Detecting when sensor lights turn on

[Matty F]

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas about how a security guard can be notified when sensor lights turn on? The lights may be up to a mile away so he can't necessarily see when they turn on. The guard will be walking around, so there will have to be notification via radio or cellphone or pager etc. Ideally it would be helpful for him to know which lights went on. When notified, he can go somewhere to look at a screen. Or he could have a laptop computer using WiFi that can show whatever he needs to see. I was thinking that each sensor light could have a signal wire from the supply to the bulb or from the relay, to a central point. Complications are that he may set off sensor lights as he is walking around, and cats etc may set them off. So, lots of false negatives which he must be able to discount.

[MuddyFork]

There are probably off-the-shelf solutions for this, but they are probably expensive. If you want to avoid false alarms de-sensitizing the costly security guard, it might be worth spending money on these.

When I wanted to do something similar, I took the DIY approach of using IQ PIR-controlled lights, which send a radio signal to a nearby (< 100 metres) receiver when activated. It's fairly straightforward to interface the receiver to the serial port of a PC which can send emails to the security guard. Screwfix have stopped selling them, but these look similar:

cheap DIY approach might be to install a CurrentCost power monitor on the incoming supply to the monitored building. These can be interfaced to a PC's serial port, and some software could be written so that when the consumption jumps by a suitable increment (150W, 500W ?) for more than a few samples, an email is sent.

[pete]

IFACK there is no inexpensive way to do this. Depending on the value of assets the guard is guarding it might make more sense to have him NOT patrol, and monitor the sensors remotely wit CCTV.

If he really, really must patrol and receive notifications while out and be able to distinguish false positives from actual alerts then I'd suggest some sort of golf-cart type buggy with the tech. (wirelesssly connected laptop) installed in that, as carrying something like that which was ruggedished and weatherproof would be expensive, unreliable, easy to "forget" and inconvenient. (Plus you'd need to have another one on the shelf as a spare.)

A cheaper option might be to get a guard dog.

[Nightjar]

and train it to bark at unexpected lights.

Colin Bignell

[Matty F]

There's an intrusion about once a month, so I think the guard gets bored waiting for somthing to happen.

Yes I think he'd be best to monitor the CCTV. I monitor a much smaller site and I don't wander around at night. But then I can see all the sensor lights. I also have microphones which detect the sound of footsteps. Actually that might be a good solution, to just broadcast the sounds from a bunch of microphones to the guard. And the sensor lights could go "ding ding"!

[Owain]

Some IP CCTV cameras have alarm inputs which can trigger recording events.

A thermal CCTV camera can be very effective at detecting human sized intruders in complete darkness

what is the point of alerting the guard if he is lying unconscious somewhere?

Owain

[Bill]

In message , Matty F writes

Not cheap but how about a radio transmitter at each location, connected via your relay, each one transmits an individual code which is then received on a portable carried by the guard.

I've put in a number of similar systems, some transmitting pre-recorded speech idents. You can also use the guards radio to turn lights / sounders on/off etc.

Off the shelf paging systems are available from Scope.

produce voice announcers but these would require radio transmitters interfacing to them.

[Matty F]

Yes those are installed already.

Lots of sensor lights do the job very cheaply, and scare off the intruders.

The buildings have monitored alarms. But the intruders can be in and out very quickly even though they set off the alarms. I'm trying to alert the guard as soon as the intuders climb over or cut the fence.