need alarm system advice

[journeyman Mick]

Our rural fire brigade shed is across the road and about 400 metres along. This area has been pretty good in the four years I've been here, and the 4 preceeding years that my next door neighbour has been here. In the last few years the local SES facility has been broken into (about 8 kms away) and one of the neighbouring rural fire brigade sheds has been broken into on numerous occasions (young trailbike hoons pinching fuel). Last week an excavator belonging to the railways and parked about 1km down the road was vandalised.
We think it may be wise to fit some sort of security system now, before we are broken into. The shed has power but no phone. It is a steel shed, and if someone wanted to get in, they could with a cordless drill and a hex bit in about 5 minutes flat. It's rectangular, about 12M x 6M with a roller door in one 6M end and another at the other end in the 12M wall. there's a 3M tall truck parked in the middle.
I'm thinking that some sort of sensor system, mounted high up, with 2 or 3 sensors. Mains powered with a battery back up and a siren mounted high up on the gable end of the building. Probably a keypad by the front door.

Questions:
1) Would the alarm be loud enough to wake me from 500 metres away? (it's very quiet around here, but I'm a pretty sound sleeper).
2) Is it possible to get a remote unit which is radio activated? We're not interested in remote alarms at a security company (30 minutes drive at best) or to the local coppers (unmanned after 5pm).
3) Any idea on costs for a system, with or wothout radio remote?
4) Any recomendations? (or "don't touch with a 40' barge pole")

Mick

[maglite]

Mick, why not hard wire 240v into the shed walls and then put an ad in the local paper warning that anyone touching the steel of the shed will be fried.:eek:
Some guys in my home town passed the same story around town and their GT's remain safe.;)

Failing that if you get a unique enough sound you should well and truly hear it from 500m away.

Steve

[seriph1]

At that distance I doubt the alarm would wake you - but you could have an auto dialler put in and have that connected to a mobile that's always on charger - it can then call you if the alarm goes.

$2000 all up is my thought. I can recommend someone to at least give you professional advice - i.e. my alarm guy. helluva nice bloke and knowledgeable to boot ...... you remember that type. remember to tell your insurance company, as the premiums should reduce slightly..... (I reckon an absolute design genius did that card for him!)

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Anyway his name is Phil - his firm is citizen security - . Tell him Steve Ansell referred you - I feel confident he will be able to suggest a system that'll do what you need.

I would also recommend putting sensa-floods in - illumination seems to be a better deterrent than alarms systems. Ours are set for 10 or 15 minutes and while they do go off at times because of animals wandering past, I don't miind - it is like a self test.

[Simomatra]

Mick

You could wire in a standard car alarm which would have the alarm at your finger tips

WE have used it in cranes before to transmit alarms to a base station

[bennylaird]

Install a DanP system, get it at the source of the problem by removing the offenders.

[journeyman Mick]

Benny,
I don't think Dan wants to spend every night in our shed in order to make it secure.:rolleyes: Besides, if we get a system that can alert over a distance then the first officer (lives next door to me) and myself will be over in a flash with baseball bats to remove offenders.:eek:

Sam,
the car alarm sounds promising, do they use a radio to transmit the alarm signal? I'll try to look into it today. I'll be heading down to town as soon as I finish a kitchen upgrade so will try a few places. Of course, this means I won't be able to enter Wongo's right foot beauty contest :( . And with my handsome feet I'd be a shoe-in to win!:D

Steve,
I'd rather see what/who is available locally first, but may contact your bloke if I can't find anyone helpful around here. (not entirely improbable :rolleyes: ) Don't know about the sensa flood lights, quite likely to be set off all night by the wallabies and bandicoots and I don't want to frighten them off (seriously!:o ). As no one is really going to notice the lights but the would be thieves I have a feeling that lighting the place up will only make it easier for them to see what they're doing. This is a country road with houses on one side and the fire shed on the other, surrounded by bush.

