Long Distance Wireless Alarms

Advice needed. I have a small farm with 2 entrances that require monitoring. CCTV is already installed but I need to be notified when a vehicle crosses the boundary. The gates are not more 400m from the main yard. Can anyone suggest a suitable system? I think a GSM one might work as I can have it dial my mobile when a sensor is activated, but would like other peoples thoughts or experience in these systems?

I would forget wireless in any form as it will be over complicated if you want it to be 99% reliable.

It will require power at the gates, if this is battery sourced then the system will need battery status monitoring and the ability to contact the base ( or your phone ) when the battery is close to being unable to power the device.

It will require the base to make regular checks that the gate sensors are still in place and working. Without that a criminal could simply take the gate sensor away from the gate. So how often will you need to make that check ? If someone is thinking of removing / disabling the sensor then if they can see when the device responds to a check then they can wait for the check to happen and then remove / disable the device.

Wired has none of the above problems and while installing 400 metres of cable may present s few short term problems the long term reliabity of the system will be worth it. Cable damage, intentional or accidental, will be instantly detected as will any attempt to disable the system.

To some extent I must disagree with Bernard.

A Galaxy alarm with RF portal will easily cover this range provided the Portal has unrestricted line of sight which should be achievable. Add on a simple door contact or Dualtech and you have a monitored system; it will report a tamper should they be 'fiddled' with.

I have an RF portal at home which covers my gate (about 20 metres) and a couple of outbuildings 200M away. It also serves a number of detectors internally Smokes without any issues. Battery life is 3 years or so on detectors.

Obviously it is worth an RF survey and actually trialling before committing any large sums though - and that said my longer term plan is to convert it all to wired when I get round to it; but it is do-able.

Couple of thoughts- does your CCTV system record continuously or only when there's movement? If the latter then the controller will usually have a few ports available for triggering external devices when alarm conditions are met (mine are 10 year old Pico cards with 4 ports on each card, software lets you decide what the ports do and when)

Second thought- are the cameras at the gates and is there power to them? If yes to both then you could use one of the toy GSM dialling alarm boxes like these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SECURITY-...RE-ALARM-UK-/111396120799?hash=item19efb9e8df - don't use the wireless detectors though, there's no handshaking so not very secure. There are 4 wired circuits available (settable as NO or NC)- use one for a tamper circuit, program the box so tamper is Emergency zone (always active) and fit standard gate contacts to your gate with one of the other circuits. You also need a secure enclosure to put the thing in and put a tamper switch on the enclosure- the 'alarm panel' itself is not a secure device, if an intruder can get at it it is very easily disabled (switch internal battery off, pull power lead).

Third thought- the toy boxes do run nicely on 12v DC and they'll send you a text if external power is interrupted (or the old car battery goes flat )

But the most reliable long term fix is to run some underground cable to the gates from a controller in the main house or yard. Problem with the GSM stuff is if the phone network is congested or the bad men have a fake node with them then you'll not get an alert or it'll be delayed past the time when it would have been useful.

OK Ive got the perfect product and Ive fitted 100's of these over last five years......Dakota 2500 series - fitted PIR's and the solar beams and vehicle probes
and customers simply love them.....We've installed in garage forecourts / motorhome storage parks and more recently at a Dressage horse stable down in tauton
where the Gypsies had platted a horse indicating that was the one to be stolen!!!



Dakota claim 800metres range, we've had them out to 500 metres comfortably however he has the Dakota systems that work over several
miles range...these are not advertised and neither can I endorse them as I've not fitted BUT I know he sells a lot of them for rural apps. Dakota is so simple o fit and easy to maintain its farmer technology

Weve also used the solar beam kits they offer in conjunction with an ACT latching keypad to give full control - work brilliantly!!

Thanks All. I think the GSM is ruled out. Signal in the area is not great. When considering the prospect of digging several hundred meters of cable trenching, wireless seems the more appealing approach. If I end up running power to the gates I will cable but as an medium term solution the Dakota seems like a good option.

When you speak to Max check that the ERPs ( Effective Radiated Power ) from the transmitters are with the limits imposed by the regulations applicable to equipment operating on licence exempt frequencies. Some imported equipment is known to achieve long range by exceeding the permitted maximum ERP.