Homemade alarm system/noise maker.

[3rdgendslmech]

Hopefully in the next 2 weeks I'm going to get a couple estimates to run 100 amp service to my pole barn. Don't really have anything of value in it yet but will soon.
Any of you guys ever rigged up your own security systems?
I'm going to have a air compressor, so what I was planning on doing was wiring up a 12 volt converter to run a solenoid to a truck air horn off of a motion switch.
Plans are to have a few cameras that I can monitor off my phone but I figure if it's loud enough for people to look it'll keep vandals from getting the next step farther.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Or you could just wire in a 140db burglar siren.

Put some contacts on the doors and windows.

Install an on off switch hidden somewhere.

 

[grantw]

Magnetic reed switches and relays are really simple to connect up to doors and windows. 140db alarm is pretty good, as truck horns seem to "blow through" the air quickly and take quite a bit of CFM to keep up.

 

[ForceFed70]

You have 120V there? Keep it simple - use a 2 lamp motion light fixture. Place the brightest lamp you can find in 1 socket and a plug adapter in the other. Plug something noisy into the plug adapter like a radio cranked to full volume.

Another idea is to use a long extension cord instead of a radio at full blast. Put a lamp or something right in your bedroom.

 

[matt_i]

Security system is right up there with ladder logic (could be hardwired or PLC). You have some inputs to gauge "entry", you have time delay to arm it, you have time delay so you can disarm it, if your circuit detects an entry without a disarm, then you send your output to the "actuator"

Its my opinion but unless your security system can clearly identify license plates in darkness, you're just buying a movie of the theft.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Security system is right up there with ladder logic (could be hardwired or PLC). You have some inputs to gauge "entry", you have time delay to arm it, you have time delay so you can disarm it, if your circuit detects an entry without a disarm, then you send your output to the "actuator"

Its my opinion but unless your security system can clearly identify license plates in darkness, you're just buying a movie of the theft.

Good point.

Or for some of my clients who get live notifications, a ticket to watch the theft.

Or an invitation to rush over and engage the suspect....


I often get client requests for license plate cameras and almost every time they dont have the proper layout for license plate camera placement.

They typically only work at gates and driveways that force cars to go in a certain direction.

 

[Git]

^^^ I would agree

The street that I live on has a curve about 80' away from where my camera is located and with a lot of trial and error I was able to dial in a camera to capture plates. (This camera won't pick up much of anything else during the night - car details, etc because of the exposure and other settings)

It helps to live on a dead end street because I get them both ways

 

[prostreetamx]

I've been looking into building an Arduino based alarm system for my house. I want something simple that will announce which window or door has been activated. After the so called "monitored" system we had got triggered they showed up 3 hours later after calling all the wrong numbers to contact us. I want a system that calls me directly. I now have a bunch of security cameras and just this week there were 2 incidents at the neighbors where they asked for a copy of the footage. 1 neighbors truck was egged and 1 had a car broken into. I did not have my cameras pointed in those locations since it is not my goal to spy on the neighbors. At their request I added another camera and realigned another for better coverage of their front yards. The one that was already close had a bad connection and was pretty much useless for playback. I fixed that but all this activity has me wanting to get my alarm system up and running. Is there a special camera for reading plates? I have a Samsung 16 camera system with 10 in use so far. I am prewired so I can add the last few if needed. I discovered my 2 terabyte DVR will save 4 months of footage with 8 cameras so that will go down slightly with more cameras but even 2 months is plenty. Unfortunately I am at a T intersection so there are several ways to approach my property but every access point is covered.

 

[nh_yota]

Trap doors.

 

[kTHREE]

Ya'll must not get a lot of stolen plates. That's the norm around here, plates don't mean ****.

 

[Eslader]

Its my opinion but unless your security system can clearly identify license plates in darkness, you're just buying a movie of the theft.

That's true, but since I installed cameras 3 years ago, my theft movies have sent 4 burglarizing kids to jail, so those movies have their own usefulness.

 

[Git]

Is there a special camera for reading plates? .

A lot of good info can be found at this forum:
https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/lpr-walk-through-tutorial.17542/

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/hikvision-dedicated-license-plate-reading.16480/#post-154955

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/dedicated-license-plate-cam-project.505/page-15#post-141726


Mine is a no name Chinese Import that was relatively cheap, but does the job. Now that I know that will work, when it eventually fails I will get something a little better.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Ya'll must not get a lot of stolen plates. That's the norm around here, plates don't mean ****.

nope not around here.

guess joy riders arent smart enough to use stolen plates.

....Is there a special camera for reading plates?.....

yes there is.

Theyre typically black and white with infrared LEDs that enhance the reflective paint on the plate which makes the letters on the plate stand out.

And other countries allow VMS software that does license plate recognition and look up in vehicle databases. Ive looked into it for some customers and its not legal here in the states..... so you just have to give the police the plate info....

 

[prostreetamx]

I used to watch a guy on YouTube that was a repo guy and he bought the plate reader system for one of his trucks. He was able to drive around and read most of the plates in parking lots and such and recall locations later if one of those plates popped up for repo. Utah made it illegal for him to use that system and he had to remove it. In my case there is a lot of traffic by my house all day, even in my gated community and it would be rare that the suspect would actually park in front of a camera. They would have to drive by to leave since there is only one exit but how would you know which car was the correct one. Our gates are not manned and offer no security since there is so much traffic. This community is pretty big.