Driveway Car Sensor with Contacts

[dzee]

I've been searching for a car sensor for our driveway that works wirelessly (battery power and wireless signaling), and has a receiver unit (this can be wall powered) that offers a contact closure or similar interface that can be connected to HA equipment. I'd prefer one that works on the magnetic field principal as opposed to a beam that can trigger if a deer or person walks through. It seems they all have chimes or audio/visual alerts but not a simple connection for a contact closure. I'm handy with a soldering iron, but I find it hard to believe that with all the security solutions already in the world there isn't a sensor like this that wires directly into a dry contact input. The wireless signal would have to work reliably over 250-300' between driveway and (preferably) to my HA wiring closet. Any suggestions, particularly from anyone with hands-on experience?

A mailbox sensor that transmits using the same wireless system would be a plus.

[S-F]

You want this.
:http://store.homeseer.com/store/Dako...Kit-P1250.aspx

You just connect it to an alarm panel zone or a z-wave door thingie. No soldering. Just screw terminals.

I have one I'm happy to sell to you. My driveway is too short for it to work reliably, unfortunately.

[dzee]

You want this.
:http://store.homeseer.com/store/Dako...Kit-P1250.aspx

You just connect it to an alarm panel zone or a z-wave door thingie. No soldering. Just screw terminals.

I have one I'm happy to sell to you. My driveway is too short for it to work reliably, unfortunately.

Wow. Thanks for the quick response. That seems to be exactly what I was looking for. I'm curious what you mean by your driveway being too short. I also found a 3000 series that looks very similar except the receiver looks different. Do you know what the difference is?

[TomTom]

Couple of options: mighty mule fm231. You would need to solder to the zwave contact closure( door window sensor) - either to the led light or something else that powers up when magnetic field is triggered. Plus is that this unit is very cheap.

Second - Dakota Alert VS-125. About $138. http://m.ebay.com/itm/131553436871?_...25.m3641.l6368
. There is a contact closure output on there( again z wave).
No soldering needed.
Once zwave unit triggers you can have hs chime, beep, light up etc.

One point about any of the units with a audio receiver( mighty mule or Dakota) you can greatly extend the listed range but attaching a longer coaxial cable between the antenna and the audio unit.

I haven't played w Dakota but have used mighty mule and other gate accessories a lot and my need for distance is same +250ft.
I think Dakota would be better suited to your need but hopefully other w experience w Dakota can chime in.


Sent from my iPhone

[rmasonjr]

Couple of options: mighty mule fm231. You would need to solder to the zwave contact closure( door window sensor) - either to the led light or something else that powers up when magnetic field is triggered. Plus is that this unit is very cheap.

I'm working on this right now. I have soldered some cat5 wire to the LED. I'm in the process of running it back to my HAI panel's contact closures. One issue is that the LED will stay lit until the reset button is pressed. I plan on running the receiver's power to a Z-Wave module so I can turn it off/on after a detection. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[mloebl]

I've been using three Dakota wireless units for about 2.5 years now;

1. Driveway sensor buried 1/2 way down the driveway (about 300' away)
2. Motion sensor 1/2 way down the driveway (about 250' away)
3. Motion sensor in the mailbox mounted in the back to alert when mail comes (over 450' away)

I have the receiver contacts connected to an ADIO-100, and have various events kick off. The Dakota units so far have been pretty darn reliable for me. The vehicle sensor works virtually all the time (very unusual if it doesn't), and the motion sensors work great for people (and deer), but seem to be temperature and speed dependent for vehicles.

Really only a couple "complaints":

1. Seems HS3 polling of ADIO-100 isn't perfect and sometimes delayed, so my script to grab images from the camera sometimes just miss the vehicle. This was NOT an issue with HS2.
2. Since the ADIO-100 is in the basement with my HS3 box, and the mailbox is well over 450' away, when leaves are out, reception there is just ok. The 2nd receiver in the living room has no problem receiving. Someday I'll move it or solve 1 and 2 by getting a different input device besides the ADIO-100 or try changing out the antenna.
3. Not really a complaint, but do find it freaks me out when the driveway lights come on at 1:42am when a deer walks up (happened last week with an 8-10 point buck)

Things I like:

