does anyone have a motion detector in their driveway?

[ticks]

Well atleast the games aren't played in the every thing else sufficient living category.

Ticks,

Hopefully an administrator will delete or move this post. I am sorry I posted it in the wrong place.

You did not post anything in the wrong place and this does have everything to do with self-sufficient living, especially if you're homestead is so far back you need to know when someone is on your property. This is a unique situation and I would have put it in this same forum. If Ticks has a problem with this thread he can just not open it again.

I have a problem with games and jokes on all of the forums, I can't be bothered with them - so I don't open the posts that contain them.

I never said I had a problem with the thread. I was just wondering.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Remember back in the old days when filling stations had alarms that sounded when you drove over them? Do they still make those and would they be practical? I don't remember how they operated.

This is exactly what we have. It's a hose that lays across the top of the driveway (our driveway is several hundred feet long, with the drive gate being about 250 feet up from the house) and signals a "doorbell" inside the house when someone drives over it.

We used to have just a straight motion sensor, which worked well enough, but we got so many "false alarms" from the horses walking by opposite the sensor, that we started ignoring it, which kind of defeated the purpose. But living down here in a "holler" like we do, we REALLY want to know when someone's coming.

So we took our old motion detector alarm, and installed it in front of the chicken yard when we were having predator problems! Alex was able to get at least one raccoon that way, but eventually our cats started setting it off. We're trying to figure out a way to angle it so that it will still be of some use to us.

But we love the drive-over alarm. We got this one . It runs on a 9V battery.

 

[cackle]

Belinda,

Thank you so very much!! That is exactly what we were looking for. Like you we are back in the hollar and if anyone comes up there is really only the one way both in and out.


Susan

 

[enjoy the ride]

That does look good- do you have to have a clear line of sight to the transmitter? In otherwords if there is a bend in the road with trees between the transmitter and receiver, does it still recieve signal?

 

[ninjapoodles]

That does look good- do you have to have a clear line of sight to the transmitter? In otherwords if there is a bend in the road with trees between the transmitter and receiver, does it still recieve signal?

I'm inclined to say "no," because our driveway makes a couple of 'S' curves, we have a lot of trees, and the receiver part is in our hearthroom, behind a brick wall. But I'll ask Alex that question tomorrow, just in case. He picked this one out. FWIW, our old motion-sensor one also reached the receiver just fine, though it sometimes sounded staticky (it had a voice that said "Alarm, zone 2," etc.).

 

[ninjapoodles]

Belinda,

Thank you so very much!! That is exactly what we were looking for. Like you we are back in the hollar and if anyone comes up there is really only the one way both in and out.


Susan

And just like in our first house, there is a "blind spot" from where we are in the house, looking out toward the driveway, so we wouldn't always see someone coming even IF we happened to be looking out the window at the time, and neither do the dogs.

That's the problem, really--I always counted on my dogs to let me know when someone's coming, but down here at the bottom of this hill, with the windows situated like they are, they don't know until someone's right outside the door, by which time we usually do, too.

I HATE being surprised by the doorbell. UGH.

 

[BrookValley]

Interesting thread, thanks for posting...Cackle, we have the same situation as you--property shaped like a "popsicle with the driveway as a stick" is a good way to describe the way ours is laid out, too! And also like you, our drive is surrounded by thick woods (and streams and gulleys). I have the advantage of being able to see (and usually hear) when someone is coming, though, as we are on the top of a large hill. But by the time someone gets to the clearing in the trees and I can see they are already halfway down our 1/2 mile drive.

I'm interested in the motion detector recommendations, though, 'cause I'm seriously suspicious of our neighbors along our drive hunting deer off of our land. If they are shooting deer, they're shooting onto our land--either across our drive (which we do like to walk down occasionally with our son) or toward my field with our horses. The only other direction for them to be shooting would be toward their house, which obviously they aren't doing. I am afraid that deer, etc., might cause more false alarms than would be worth it to have the motion detector at that part of our drive, though. But I wouldn't mind something at the gate at the end of our drive for the same reasons you started this thread for.

 

[cackle]

BrookValley,

I want to buy one of the drive over alarms like Belinda linked in her post. I think it would prevent a deer from tripping it where a motion detector would probably be set off.

Here is a picture from the deck looking towards the road. The mega RV belongs to our DIL's parents they moved from NM June of '07 and parked it here and have basically just left it. They were suppose to sell it right after they got back and needed a place to park it a month or two. So here it sits 15 months later. We have used it as an extra guest room twice. Wish I had the money to not have to sell something like that. I know for a fact it cost more then our house and 7+ acres.

this is down the driveway. The land they are going to hunt on is the woods on the right beyond our pasture. after the pasture all we own is the strip of driveway. 10 feet either side from the center.

 

[Zenbirder]

We've also thought about just putting up a big gate w/ a business card holder, and whoever pulls up would have to get the business card and call us from their cell phone. I don't like strangers pulling up, waaay out here in the woods, it makes me nervous, especially when DH is not here.

This is a very interesting and appropriate topic. We also have the same problem, especially if the wind is blowing from the west it pushes the car sounds away from us. I like the idea of the drive over bell, but I will need to research how far a signal will go. Our driveway is long. The motion detector won't work, way to many deer here. I wanted to caution Heatherv and others about the "calling card" idea. It seems to me that you will eventually get the wrong type of person who will come around and call, just do a hangup if you answer, waiting for when you don't answer to go onto your property and do dirty deeds.