DanC
08-22-2005, 08:22 PM
Most of the time when we return from skiing we stop for dinner with our trailered boats. We usually have to park were we cannot see our boats, but in well lit and open parking lots. There is a lot of gear in my boat and I don’t like having to move it into the van and back out of the van just for a 30 minute dinner. So I thought it would be cool to have an alarm that would page me so I could run out of the store/restaurant and chase them away.
My requirements were; pager, radar type proximity sensor with two stages, one warns you that you are too close, the other sets off the full alarm. While I was at it, I thought the voice warnings would be cool instead of chirps and honks. :rolleyes:
First step was a paging alarm system with a radar sensor. I bought the Astra 777. It was one of the cheapest paging systems and radar sensor combos that I could find. The radar sensor was a piece of crap and I replaced it with an Audiovox model AS-23. Tests in the driveway were satisfactory on the two stage.
If I was going to go through the trouble of adding a voice, I figured why not a fully programmable one. Bought the DEI 516L Recordable Voice Alarm add-on module that has 5 second programmable voice warnings. My first stage warning says “Move away from the boat, surveillance system activated”. The second stage says “intruder alert, surveillance system recording.”
I also put some cheesy LED arrays that scan back and forth, ala Knight Rider. I slap them onto the windshield brace, held on by Velcro. I have them set up to turn on when the system is armed.
I also put a relay on the tower light’s dashboard switch so that they can be turned on either by hand or a stage one alarm.
So last week we stopped for dinner, parked our cars/boats in the parking lot but just out of sight from where we were eating. Half way through dinner the pager went off. I ran outside and sure enough there was a guy next to my boat stealing
…….the cardboard boxes out of the dumpster next to my boat. :uglyhamme
After using it about a dozen times, I can report 2 false alarms, one dumpster diver caught and successfully “catching” my kids testing it four times. :toast:
My requirements were; pager, radar type proximity sensor with two stages, one warns you that you are too close, the other sets off the full alarm. While I was at it, I thought the voice warnings would be cool instead of chirps and honks. :rolleyes:
First step was a paging alarm system with a radar sensor. I bought the Astra 777. It was one of the cheapest paging systems and radar sensor combos that I could find. The radar sensor was a piece of crap and I replaced it with an Audiovox model AS-23. Tests in the driveway were satisfactory on the two stage.
If I was going to go through the trouble of adding a voice, I figured why not a fully programmable one. Bought the DEI 516L Recordable Voice Alarm add-on module that has 5 second programmable voice warnings. My first stage warning says “Move away from the boat, surveillance system activated”. The second stage says “intruder alert, surveillance system recording.”
I also put some cheesy LED arrays that scan back and forth, ala Knight Rider. I slap them onto the windshield brace, held on by Velcro. I have them set up to turn on when the system is armed.
I also put a relay on the tower light’s dashboard switch so that they can be turned on either by hand or a stage one alarm.
So last week we stopped for dinner, parked our cars/boats in the parking lot but just out of sight from where we were eating. Half way through dinner the pager went off. I ran outside and sure enough there was a guy next to my boat stealing
…….the cardboard boxes out of the dumpster next to my boat. :uglyhamme
After using it about a dozen times, I can report 2 false alarms, one dumpster diver caught and successfully “catching” my kids testing it four times. :toast: