Author Topic: Driveway Sensor  (Read 5494 times)

phenigma

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Driveway Sensor
« on: April 16, 2013, 03:47:28 pm »
I am looking to use a driveway sensor to sense vehicles coming into a long driveway and hope to use it to switch on driveway lighting and entrance lighting.  This is for my parents house and so it may not be tied to lmce directly, but I may make use of the same thing at my house.  I am looking for something with a relay contact or such.  Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
J.

Marie.O

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2013, 04:04:46 pm »
Only vehicles, or any kind of traffic, i.e. pedestrian or cyclists, as well?

phenigma

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2013, 04:09:09 pm »
Ah, good question!  Only vehicle traffic at this point.

J.

tschak909

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2013, 04:57:44 pm »
Look for windshield RFID tags and an ethernet connected transceiver. A driver can be written, and we have Presence Detected and Presence Lost events that can be latched onto.

-Thom

Marie.O

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2013, 05:43:54 pm »
I am sure you'Ve already googled for driveway sensor, haven't you? The following is what I found to be helpful:

http://cartell.com/driveway-alarms/

http://www.drivewayalarmfacts.com/various-types-of-driveway-alarms/

Helpful? I dunno...

phenigma

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2013, 06:20:56 pm »
:)  Yes I have been googling.  I was wondering if others had had any experience with any driveway sensor devices.

posde: ty, I have seen one of those links, but not the cartell one.

tschak: My parents would like the detection to work for any vehicle, not just theirs, otherwise I really like your suggestion!

Thanks a bunch guys!  I am definitely looking into buried induction sensors as IR break-beam gets mucked up by snow banks covering the sensor/receiver and PIR can trip on too many different things.

J.

Marie.O

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2013, 06:25:50 pm »
I was surprised at the price of these things. I expected a higher price tag.

phenigma

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2013, 03:04:20 pm »
I have been pleasantly surprised by the prices as well.  I am definitely going with the buried induction sensor.  It seems to be the only device that will not be interfered with by snow and other weather events.  :)

Thanks guys.

J.

Armor Gnome

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2013, 07:12:07 am »
It may seem low tech but sometimes those can be the most reliable, IMO.  How about using a light beam?  Commercially available models with their own built in relays can be had for under $200 depending on the height you want.  Even less expensive would be a garage door IR beam connected to either a GC-100 or other type of closure sensor that would detect a state change in that circuit.  Buried signal wire and a nice little rain cover for the sensors and short of being hit by lawn-mowers it could last forever.  Just my thoughts since you were asking for ideas.
I made a wiki!  Click here to check out my system.

Marie.O

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2013, 01:53:19 pm »
ArmorGnome,

did you see the prices for the other modules? They can be had for less than 200USD

totallymaxed

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Re: Driveway Sensor
« Reply #10 on: April 18, 2013, 02:13:18 pm »
I have been pleasantly surprised by the prices as well.  I am definitely going with the buried induction sensor.  It seems to be the only device that will not be interfered with by snow and other weather events.  :)

Thanks guys.

J.

Induction sensors are definitely the way to go on this as any other method can be accidentally triggered and cause false positives.

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