I like this

[ben]

I call it a break-in button because someone just needs to see you use it once and its theirs

what about this idea thou.

have a combination of 5 switches under either the front door or inside bonnet or something. have the combination worked out so you need the 5 switches to be set right before the push button will work.

once you pushed the button, reset the combination so anyone that knows where it is need to get the 5 way combination right before you can push the button and the door will open

there are only 25 different combinations.


or

have 2 push buttons that need to be pressed together to work the door. like one in the guard and one under the door.. they may see you grab onto the guard but theyd never guess there are 2 switches that need to be pressed at once.

im sure theres other ideas you could have ways to fool the crook

ben

[Bedfordcrazy]

Hey busy, where is your break in button located.   just kidding.
Here is a thought busy, instead of a button, why not mount a barrel key lock somewhere, say in your fuel filler compartment, or under a flip down number plate, that way if you do happen to lock yourself out, or electrics get funny, you can still let yourself in, and you have to have the right key on these locks to open.
When i had my new head unit fitted to the cruiser, because the screen drops down to show the cd/dvd/sat-nav dvd slots, i had a barrel lock fitted to the console. What i do is this, when i put the truck in for a service as i did last week, b4 i jump out i lock the head unit. I designed it to shut down the power to the unit, so you cannot operate the radio or cds, which means mechanics can not put their cds in there to listen to while working, and my $400 a disc GPS disc can not go missing. The lock is in plain view on the dash, but it is not labled and you need the right key to unlock the unit again. The good part is i have not lost any disc since, and the radio is never tuned to some head banger station, and there is still power to the memory, so you dont loose your settings when you lock/unlock it. The lock cost $9 and about 8 inches of wire, cheap as, and it has saved me losing hundreds of dollars of discs, and i dont have to empty all my disc out when it goes for a service, and amazingly enough it does'nt seem to take so long to get the truck back now.   Lock is above the Hazard light switch.

george.

[BusyKiwi]

All good ideas but sadly all have faults.

the mutli switches: if battery goes flat you can't get in

key lock: where do you usually keep a key, on the key ring. if keys in ign. your still stuck.

Hidden key lock and/or switch: battery failure, keys inside ...
Plus I don't have any hidden areas, petrol cap is behind number plate which is on cable release from drivers seat, number plate is recessed in rear panel so can't actually get fingers behind it to force open.

What I was going to do was have a switch in the engine bay (the original one) that put power into the system via motorbike battery - would be good if battery was flat, problem is batteries wont hold the charge without top up and they need load to cycle (battery guy told me this).

at the moment I dont actually have a back up set up, but will have to put something in place

[ben]

how oftern do your batteries go flat busy? maybe a secret trap door in the floor for backup:) just enough room for only you case theifs are lazy and fat and wont fit through the trap door:)

[Dano]

what we use for our limo's / funeral cars is a second batt instalation with a "red arc" I think it's called, a simple push button located to ur desire and at a push it fires a full charge to start (with ign on), (or for batt back up). I'm not exactly sure of the details as the sparkies used to set it up, but since they've gone ,I'm doing a crash coarse in auto sparkism , sooooooooo I'll find out more on this.
http://redarc.com.au/home

cool, lovin this linky thingy......

[rossie]

a couple of easy reach terminals some place just in case the battery does go flat might be an idea

[Bas NZ]

A small solar panel fitted to the roof to trickle charge battery, you could even have this sucken in.............

[Rogue Trooper]

All you'd really need to do is have a +ve terminal situated on the van somewhere underneath. If the battery should go flat then you can just use a set of jumper cables from someone else's car to get in. Hook the +ve onto your hidden terminal and the -ve to the bodywork. Call the AA even. Let's face it, if the battery has gone flat you'll not only need them to get into the van but you'll need them to jumpstart it anyway because you're not going to start it with a flat battery.

It shouldn't be a major drama anyway. How often do you have a flat battery? If the battery is constantly going flat then I thnk there are other issues that need to be sorted.

[Bedfordcrazy]

On my bobcat there is no room for jumper leads so i had a set of remote battery posts mounted on the outa body, thats where i connect my charger to when its not being used. I will get a pic and post it.
As for the key being locked in, these days i have a spare set that i keep in my back pack on my chair, so if i ever loose, lock in car or break  one i just grab spare from back of chair, problem solved. As for location, under guard, bumper or anywhere you have 40mm flat surface.

george.

[Bas NZ]

Ok, so if we want to borrow any of George's toys, all we have to do is hijack his wheelchair...............