We should probably get in there and put a dob of weld on the insides of all the screws where they go through the frames, at least up to about 1.5 metres, but that's a lot of work. I'd rather spend a few dollars of the community's money than a lot of my own hours as I spend enough time fighting fires and doing hazard reductions. If needs be we can always vote to raise the levy as currently we collect $20 per annum from all ratepayers. This represents our entire budget and pays for fuel, repairs and maintenance, equipment replacement and upgrade etc etc etc.

Thanks all,
Mick

[Felder]

Mick,

A noisy alarm system would only serve to scare the crooks off before you and the First Officer can be there with your baseball bats.

If you had a 'silent' alarm that rings you, the crooks will see your headlights coming long before you got there and would scarper.

What you need to do is have a sensor activated 65mm hose, primed at about 900kpa, with a dirty big nozzle on it. Perp comes to close - gets blasted :D

http://www.ubeaut.biz/fireman.gif

And wallabies and bandicoots love water, so no problem there :rolleyes::D

Might have trouble finding brackets strong enough to hold it in place....

Oh - and make sure you keep the windows up on your truck!:eek:

[bennylaird]

Could alway keep a pet 20ft python there? Keep the bids and rats etc down as well? Even the wallabies from what I have seen lately.

[journeyman Mick]

...................If you had a 'silent' alarm that rings you, the crooks will see your headlights coming long before you got there and would scarper......................

Brendan,
I live so close to the shed that I can run there in about 2 minutes, baseball bat in hand. (Takes about 5 minutes when I am trying to put my gear on and call a crew on the mobile phone simultaneously).

Mick

[Simomatra]

Mick

From memory it was done with the car alarm transmitting to the base station and then the base station sent out a radio frquency to transmit the alarm

Alternatively or as a further deterant you can generate a 18Khz frequency sine wave tone inside the shed that is only audible to persons under 20 years if the noise is of a high enough decibels then they will depart This system is being used as a youth deterent in the UK

BTW do not use a baseball bat as that will show prio intent use a maddock handle or some thing similar that you just happened to pick up on site. Remember that crims have rights more than we do

Have PM a sample MP3 file

[Simomatra]

Mick these sites may help

http://www.homesite.com.au/home-security/security-products?queries_brand_query=&search_page_415_submit_button=Submit

http://www.wirelesshouse.com.au/use/server.php?page_id=136

[MurrayD99]

Mick, a company I used to work for designs and manufactures image processing devices to detect intruders. You put a video camera up high and zoom/point it at the area you want covered and anything that moves in the field of view will activate a VCR (plenty of perfectly good VCRs lying around for next to nothing) which will record while the motion is present then shut down again, plus will close a relay thus turn on lights, sound an alarm etc Have a look at www.farco.co.nz (http://www.farco.co.nz) - the product is the Wachit. You can get them in Australia or order off the website. $150.00US and all the connections are there on the box. The advantage with image processing motion detection is field of view and range. You can integrate these with an alarm system so when it is armed the VCR etc is armed too. I think you could set this all up real low-cost - very simple DIY.

There is a feature article on this in the next Silicon Chip magazine - Sept I think.

[GraemeCook]

Brendan,
I live so close to the shed that I can run there in about 2 minutes, baseball bat in hand. (Takes about 5 minutes when I am trying to put my gear on and call a crew on the mobile phone simultaneously).

Mick


Mick, why wait to put your pants on if you really want to scare the bejesus out of them?

Graeme

[GraemeCook]

A city friend lives near two night clubs and had problems from drunken patrons urinating, vomiting, defecating, grafiti-ing and having sex in their laneway and doorway.

With help from a fifteen year old computer nerd, he installed movement activated security lights with a video recorder on the same circuit - the lights come on and the video starts recording. As soon as the rumour spread that he had both video and DNA evidence, which could be made public and prosections initiated, then the cretins stayed away from his property. A cheap and effective deterrent.

