Drive Alarm experiences

[cruzer75]

We have been getting a lot of car break ins in our area lately. It's mostly 2-3 people driving around and checking automobiles door handles, if its open they ransack car looking for money(pretty much all they take) and then move onto the next house. If your cars locked they move on.
Cameras dont deter them because they wear hoodies and it is difficult to read license plates when cars stay on the street
I am considering a driveway alarm that will go off when people or cars cross into the driveway. The driveway and house are near the street so it's not a long distance, think residential neighbor hood with other houses around, more of a way to alert us someone crossed into the driveway.

This onehttps://www.guardlinesecurity.com/products/guardline-500-ft-wireless-driveway-alarm looks decent, has relay output so possible to add some IOT to alert me when at work or away on vacation. Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Higgins]

We use that alarm, and it work good with some caveats. Ours points across the driveway. However, when the sun come up and heats the surrounding gardens, it will go off. At night, it will go off every time ans animal goes down the driveway. Deer, neighbors cat, possums, raccoons, etc.
So I made a long tube that goes in front of the lens, and that solved a lot of the false alarms..

 

[Stuart in MN]

If your cars locked they move on.

Sounds like just locking the car is the simplest solution.

A driveway alarm may not help that much - if they're on foot they aren't necessarily going to walk right up the driveway from the street, they may be skulking through the yard.

 

[PelicanPines]

I put a blink camera on my mailbox... I get an alert with video in 10 seconds... if they hang around it takes more video.

Thought about just the motion alarm... but then you have to go and look... this way I have a video... plus I can call up the live image from anywhere.

 

[ddawg16]

A motion sensing light does wonders to get them to go somewhere else.

 

[Fatboy148]

Dakota Alert is what you seek.....

Similar to what you linked. I have the older 2500 series model and it is sending a signal 1200 unobstructed feet from the sensor to the receiver. I have a door alarm on my shop and that is about 150 feet away from the house that I have never had to change the battery on in five years now. The driveway unit's battery gets swapped maybe twice a year.

https://www.dakotaalert.com/store/4000-series-products/

They are a great family owned company and will help you if you have any issues (literally forever). Last summer, I had a bird start attacking my sender. It's pecking distorted the little plastic window the beam goes through and instead of sending a new piece of plastic or telling me what it was made of so I could get it locally, they sent me a whole new cover at N.C..

 

[BruceMc]

This onehttps://www.guardlinesecurity.com/products/guardline-500-ft-wireless-driveway-alarm looks decent, has relay output so possible to add some IOT to alert me when at work or away on vacation. Any input would be appreciated.

I have two of them and they do the job, although a little crudely. The sensors have some real design flaws when it comes to mounting (a really weak ball mount that needs some help) and changing the batteries is a royal pain. You'll want to come up with some sort of detachable mount for the unit so you can take it down and do the swap on a flat surface (tiny screws in an awkward position).

 

[Eric29]

Maybe they are using this:

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/just-pair-11-radio-gadgets-can-steal-car/

Cars that open when you have the key in your pocket and you just touch them are most susceptible. There have been articles for years about this happening in major cities.

 

[Jeepster04]

My mom wanted a driveway alarm and we got her the dakota alarm. After crying wolf too many times she got tired of it and turned it off. It would detect everything except a car. If the car is cold and you dont have it pointed right at the front of the car (radiator) it wouldnt detect a car.

You may have better luck with it.

 

[mbatarga]

We've used the Mighty Mule wireless system on our property for almost 9 years now. It works by detecting large metal objects via an electric coil in PVC that is buried perpendicular to the driveway. It's sensitive enough to be triggered by my metal wheelbarrow. I've had to replace the transmitter battery only about 3 times. You can place the receiver in a common area - or if nighttime visitors are a concern - your bedroom.

Edit: Didn't realize you were also trying to detect perps. This system would only detect vehicles.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003765W0W/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[MDM]

If you want something reliable without a lot of false alarms, you'll need something like this..
https://www.dsc.com/index.php?n=products&o=view&id=1347

Then you'll need an alarm panel and key pad. I installed this with a few of the sensors around the exterior of my house.

 

[rotortuner]

I made one for my place. Not sure if your into digging but I used a loop sensor. It’s like what every stop light uses.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PD132-Sing...065897?hash=item3410609aa9:g:bIUAAOSwr~9dSIrd

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-12V-Wir...851561&hash=item23b0524776:g:BW8AAOSwqhtcdP-h

https://www.gatedepot.com/safety-se...ormed-high-temperature-loop-with-50-lead-html