I have a very long driveway, and want to have a sensor/chime/notification to alert me when someone is driving up it.
We previously had a simple one that sounded a chime in the house, I'm just wondering if there's a smart solution that I could link to Hubitat for notifications, etc.
Anything out there that I'm missing? Range is too long for z-wave/zigbee/wifi (a few hundred feet), but I do have an outlet down there if needed.
Do a search on the forum for "sensor driveway". I've seen this topic dicussed many times. Should be able to find something. Many have suggested simple IR beams instead of motion sensors. Wouldn't take long to dig a narrow trench if that's an option. Run landscaping wiring like @Ryan780 linked to here, and attach a contact sensor to the wire at the other end near your home.
They also have sensor that you bury next to your driveway that only detect vehicles. it's done via detecting the disturbance in the magnetic field because of all the metal. Supposedly you have the absolute perfect situation for them because you have to have them far enough away from the road and from your house. In the right conditions they are said to be as close to 100% effective as you can get.
EDIT: Found em! It would take a little DIYing to get it to work but these are said to be AMAZING in the right conditions.
Thanks, folks. I'm missing the part about how to get it to talk to Hubitat. It sounds like maybe I hack the driveway chime to connect to a hacked contact sensor? Are there tutorials out there for this stuff?
If there are no obstructions and have direct line of sight, you (might) be able to get a zwave sensor to work (it's lower frequency than zigbee or wifi), if you place a repeater on an outside outlet. I have a zwave contact sensor on a mailbox over 100 feet away with a neighbors house partially blocking the line of sight, works fine. Motion sensor worked fine there as well.
These sensors have two screw terminals inside them for connecting a device that provides an open/close circuit through two wires. You just use the part with the electronics inside in this case and don't need the supplied magnet. I've used these with open/close magnet contacts for remote installs and for a power loss detection circuit.
I have use Dakota Alert dcr-2500 and motion sensor about 250ft. Here the video I used to set it up YouTube. It works great, the only issue is Dakota alert discontinued it , and havent come out with it's replacement yet.
Ok, I think I get how it works now. I'm going to try a Mighty Mule with the sensor that @Terk linked. I found this video, which seems to explain everything.
That looks super easy. Good find! And let us know how it turns out!
Ok, new question: Received the Mighty Mule yesterday and the chime/beep does not pass the WAF. (It's pretty grating to be honest.) Any simple way to change the beep?
My only thought was to buy an Aeotec Siren 6 and tell that to chime when the contact switch is made. Seems like quite a production just for a ding dong.
Well, do you do any other type of noise/chime/tone alerts today? Or use a google home or Alexa speaker for TTS announcements?
I use Echo speak app and use my echo dots to announce someone is in the driveway and send me a push notification
No, the Google Home TTS thing is intimidating to me. As soon as a RPi gets involved, I'm scared off.
Download the Hubitat app
