need ideas for protecting rural camp from intruders

goaliedad · Sep 28, 2006

quote" Post some signs that say "U. S. Goverment Property - Active Firing Range"

not to hijack this thread but.. years ago I was riding my dirt bike with a buddy near Camp Grayling in north-central lower Michigan- a very large and active National Guard camp. After flying down a really nice stretch of sand I came to a road- stopped and looked back to check on my buddy. I was next to a big sign " DUD AREA DO NOT ENTER. IF ANY OBJECTS ARE FOUND DO NOT DISTURB, CONTACT...." needless to say we found another way back to camp! we were on two track roads- never say a sign, fence or any sign that we were near anything!

hayden · Sep 28, 2006

1bush2hog said:
I don't have commmercial power or phone either, but do have solar and installed satelite internet to send me emails and pictures.

Hayden -

Would you mind elaborating on the details of your system, including cost?

Thanks

The solar system powers the whole house, and consists of about 800W worth of panels, 800AH of batteries at 24V, a charge controller, and a 4KW inverter to produce standard AC power. The system is really for power when we are there, but it also powers the security system 24x7. If you only needed to power the security system, you could trim it way back. The whole power system cost around $10k, including a backup generator. That's about 1/3 what it would have cost to bring in commercial power.

The internet satelite is just the standard offering from Direcway, and provides internet for when we are there, and communications for the security system when we are away.

The alarm system is an off-the-shelf DSC system. Normally they connect to a phone and dial out when there is an alarm condition, but I have only a cell phone there. Instead, I added the DSC optional serial port which lets me monitor the whole thing from a laptop. This laptop converts alarm events into emails and sends them to me, plus it controls an 8MP digital camara to take pictures of the front/driveway. The pictures are also sent to me via an FTP site. Anytime someone pulls up to the house, I have them on candid camera. I also use the laptop to monitor the power system, battery levels, solar charging, etc. It sends me a report every day. A laptop is great for an application like this because if you turn the screen off, they use very little power. It also powers the satelite on and off as needed to further save power. It's kind of like operating a mars rover.