1. Pretty certain I'm on the original batteries on most of the units (only changed the vehicle one once when debugging a range issue with the basement.)
2. I can have as many receivers as I want for notifications in other rooms.
3. Wife is happy as we can get pics of who came up our long driveway
4. Can have driveway lights turned on via an event if a vehicle or motion detected
5. Nice to know when people are arriving, especially sales people
6. Can adjust closure time on the receiver for contacts (NO and NC both supported if I recall correctly as well)
7. Motion sensor sensitivity pretty easy to adjust. I moved the height up a bit and set it to medium sensitivity, and the native raccoons, fox, turkeys, possum, fisher cat and coyotes won't set it off. But only deer and people (and the occasional really close flying bird.)
8. Peace of mind... had local kids steal from our mailbox not long after we moved in. Cameras helped in the case, so now nice to see when mail actually arrives and that it was the mailman or ourselves getting it.

[S-F]

Wow. Thanks for the quick response. That seems to be exactly what I was looking for. I'm curious what you mean by your driveway being too short. I also found a 3000 series that looks very similar except the receiver looks different. Do you know what the difference is?

I don't know the difference between those models.

My driveway is only about 30 - 40' long and I live on a somewhat busy street. So if I set the sensitivity of the device to a level where is can actually lick up cars in my driveway it will also occasionally pick up a large truck just passing by. If I set it low enough that it doesn't pick up the trucks from time to time it is unreliable about picking up cars in the driveway.

[Pete]

I'm working on this right now. I have soldered some cat5 wire to the LED. I'm in the process of running it back to my HAI panel's contact closures. One issue is that the LED will stay lit until the reset button is pressed. I plan on running the receiver's power to a Z-Wave module so I can turn it off/on after a detection. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Here for a "few" outdoor wired sensors utilize debounce circuits. First use was for the doorbell button stuff. You can adjust the debounce period on most of the boards.

First picture of the last purchased debounce circuit. Note that this board has a bit more on it than a regular debounce board.

Second picture of the Elk-960 debounce board I use with the doorbell stuff. (attached).

Here too utilize the driveways sensors to trigger outdoor lighting events.

I am all analog here with wired sensors connected to my HAI / OmniPro II panel (and new and old Homeseer plugin) - part of set up is using Cartell driveway sensors.

[rmasonjr]

Thanks for posting that, Pete. Doorbells are on my list to get into my OPII panel

[Pete]

Not an issue Rob. Let us know how it goes with your driveway sensor stuff.

My original doorbell to OPII panel was just the two wires from the door bell to the OPII.

Documented the doorbell endeavour over here some time ago. (2011)

LED doorbell push button for the M1 GOLD

Here the wires run inside of one side wood frame next to the glass and brick which makes for a tight fit. (IE: its only wide enough for a button unless I got to the brick).

Over the years the doorbell got a bit trigger happy sometimes by itself with moisture. I redid it all using the two Elk circuit boards 960/930 and added a new LED doorbell. The LED doorbell is very well constructed and the button is totally weather proofed. It is an easy DIY.

[dzee]

Thanks, all, for the suggestions. The Dakota devices look most promising to me. I'll give them a try.

[Daweeze]

@Rob,

Since you're doing the HAI stuff and UPB, this is another option that I have found useful to read voltages from LEDs that I am using to automate some pool stuff....

http://www.simply-automated.com/docu...-SP_090818.pdf

Perfect for sensing LEDs, Phone Lines, Audio Presence, Doorbells etc. It's hard to beat 2 Outputs and 3 Inputs that don't require you to wire directly to the OPII Panel for that price!

-Travis

[Daweeze]

@Dzee

This seems to be a viable solution as well for under $100:

Receiver & Magnetometer:

http://www.sti-usa.com/Products/Wire...-STI-34159.htm

Case For Receiver:

http://www.sti-usa.com/Products/Sing...-34099-BOX.htm

I know that Leviton/HAI has re-branded the Magnetometer in the solution above.

-Travis

[vasrc]

Thanks, all, for the suggestions. The Dakota devices look most promising to me. I'll give them a try.

The Dakota system also works well for lightning/EMF detection

Z

[Pete]

Here in the 1980's used optical beams across the driveway which worked except relating to lighting.

off on a tangent....

How is you internet these days vasrc?

Did you keep your old stuff or just switch over to new?

Here just added a failover set up using the PFSense firewall. Works fine and is fast.

The secondary pipe is not as fast as the first one. It does work though for the Ooma VOIP box (still though have copper here).