Driveway Alert Methods

[knotpc]

Hello,

I am new to Homeseer having just converted from Wink. I am happy to report that all 40 of my zwave devices are online and working with both Homeseer and Alexa ( Happy wife). Now I am looking to add a Driveway alert when someone pulls into our driveway or leaves it. The driveway opening is 30 feet across and 100 feet long. Along one side is a wooden fence and the other side is our detached garage which has z-net, power and internet. I have searched the forum for "driveway" and "driveway alert" but did not find any relevant solutions. Hoping one or two folks in the forum has come up with a reliable method to detect a car or person entering - leaving the driveway that triggers a HomeSeer event that then forces Alexa to make an audible alert.

Thanks for any ideas you guys and gals might have.

[Wade]

One way would be a photo beam detector with contacts wired to a z-wave device with external sensor contacts. Examples:

https://www.amazon.com/Seco-Larm-960...002WV19DM?th=1

https://aeotec.com/z-wave-door-window-sensor/

[knotpc]

CC4005,

Thank you, I will check that out and see if it will solve this issue.

[Uncle Michael]

I've used a magnetometer based system on a 18 foot wide driveway for years. It works reliably; doesn't detect animals (including people), only vehicles. It does require hard wiring, but that also provides added reliability and eliminates battery failure modes. Dakota Alert is an example. Your wide driveway may be a bit more of a challenge unless you can bury the probe in the center of the driveway.
To integrate into HS, you will need a device to detect a switch closure or voltage change.

[prsmith777]

I've got Dakota Alert with the buried sensor and I hooked it up to ADIO-100 which Homeseer no longer makes or sells. I'd use Arduino today if I were to do it over.

Dakota Alert has excellent range and is very reliable. A bit costly but worth it. I actually put in two about 25 ft apart on our long driveway so I could tell which direction the cars were travelling.

My driveway is about 20ft wide and I buried my sensor about 3 ft from the side and it easily picks up a car going by and I have it at medium sensitivity. I think Dakota Alert should easily cover your 30 ft width. As far as range goes, my sensor is about 1000 ft from the receiver and not line of site and it still works flawlessly.

[knotpc]

I've got Dakota Alert with the buried sensor and I hooked it up to ADIO-100 which Homeseer no longer makes or sells. I'd use Arduino today if I were to do it over.

Dakota Alert has excellent range and is very reliable. A bit costly but worth it. I actually put in two about 25 ft apart on our long driveway so I could tell which direction the cars were travelling.

My driveway is about 20ft wide and I buried my sensor about 3 ft from the side and it easily picks up a car going by and I have it at medium sensitivity. I think Dakota Alert should easily cover your 30 ft width. As far as range goes, my sensor is about 1000 ft from the receiver and not line of site and it still works flawlessly.

Thank you for the information on this option. I looked at the Dakota Alert website and found a very basic manual that does not provide any details on how to connect device to anything other than power. I was hoping to use a Z-Wave sensor with dry contact support like the Aeotec zwave series 7 window/door sensor. I have not looked into Arduino, guess I could take a stab at it.

Thanks for the leed.

[prsmith777]

I just went to check out Dakota Alert's website and it looks like the 2500 series that I have has been discontinued and now there is a 4000 series which has a range of one mile. My 2500 receiver has two connections for each channel that you can wire up to any I/O device. https://www.dakotaalert.com/docs/DCR2500_Manual.pdf I am not seeing that on the newer version https://www.dakotaalert.com/docs/DCR...inal%20web.pdf which is concerning. If they took this out of their newer receiver then their product is useless for Home Automation. I was thinking of adding another receiver to my system to add some of their PIRs, but now Im not so sure Ill be able to. I am going to call them tomorrow and find out whats up with this new receiver.

[prsmith777]

Found that they have a plus version that has two relay connections. Not as great as the 4 connections the 2500 series had, but at least its available. https://www.dakotaalert.com/store/40.../re-4000-plus/

https://www.dakotaalert.com/store/in...ttachment_id=9

EDIT: reading the manual, it looks like there are two dip switches to control the relays, so you could possibly get three sensors to work in Homeseer if you get the timing down

Sensor one: relay one on
Sensor two: relay two on
Sensor three: relay one and two on.

[Dweber85rc]

I have a Dakota alert one that has a magnetic detector instead of a beam. The receiver in the house has dry contact outputs NO/NC that you can wire to your choice of z wave dry contact sensors. Fibaro and schlage have door sensors with this, or mimolite also has this. I have a schlage door sensor with my indoor unit and it works very well.

[SteveN1]

I chose to hard wire IR sensors around my property and use a small wiring cabinet for power and sensor connects. Property is around 100 feet wide by 200 feet deep. I wanted alerts for driveway, walkway, property perimeter, carports and other areas in the final implementation... I have a lot more to do! Wireless would have been nice, but... Supplying power to the IR sensors was required and I really didn't want to go solar. I posted this recently:

https://forums.homeseer.com/forum/ge...frared-sensors

[Uncle Michael]

I chose to hard wire IR sensors around my property. . .

The problem for me with IR detectors is that they register anything that interrupts their beam, and I wasn't interested in counting the wild life. And I definitely didn't want to open my gate for them!

[SteveN1]

Valid point, for sure! My application is really about notification of beam break. I did not want the random leaf falling or a raccoon walking up my driveway to trigger either. I chose triple beam IR units and installed at 2 to 3 feet high. The selected triple beam require all three beams to be simultaneously interrupted, and has a duration setting which can adjust from a fast run through the beams.

I can get into more detail on the notifications raised and how or when multiple triggers have more weight than a single trigger. With the z-uno inputs, double triple beams can be input as well. But then when is it just too much. A determined person will find a way.

While each security solution will have pros and cons, knowing that something broke several beams inbound and several beams outbound can narrow video surveillance review for someone on your property. Thankfully, this hasn't been a problem.

Notifications in the neighborhood on RING and Nextdoor.com show an alarming amount of property intrusions, car break-ins, package thefts, etc.

We don't live in the beautiful rural Rochester area. We are in NYC where crime is being decriminalized Our "wildlife" is "different" here

[Dweber85rc]

The problem for me with IR detectors is that they register anything that interrupts their beam, and I wasn't interested in counting the wild life. And I definitely didn't want to open my gate for them!

This is why I went magnetic. I live in a very rural area and for the most part I don't want to know every time a deer walks through my yard. What is nice about the dakota is the range. I have nearly a 1/4 mile driveway and I can put the sensor transmitter half way down the drive way and it reaches the house-so its alerts far enough away that I have time to come up from the basement to see who is here before they are at the front door...