Initially he also recorded lots of possums and an occasional quoll and thought that the lights might keep them away from the rubbish bins but they quickly learned to ignore the lights. He then tuned down the sensitivity on the sensor so it now requires a body the size of a child or medium/large dog or larger to activate the system.

He also considered adding flashing strobe lights and a siren to the system but has not yet thought them necessary.

Cheers

Graeme

[GraemeCook]

A city friend lives near two night clubs and had problems from drunken patrons urinating, vomiting, defecating, grafiti-ing and having sex in their laneway and doorway. Plus noise and broken glass, bottles and cans.

With help from a fifteen year old computer nerd, he installed movement activated security lights with a video recorder on the same circuit - the lights come on and the video starts recording. As soon as the rumour spread that he had both video and DNA evidence, which could be made public and prosections initiated, then the cretins stayed away from his property. A cheap and effective deterrent.

Initially he also recorded lots of possums and an occasional quoll and thought that the lights might keep them away from the rubbish bins but they quickly learned to ignore the lights. He then tuned down the sensitivity on the sensor so it now requires a body the size of a child or medium/large dog or larger to activate the system.

He also considered adding flashing strobe lights and a siren to the system but has not yet thought them necessary.

Cheers

Graeme

[Eastie]

Mick,
I've solved a similar problem with a farm machinery outshed by using a dual tech security kit (infrared and movement sensors) hooked up to the GSM kit. This is simple if you have GSM mobile coverage as I don't think the kit will work on CDMA. Essentially the dual tech kit is set to only go into alarm if heat and movement are both detected - calibration can be set so birds, rats etc don't affect them.
On the GSM side a pre-paid SIM card will get you by - it can be setup to call a pre-set number, text a group of mobiles or you can even set them up to call pagers upon activation. They can also be set to call a standard home phone. Test it once a month to see that it still works and ensure you keep enough on the pre-paid cards. You should easily get away with this set up for under $1k - cheap insurance when you consider what the truck is there to protect. Throw in a 119dB local alarm and it makes their thievery a little painful.

From what I've heard technology for these systems is now at the point where they are installed on the equipment, not the shed. You can fit them to boats, trucks or machinery and they can be set to monitor fuel cap tampering, fuel and fluid levels, battery charge and illegal entry - once the systems goes off it calls in the same manner as above and lets you know which sensor has activated.

When you are talking about protecting a couple of thousand dollars of diesel on heavy machinery (let alone a fire truck full of fuel and gear) the system pays for itself.

If you're considering sensor lights the infrascan (by clipsal from memory) has good adjustment to prevent wildlife setting it off.

[doug1]

A wireless network could also be used to record and or alarm remotly

Doug

[journeyman Mick]

Thanks all for the ideas and advice, I will look into the options and possibly a home brew set up (no, not the 240V to the walls :rolleyes: ). Short term I dropped into a place today for a quote for a sysyem with a GSM card, 2 PIR sensors and reed switches on the doors. We need to get an idea on a price as we've got a budget meeting this Monday night.

Sam,
a bloke I worked for years ago used to keep a brand new, gift wrapped baseball bat by the front door. If he hit anyone with it, it wasn't premeditated, he just picked up the closest thing to hand, a newly wrapped gift.:D Don't worry, I haven't got any baseball bats, new, used or gift wrapped. Got a few pick handles, broken axe handles and complete rake hoes lying around though.;)

Mick

[dazzler]

Hi Mick,

What about some dogs? Never been to a burglary where there are dogs:)

Roster people on to feed em

[journeyman Mick]

Dazzler,
no fenced yard, plus they need walking etc. Buying an alarm system means that everybody in the community is contributing instead of just the few that volunteer.

Mick

[Ashore]

Mick as Sam said definately no baseball bat or you can be done , Get a 5 "D" cell aluminium torch , then you are not carrying a weapon but a torch, though it will do the same job.

Rgds

[lnt9000]

Here's one you could do on the cheap, by hanging reed switches on the transmitter instead of the push button switches. although you would need someone handy with a soldering iron.
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30352/article.html