Hey gang, Does anyone have any experience with one of these Ravelco Anti-Theft Thingamabobs? The PO had one installed in my 60 F-100 at some point. I mean, it DOES work. 'Without the plug, the ignition is dead. But I notice, when I remove the plug, the center ring of pins on the cap feel warm. A quick grab under the dash and the wires leading into this thing are warm. Not hot, just warm, close to the plug. To me, it seems like there is maybe some slight grounding issue or something. Or maybe the internal contacts are crusty and it's building resistance, searching for a connection... I dunno. Everything works, it just bugs me that it gets warm. Doesn't seem right. Here's the plug and connector for the blasted thing. I'm honestly considering just removing the damned thing and going some other route for security.
spend some time to figure out what it's interrupting when you remove the plug. Then figure out how much current that part of the car draws. Then figure out how big the wires in the socket are, and see if it makes sense that those small wires, carrying that much current, might be getting warm.
Thanks! 'Shot them an email. We'll see. Sounds like a plan. I'm gonna start digging into it in the morning. Getting there is going to be fun. The installer left me a mess of tape and wires, coming in from all directions, at the harness where the wires for this thing branch off. Picture a black lobster claw holding spaghetti. Dirty bastard cuts his zip ties on an angle too.
Trace wires like Squirrel said or get rid of it and hide a toggle switch to interrupt the points. There's only so much you can do, your just hoping to either annoy them or at least slow them down.
If it's just getting warm,don't worry about it. If it's getting hot, then yeah, you want to remove it. just curious, what doesn't work when you leave the plug out? no spark?
With it unplugged and trying to start it with the key, everything works except the starter. Lights all come on, radio plays, key does bupkis. I can't say for sure but I believe it kills power to my unHAMBfriendly ignition module as well. I'll let you know as I dig through it as to what circuits this thing attacks. But, yeah, so far it's only warm. It'd be interesting to find out how warm. Might hit it with a laser thermometer later. EDIT: I'll give Ravelco one thing. They're timely as hell. Got a response back in less than an hour. Yup... they're timely... unhelpful as hell, but timely. Here's what I got back: Mmmmkay. Thanks.
Also make sure both male and female pins are shiny and corrosion free, in the pic's the male plug looks ok, but can't see the females. Same goes for the crimps? I assume, on the inboard plug.
What type of ignition are you running? Some electronic ignition modules take a pretty good amount of current. As squirrel said, see what it's running and measure the current draw. Then use a Google table to see if the wires into and out of it are adequate size for the amount of current going through it.
OKAY... Well... Hmmm... I couldn't wait, so after dinner I went to the shop and started unwinding tape. After a few dammits and an f-bomb or two later, I had this thing on the shop floor. Umm... I'm not sure quite what to say. Once I figured out where the wires for this connected, I was a bit shocked at how overly simple this thing is. Here's the entire system, less the keychain cap. I drilled through the rivets in the connector body and the keychain cap to open it up to see all of the magic going on in there. This thing is about as magical as my big toe. And, no, I didn't use the grinder to hack it out. These are all of the wires. All one color. Here's the disassembled keychain plug: And here are the ONLY two circuits this thing was spliced into: One wire runs to the coil and one to the starter solenoid. Straightforward and effective I suppose. Get this, It had a ground wire (5th wire). The only thing it was grounding was the air. I remember the PO using this system as a huge selling point, and remembered that he gave me a book full of receipts when I got the truck. Well, I looked and found it. $462.07?!? For THIS?!? And that is 2010 money! I got curious to see what a 2020 system costs. I'm not one to go around bashing products, but... Damn, son! I am in the WRONG business. I dunno, man. Damned near $600 seems a bit steep for a few feet of wire and a plug. Granted, a system installed into a newer, computer controlled car would require more wiring and shop time, I'm sure, but Jeezu Flip! There's maybe $50 worth of materials here. I guess you pay for all the electrical tape. Well, in retrospect, it has been on there for 10 years, so I guess if it were going to burn down, it would have done it by now. But, damn... The PO must have lived across the street from the shop that installed this because they definitely saw him coming. So, I'm just going to solder the wires they cut and get rid of this bill of goods. Then I'll cook up a little hidden security thing... maybe something with a nifty little magnet switch. I dunno yet. Hell, maybe I'll copy this design and start sellin' 'em. Call 'em something like "Doc Cain's Miracle Anti Theft Device and Snake Oil! Guards against thieves, cradle cap, lumbago, consumption, shin splints, and prolapses. Only $649.99!!! Caveat Emptor, fellas... Caveat Emptor.
Thanks so much for taking it apart, so we can see what's in it. It's pretty much exactly what I expected. You can buy a new unit for a hunnerd bucks on ebay. Marketing is a wonderful thing, isn't it? .btw now that we can see how it works, it would be very simple to defeat.
I wondered about that. All the pins are just to confuse a thief and to make it harder to build a jumper to bypass the gadget. Two well-hidden toggle switches, one for the starter and one for the coil, would do the same thing for about $10.
Or you can make a little Sign that says This Car is wired with 2 Sticks of Dynamite if Opened the wrong way Bye Bye little Pest Just my 3.5 cents Live Learn & Die a Fool
Hey, d'you guys remember our installer from earlier in the thread? Ya know, the guy who electrical tapes everything and cuts his zip ties on an angle and what not. Well, he left this little easter egg. Also, I don't know if you can quite make it out in the pic, but the wires he used to splice this contraption in are of a smaller gauge. Their old website says: "The Best Anti Theft Device For Your Car or Truck . . . Period! In 44 Years - Not One Vehicle Ever Stolen!" Can't steal 'em if they burn to the ground first.
The wire isn't smaller enough to catch on fire...only enough to get warm. Which is what it was doing. Which is what I expected you would find.
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