Wireless Driveway alert or alarm recommendations

[hosspuller]

I have a gravel drive that's 1200 feet from highway to the house. We'd like to have an early warning whenever someone drives up. Longer wireless range would provide more time to prepare to receive visitors. I had an optical alert from Miltronics, but it had too many false alarms from birds and animals. I'm looking for either air hose type or an inductive detector. Would an air hose last or even work reliably on a gravel road ? What's your experience with the inductive types from Dakota, Mighty Mule, etc.? Any other options ?

 

[newbury]

Well trained dog.

 

[CADplans]

We had an inductive,, the sensor sat along side the driveway, in a PVC pipe.
The black box of electronics , with an antenna sticking out,, was hardly sealed,, at all,,
by the time the second set of batteries was dead,, so was the electronics,

Moisture killed it, IMHO,,

I am positive it did not last 20 months.
The price was quite high, considering the life,,

 

[NIXON]

I’ve had the mighty mule one for about 15 years . It only has a range of about 400 ft . But my drive is only 800 . So 400 gives me ample warning of guest . I have though about the Dakota . But it is fairly spendy ,and the mule hasn’t failed .

 

[5030]

Been using the $9.00 HF driveway alarms forever.

 

[hosspuller]

Well trained dog.

I have a well trained dog. But, he's a house dog. The dog relies on the driveway alert. When it alerts, he looks through the window to confirm and then barks at me. He treats it like it's a doorbell

 

[nybirdman]

I two Dakota Alerts;they work well,one is 1/2 miles away(Murs type)
Deer will set them off.I recently switched to cell based game cameras and more than happy with this set-up.sends a picture within two minutes.Tatcta Cam Reveal.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Just start walking around your front yard nekkid.

Folks will learn to call first before they come over.

 

[jk96]

I no longer have it since we moved but had great luck with the Dakota alert system Murs system with in ground probe for detecting vehicles.

 

[JD 4520]

I’ve had a Dakota system for several years without failure. The distance is generally good assuming clear path. Obstructions will cause a shorter distance.

 

[coobie]

We purchased a wireless one called driveway informer off amazon.Been more than happy with it.

 

[mikester]

I had the Mule for about 5 years, still had a lot of false positives from passing school buses and transport trucks. Missed about 10-20% of vehicles coming into my driveway depending on weather and how fast the vehicle was moving. Unit stopped working altogether now.

I switched to a eMacros 1/2 mile range solar motion system a year ago and find it catches about 95% of visitors. I have less false positives than the Mule system but it will occasionally go off from a bird or bigger critter with the sensitivity turned to max. I have a second sensor at a farm entrance set to normal sensitivity and don't see any false positives.

 

[RalphVa]

Have a Dakota alarm with air hose that is about 350 ft away.

Had one on the mailbox as well about 50 ft farther. It failed.

 

[skipmarcy]

Our Mighty Mule is about 250' down our gravel driveway from the house. I buried the coil right in the edge of the gravel maybe 6" - 8" deep approx. 12-13 years ago. Still works just dandy with maybe 3 or 4 false alarms a year (sunspots ?) Maybe 1 missed detection a year. The 2 AA batteries get changed maybe once a year, sometimes a little longer. Might have been able to go a little further from the house if my siding wasn't steel but it all works good enough for us in our situation.

 

[KennyG]

Mighty Mule has worked very well for several years at a distance of about 300 feet. Your distance may be the big challenge if you want to place it all the way at the entrance.

 

[bmaverick]

Been using the $9.00 HF driveway alarms forever.

Yes, and it works sooooo GREAT. Amazing price from Harbor Freight. I've wired it directly to avoid changing the batteries. For some reason, that helped with giving it more range like the unit became more alert.

Not only for driveways either. I have one out by my girls (hens) coop. I've spotted coons, coyotes and foxes from the alerts going off. Better than a trail cam, I can sleuth in real time to catch them all.

 

[5030]

caught a few racoons that way pilfering the cat food. I set the bowl in clear sight of the back deck. Alarm goes off and get the .17 HMR out and bang. No more coon.

 

[B7510HSD]

I installed a Reolink wireless camera it gives me a chime as well as a short vidoes to see what it is works great. Mine is about 400ft away from Wifi and has a solar panel for keeping it charged.

 

[BrierPatch]

I highly recommend the Dakota Alert. I have about a 1200' drive as well. They work better with line of sight, but mine goes thru some trees so I run it at about 500'. Still have plenty of time to get to front door/window before vehicle makes it all the way up. I had an earlier model 3000 series and had issues with keeping batteries working in it. I finally upgraded to a newer 2500 series and it has worked great. I am assuming the new 4000 would work just as well. The CR123A batteries last forever. My brother-in-law recently moved out in the country with a long drive as well. He asked me what I used and he has one of the newer models and is very pleased with his.

https://dakotaalert.com/product/dcpa-4k-plus-50-probe-wire/

 

[JethroB]

I purchased the $75 Mighty Mule metal detection unit from Amazon about six months ago. It’s about 200 feet from the house & receiver and 100 feet from the county road. A lot of false alarms at first but turning the sensitivity down to 3/4 solved that. I haven’t bothered to bury the sensor yet, just tossed it under some brush about 6 feet from the lane. The transmitter is nearby and zip tied to a tree. About one day a week it doesn’t work at all for unknown reasons. Otherwise it works maybe 90% of the time.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003765W0W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1