Driveway Alarms

I was thinking of putting an induction system in the driveway so that a bel= l would ring when someone pulls in. We have a long drive, partly hidden, an= d it would be good to know if someone is coming. I'd put it far enough up t= he drive so that it wouldn't be set off by people who are just turning arou= nd from the street.

I like the idea of a hard-wired system so that I don't have to worry about = battery replacement. Has anyone had any experience with these? Any recommen= dations of brands to seek out or avoid?

Paul

Reply to
Pavel314
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You can rig your own with a motion-sensor (like for outdoor lights) and a bell.

Have fun.

Reply to
HeyBub

Motion detectors aren't consistent or reliable enough. Any time there are thermal changes the thing will be going off continuously

Reply to
RBM

would ring when someone pulls in. We have a long drive, partly hidden, and it would be good to know if someone is coming. I'd put it far enough up the drive so that it wouldn't be set off by people who are just turning around from the street.

battery replacement. Has anyone had any experience with these? Any recommendations of brands to seek out or avoid?

The big name is Cartell. The equipment is great and works just fine as long as lightning doesn't strike to close. Another lesser known company is MFM sensors, out of Tacoma, Washington I love these guys. If a board gets blown out by lightning or whatever, you call Greg, ship him back the board and he repairs it for a flat rate, something like $35. These folks are just a pleasure to deal with. The model I use from them is D-376 I have had two locations with distances from probe to circuit board of over 500 feet and too many trees in the area of the probe wiring, where they just get fried too often. I experimented with a cheap Dakota Alert model.

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In both cases I mounted the transmitter on a post about 5' high and installed the receivers inside of poured concrete basements. One has been in operation about six years, and the other about a year now. I made no guarantees when I installed them, because they're so cheap, but they seem to work flawlessly and the customers love them. All of these units have auxiliary relays and timers to control piezo buzzers, lights, alarms, etc

Reply to
RBM

would ring when someone pulls in. We have a long drive, partly hidden, and it would be good to know if someone is coming. I'd put it far enough up the drive so that it wouldn't be set off by people who are just turning around from the street.

battery replacement. Has anyone had any experience with these? Any recommendations of brands to seek out or avoid?

back in the old days we used a dog to sound the alarm...

Reply to
Hench

I thought of that but we have deer wandering up and down the drive at night which would set off the alarm. I figured an induction system wouldn't give false alarms, unless a metal deer walked up the drive.

Reply to
Pavel314

would ring when someone pulls in. We have a long drive, partly hidden, and it would be good to know if someone is coming. I'd put it far enough up the drive so that it wouldn't be set off by people who are just turning around from the street.

battery replacement. Has anyone had any experience with these? Any recommendations of brands to seek out or avoid?

I've been reading all the replies to the thread and thinking about my situation. I presently have a gravel driveway that goes between many trees, hooks 90 degrees and finally goes to either the back door area or the garage. I have an x10 motion detector at the bend in the driveway. It is installed on a lamp post. It is an AC powered and unfortunately it is no longer available, although I do have a spare. And, yes, it does trigger on deer, bear, dogs, possums and even squirrels, sometimes. I have it active 24/7 but I use an x10 smart controller to figure out when to sound the alert, light the floods, etc. I very much like the way it works. Yesterday, the UPS truck pulled in at 11AM and it alerted me. About 2 weeks ago, my neighbor walked over at night and the floods (plus the Christmas lights, which were still there) turned on and it alerted me inside the house. We will be paving the drive this spring, so I was thinking of an induction system, however, it won't work for people walking. Maybe a cross IR beam would be much better. At least it would probably miss the smaller animals and it probably wouldn't false trigger when a cool puff of air comes down from the top of the mountain behind. Anyone know of a nice cross beam system?

Reply to
Art Todesco

Ah, yeah.

Consider a pneumatic sensor. You remember, the tubing over the driveway at gas stations and the like that acted like an annunciator.

Or, you could build your own - in layers.

