Your home is your sanctuary, and keeping it safe is a top priority. With burglaries and home invasions on the rise, protecting your family and home depends on the steps you take. One of the best ways of knowing when visitors or anyone is near your home is to use highly rated driveway alarms. Of course, you will use other security measures in and around the home but the first step is knowing when someone has entered your property.
A Driveway Alarm is Your First Line of Defense
If you have been considering the best way to protect all possible entries to your property, https://propertyguardmaster.com offers several good tips. Driveways are often not considered when people think about adding security to their home. However, this is possibly one of the most often used points of entry, even if someone walks onto your property.
A driveway alarm can detect movement and alert you as soon as someone enters your property. There are two types. One detects random movement. The other detects specific movement.
1. Random Movement:
This type works by sending a signal when they pick up any type of heat, light, movement, or sound.
2. Specific Movement:
A driveway alarm that detects specific movement only alerts you when metal objects, such as trucks or cars, enter the driveway.
Both have a sensor and a receiver. They are connected to your home security system or can be set up to work independently of the system.
Should You Choose to Make a Wired or Wireless Alarm?
You can choose between a wired or wireless type. If you choose to make a wired driveway alarm, you will need a receiver that plugs in and a wired sensor. The receiver can be placed wherever you choose but it has to be connected to the sensor with the wire. The best place for the receiver is an area of the home where you spend the most time.
The sensor or transmitter will be placed on the best area of the driveway to let you know immediately that someone has entered your property. A post can be placed at the foot of the driveway with a cap on top to hold the sensor. The sensor should be positioned so that it points across the driveway and downward. It will need to be connected to the receiver with wires, so you will need to bury them to keep them from being seen.
A wired driveway alarm is considered reliable because the chance of a signal interruption is less than a wireless. It may require running a lot of wire depending on how far from your home the foot of the driveway is, and sometimes they do not work in the event of a power outage.
If you would prefer to make a wireless driveway alarm, you will still need a receiver and a sensor. The difference is your receiver will use batteries instead of being connected to the receiver by a wire. The receiver and sensor will need to be synchronized, and you will need to select the sound for your alert.
The sensor should be placed at the bottom of the driveway at least three feet from the ground. For optimal benefits, there should be nothing between the sensor and the receiver. If so, it could interfere with the signal, and you will not get an alert when you should. The sensor and the receiver use batteries, so you need to make sure they are always fully charged.
Different Types of Alarm Sensors
When you decide to make a homemade driveway alarm, it is important that you understand there are not only different types of alarms, but you also have a choice when it come to the type of sensor.
- Metal Sensing Probes – This type of sensor will detect metal from an automobile as it moves. Since it is triggered by the movement and the metal, this is a good choice if you are not concerned about detecting people or animals. However, most people prefer to know when anything is on the driveway.
- Infrared Driveway Alarms – An infrared sensor will alert you when anything moves onto the driveway including vehicles, people, and animals. Most do have an adjustment to prevent you from getting alerts from small animals or movement from leaves being blown across the driveway.
- Rubber Air Hose – This sensor is activated when it detects weight, such as that of a vehicle, driving onto the driveway. Many times, this type is chosen if the main concern is just wanting to know when a vehicle enters your property. It is not triggered by animals or people.
As you can see, there are several factors to take into consideration when choosing to make a homemade driveway alarm system. It really depends on how protected you want your property, the reliability of the alarm, and the affordability
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