Posted: 7/27/2009 5:50:01 PM EDT
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Hello,
I recently bought a home and my Wife and I want to get some perimeter security "without going crazy." Bottom line I want perimeter security and my Wife is ok with it as long as it doesn't cost too much. I found the Dakota Alert System which looks pretty good given its seems pretty simple and we can put four transmitters up which would be perfect. Anyone use this system or have an alternative? ETA: We are more looking to "Greet" two legged animals (both invited and not) than Cars with this system. http://www.smarthome.com/7312T/Motion-Detector-Transmitter-WMT-3000/p.aspx Thanks! |
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I have a competitive brand - Reporter.
It works pretty well and would not go without it after having one. The sensitivity is adjustable for different conditions. It works on the difference in heat from ambient and the 'intruder'. This means in the summer when it is 100° outside it has a harder time detecting the human body (100°) - turn the sensitivity up. In the winter, it will detect a rabbit 30-40 feet away on high. We do get false alarms but that is far better than being surprised. I often wonder what people think when I open the door before they get out the car. |
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Quoted:
I recently bought a home and my Wife and I want to get some perimeter security ".....I found the Dakota Alert System which looks pretty ... ETA: We are more looking to "Great" two legged animals (both invited and not) than Cars with this system. Thanks! I have a very steep 1/3 mile driveway that goes through dense woods - most badguys are going to drive up the drive way quite a ways as they are often lazy. I have a dakota alert sensor at the end of the drive way (the extended range version with the extended arial) and it generally works find. I had to adjust the sensitivity to generate an alarm with cars but not waving tree limbs but things are setup fine now; it I had to do it over again, I would have obtained the road sensor version that you bury under the road to eliminate the false positive issues. I use this as one more piece of information in my overall security system that includes dogs and a house alarm. It is going to have a false positive once in a while. It will detect humans if you adjust the sensitivity - however, if I set it up to detect the guy walking up the driveway it will detect moose and deer and may trip when a treel branch waves in detection pattern. However, if you don't have trees or tall grass in detection range, it will not have many false positives that are not humans, deer, or moose. Remember, if you have too many false positives, you start ignoring it and it becomes useless. ps - check around for the best price. |
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Thanks!! I'll check all the different systems to see which one would work better for my purposes. Our current budget to start the project is about $1000.00 then we'll build from there. I know not a lot however will have to do. We are not too worried about cars as we have a plan for that. What we really are worried about is the rest of the property; about one acre densely in one area. I'm thinking two crossed sensors in the area which has the largest land plot and is also the one most vulnerable. The other three areas are smaller and will only need one each. This is very close to new construction so really want to do this right from the start so any thoughts? I have very thick skin so be as harsh as needed!! Even if you have thoughts however they will cost more please chime in given as I said before this is just a start. If you are wondering why we are even doing this we have already been burglarized once and a second time is not an option. We will no longer be sheep in this arena. Especially not with a child here and another on his way!
Thanks again! Quoted:
If you have a long drive way put two of them 50' apart with different alarm sounds, that way you can tell what and which direction is walking by, a human is 5 seconds , a dog 2-3 seconds etc... This also reduces false alarms. |
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Here is a pic of one of my frs alert units, it is made from a insulated quart water jug, a $15 frs unit (the simpler the better)
a kids toy and a pir sensor. The key is a 1/8"x1.5" piece of dual sided circuit board inserted between 1 battery and the frs battery contact for a power switch connection. the frs and the kids noise maker are wired in parallel and connected to the pir relay, when activated it powers both at the same time. the toy speaker is glued or taped over the mike on the frs and the frs is set to vox. I also installed a remote antenna by removing the original and makeing a 1/4 wave coax unit ,that way I can get more range (1/2 mile in heavy woods). placement is essential ,moving trees set off pirs, you must keep bushes trimmed and or limit the view of the pir with logs etc... the advantage to making them yourself is the variety of units you can have, siesmic,pressure,pir,laser,sound,metal, light ,even radio detectors. I had a siesmic on the gate, 150' in was a pir then another, and a siesmic at the creek trail (buried), I got quite a reputation for running off tresspasers soon after they arrived. I had cb based units before that but they were a pita because they were much larger and harder to hide, and used much more power.(but had 4 mile range) |
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Wow. Well I found my next project! Much Appreciated.
Quoted:
Here is a pic of one of my frs alert units, it is made from a insulated quart water jug, a $15 frs unit (the simpler the better) a kids toy and a pir sensor. The key is a 1/8"x1.5" piece of dual sided circuit board inserted between 1 battery and the frs battery contact for a power switch connection. the frs and the kids noise maker are wired in parallel and connected to the pir relay, when activated it powers both at the same time. the toy speaker is glued or taped over the mike on the frs and the frs is set to vox. I also installed a remote antenna by removing the original and makeing a 1/4 wave coax unit ,that way I can get more range (1/2 mile in heavy woods). placement is essential ,moving trees set off pirs, you must keep bushes trimmed and or limit the view of the pir with logs etc... the advantage to making them yourself is the variety of units you can have, siesmic,pressure,pir,laser,sound,metal, light ,even radio detectors. I had a siesmic on the gate, 150' in was a pir then another, and a siesmic at the creek trail (buried), I got quite a reputation for running off tresspasers soon after they arrived. I had cb based units before that but they were a pita because they were much larger and harder to hide, and used much more power.(but had 4 mile range) |
| One other note - it is reallty essential to conceal the units. I have mine hidden in some trees such that it can't been seen by some one driving up the driveway unless they stop and look over their shoulder. And even then I have added strips of brown and muddy brown duct tape and layed some dead tree limbs around it to visually hide it even more. |