Bottom layer: Foundation. Steel plate. Next: Fine copper - or similar - mesh. Next: Insulating layer (cardboard, non-metalic foil, etc.) Next: Fine copper mesh. Top layer: Wear surface (rubber sheet, etc.)

Wires are connected to the two copper mesh surfaces and, when they touch, they act as the switch.

But here's the trick: The insulating layer has largish holes in it to allow the top wire mesh to be pushed down and contact the lower copper mesh. These holes will be fairly large, 1" or more.

Or you could just say "screw it" and get a door annunciator that works off a door mat.

Reply to
HeyBub

I use a set of New Line IRE 200 units at my house. I chose this make and model because it seemed the most flexible to me in it's power voltage, and that it uses a form C relay. Mine is set up to activate two piezo buzzers and several sets of outdoor lights. The piezos always chime, but the lights only come on if it's dark, and then they time out in five minutes. I did this install about 16 years ago and it hasn't missed a beat, so I can certainly recommend this company. Here is a link:

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Reply to
RBM

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at several suppliers, but this was the cheapest.

Reply to
Art Todesco

I'd highly recommend the Mighty Mule.

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Have had one now for almost a year and it works very well. It's installed on a

250' driveway about midpoint. Far enough from the street that it doesn't trip by passing vehicles, close enough that it catches the occasional curriosity vehicle. Although it has as battery in the sensor, I've yet to have to replace it.

It replaced an Optex IR system that was useless with false alarms. Any induction system will ignore people, so if that's your concern you may want to layer in some other detector.

Reply to
Robert Neville

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It looks fine. The new line give you the option of powering with AC or DC, and it gives you a normally open and normally closed contact making it a little more versatile.

Reply to
RBM

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I have left MFM voice messages for several days. Do you have an email address or another way to contact them? Also, do you know how to put the board in "unsupervised" mode - is it as simple as cutting the white wire? Thank you.

Reply to
Chris Perry

Get a big roll of bubblewrap from the package shipping store.

Reply to
TimR

ell would ring when someone pulls in. We have a long drive, partly hidden, and it would be good to know if someone is coming. I'd put it far enough up the drive so that it wouldn't be set off by people who are just turning ar ound from the street.

t battery replacement. Has anyone had any experience with these? Any recomm endations of brands to seek out or avoid?

Try Marsh Products:

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Reply to
KLayton888

Thanks for your reply but I have no idea what you mean.

Reply to
Chris Perry

I get well over a year on one set of AA batteries with this system and that includes sub-zero winters. Much easier to install than a cut or preconstruction system.

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Reply to
Arthur Conan Doyle

I had several variations of PIR motion detectors and they are all subject to false alarms. These are caused by animals and even the wind. Living on the side of a mountain, animals (deer and bear) and winds are a problem. Sometimes there will be warm winds from the top and other times cold winds. Either way, a change in temperature will cause the PIR unit to trip. BTW, I had a PIR unit in my old house in the Chicago suburbs, and didn't get too many false trips, but there were some. Anyway, I now have a wired in Optics unit that has an IR source on one side and a detector on the other. It's a whole lot better for my area. I should have gotten one of the unit where you have the source and detector on the same side and a reflector on the other ... but it's too late for that. I ran the wire in the same plastic conduit where I ran power for Malibu lights, so it wasn't that bad.

Reply to
Art Todesco

ell would ring when someone pulls in. We have a long drive, partly hidden, and it would be good to know if someone is coming. I'd put it far enough up the drive so that it wouldn't be set off by people who are just turning ar ound from the street.

t battery replacement. Has anyone had any experience with these? Any recomm endations of brands to seek out or avoid?

Get an old hose and bell setup from a former service station?

nate

Reply to
N8N

I agree PIRs are essentially useless outdoors. The OP asked about induction systems, which only trigger on metal vehicles, but of course do not trip on people. That may be a plus or minus depending on the need.

Reply to
Arthur Conan Doyle

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