wireless driveway alert systems advice please?

I'm looking into a PRI (passive infrared) wireless driveway alert/alarm system for my boss/friend. Many times we are in the shop running power equipment and don't always notice customers driving up and going into the store.

Anybody have any personal experience with these ..... good, bad? If so, name brands would be helpful.

Another option we are considering is the signal bell system, like gas stations have/had.

Ideas welcome.

Mike

Don't have a clue but the old gas station idea sounds easy and cheap unless the IR one is wireless.

Just got an Amazon.Com catalog today. They have a "Design Tech Deluxe Driveway Monitor" and also a standard version. Deluxe is $89.99, standard is $69.99

This is a wireless system that works 1000 ft from the receiver.

Do a search and you should get more info as I have no personal experiience with one of these.

GregR

There are a couple of different types of these things. Most that I've seen work with a coil and detect the metal of the car, like these http://www.smarthome.com/secvehicle.html

they work well, but definitely can fire when nothing is there, or when cars are just close. I have a friend who has a similar one that could also detect planes flying overhead if he turned it all the way up. So placement of them and setup is important otherwise it will go off every time someone drives by. But they are probably a lot easier to setup than a laser beam or even a drive over hose type affair.

We have an IR type at work that falses a lot in the early a.m. due to dew forming on the emitter and sensor lenses. I think it's fine in the daytime for the most. The type James mentioned sounds a lot more reliable for outdoor use. (After a proper setup.)

_Mike_ -

I spent $150.00 on a RS security camera a couple of years ago and it was money well spent. This doesn't use your computer. I tried to find it on their site for you, came close but not cigar.

It's black, round end canister shaped. It swivels on three axis. On the front you can see the camera, a window for the motion detection and what what looks to be six IR LEDs. It also has a sensitve microphone and a speaker in the unit. Well, that part is wireless of course.

It has a (I think) 50 ft cable coming from it. The other end plugs into (not included) B/W TV w/ VHS and I use long run tapes...8 to 12 hours. No chop. Straight video. You can see a very wide angle very clearly. It has CCD and picks up IR big time. At night with no lights on a person smoking a cigarette blazes up. If you aim your TV remote at it you can see the pulse codes. You can clearly hear what is being said 60-75 feet away.

Also, on the other end of the cable is a black box that I have setting next to the little TV/VHS. When the motion detector goes off a not so very loud alarm sounds from the box and a red LED blinks. It has a button on it that allows you to speak through the outside unit. If there is a suspicious person in the area an authoritative, "What address are you looking for?" can be very effective.

The unit has survived 3 years of hot summers and ice storms fully exposed.

$200.00 total may be more than what you want to spend but it is a very capable unit IMHO.

Hope this helped.

- Jeff

I can't really think of one you could but right now but I always thought of using a motion sensor light with some extra wireing to turn on a small nightlight. I remember X-10 had a sensor light with a transmitter in it for X-10 modules. You'll find small nightlights useful for weird uses. Just hook one to a X-10 box and set it to receive the signal from the sensor.

Another place to look in in the back of Popular Mechanics. I see a lot of ads there for weird stuff and there should be a few wireless driveway alarms.