Best Driveway Alarm

Driveway alarm and alert systems help secure your home, cottage, farm or business by alerting staff or the property owner when a person or vehicle has entered the property.  Don’t get caught off guard by a stranger, customer or visitor suddenly appearing at the door or on on your property.  Instead you can have an alert in the home, shop, on a portable device, or even on a smart phone as soon as someone enters.  The best driveway alarm takes in to account the user’s needs, property being protected and most appropriate detection method.

There are four principal detection mechanisms for driveway alarms:

1. Passive Infrared (PIR) Motion Sensor – these sensors detect movement and will detect vehicles, people and animals.
2. Driveway Probe Metal Sensor – these sensors detect the changing magnetic field caused by moving metal, typically cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles.  They will ignore animals and people.
3. Break Beam – also known as a photo beam, these sensors send an invisible beam of light across a pre-defined area.  When someone or something breaks the beam, the sensor is triggered. These will pick up people, vehicles and animals.
4. Rubber Hose – Just like the old gas station hoses, these detect the change in air pressure caused by a larger vehicle driving over the hose.  Only vehicles will be detected.

Choosing the best driveway alarm for each application is a matter of understanding the alarm’s purpose, placement, and alert mechanism.   These are some of our favorite driveway alarms for various applications.

Best Driveway Alarm System

1. Dakota 2500 Motion Sensor Alarm  The Dakota 2500 motion sensor alarm will detect people or vehicles and send a wireless signal to the receiver up to 2500 feet away.  This system is super easy to install and it’s affordably priced.  Add additional portable or plug-in receivers to expand the system.
2. Dakota 2500 Driveway Probe Vehicle Alarm
   The Dakota Alert vehicle probe detection alert uses  a magnetic detection probe ignores people and animals and only senses vehicles driving past the probe.  The probe is buried along side or under the driveway and wires to a transmitter box that can be mounted on a pole or tree.  The transmitter sends a signal up to 2500 feet to the wireless receiver or portable receiver.
3. Mier Vehicle Probe Driveway Alarm
   Mier is well known for the quality and performance of their buried probe driveway alarm.   The probe wire can be up to 1000 feet from the control box.   Simple and very reliable.
4. Dakota Alert 2500 Break Beam Driveway Alarm
   The Dakota 2500 break beam alarm lends itself to much larger detection areas along driveways, near gates, or along fence lines.  Anything breaking the beam will send an alert to the receiver(s) up to 2500 feet away.  Portable and plug-in receivers are available.
5. STI Voice Alert Motion Sensor System 
   The STI-V34100 system uses a magnetic detection sensor to detect vehicles.  The detector can be mounted on a pole in the ground alongside the driveway, or on a pole or wall.  The detector sends a wireless signal back to the receiver, which will announce the event using a choice of tones or voice alerts.

We’ve chosen these systems because they’ve proven themselves over many years.  They provide reliable security at an affordable price, and most of these systems can be expanded to include more than one sensor and multiple receivers for larger properties or where multiple users need to be notified.  In addition to local on-premise alerts, some of these systems can be expanded to include notifications by email or text alert.

It’s also possible to have some of these systems trigger an external alarm or turn on light(s) when presence is detected to offer an additional deterrent and enhance security.

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