served to keep the door shut when sitting on the dinette bench next to the door. The cushion pushed on part of the latch at times, so the door would unexpectedly open. We do lock the door in the TT, but friends don't bother.

 

[Sjm9911]

I bought one and never put it on. Idea qas to know if the kido snuck out or to deter people while i was away. I also found out that campers are probably less inclinded to steal stuff then around my home town. I never bothered. Most campers look after each other. At least that is my experience.

 

[TheBlurb]

Pre-covid, we’ve camped in some more urban areas for their proximity to attractions. I prefer to camp in the woods but with kids, sometimes convenience wins the day. A door alarm (with a timed shutoff) would be for use when we’ve left the campground for the day.

 

[rsdata]

I have no idea what the cost or utility of that unit is, but I do use a movement alarm outdoors from Habor Freight that costs around $10 on sale. It runs quite well on batteries for months at a time. I use it to monitor the side of my home that has had ground-hog activity over the past couple of years. It alerts me to movement in that outside area with an inside alarm signal. I use the $14.99 one but there are several in the lineup.

 

[tombiasi]

It's likely that anyone with bad intentions would run when the alarm went off.

Really?

 

[Toedtoes]

Years and years ago, my parents went tent camping. While they were camping at a campground, some crazy came through and attacked another set of tent campers. The crazy just stabbed the knife through the tent to kill the couple.

With a canvas pup, if someone wanted to do you harm, going through the door would be ineffective when they can just go through the canvas where you are sleeping.

As for motion lights, I personally don't want to be woken up every time a nighttime critter walks by. And after it has waken you multiple times for a deer, skunk, raccoon, etc., you will stop checking it when it lights up, so it is no longer effective.

 

[tfischer]

Pre-covid, we’ve camped in some more urban areas for their proximity to attractions. I prefer to camp in the woods but with kids, sometimes convenience wins the day. A door alarm (with a timed shutoff) would be for use when we’ve left the campground for the day.

100% ineffective too. They know you're offsite, and neighboring campsites aren't going to care, just like you don't care when you hear a car alarm go off.

Don't leave valuable stuff behind and people won't run off with anything. Camping has an almost 0% incident rate.

 

[1380ken]

Camping is changing. Years ago most campers were former boy scout types. There wasn't anything really valuable to steal. Now people have laptops, tablets, video games, Bluetooth speakers and such.

 

[Sjm9911]

100% ineffective too. They know you're offsite, and neighboring campsites aren't going to care, just like you don't care when you hear a car alarm go off.

Don't leave valuable stuff behind and people won't run off with anything. Camping has an almost 0% incident rate.

I would look, i do with car alarms also. Even if its to snear at the owner. Gives me something constructive to do

 

[tombiasi]

Camping is changing. Years ago most campers were former boy scout types. There wasn't anything really valuable to steal. Now people have laptops, tablets, video games, Bluetooth speakers and such.

They shouldn't take them camping.