Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3421 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#177264 28-Jul-2015 11:24
Send private message

I would appreciate it if someone could recommend a solution for my problem.
I have approached our local security company but after a year of them not responding I'm going "public".

We have one of those automatic gates on our driveway. There is a keypad by the gate which can be used to open/close the gate with a PIN and there is a button which when pressed sounds a buzzer in the house. There is no intercom or video. There is also a light-beam across the drive which when broken also activates the buzzer in the house (handy for letting you know someone or something has crossed through the gateway), this only works when the gate is open. The gate can be operated via the keypad by the gate, via remotes which we typically keep in the car, or by a button inside the house. The house is set back from the gate, distance 30-40m.

The problem now being that foliage has grown and we can no longer see the gate from the  front door of the house. Or indeed from anywhere inside the house. To the point where we now have to walk almost to the gate to see whether it is open or closed. Sure the easy answer is chop down the foliage, but we kind of like the privacy it affords from the road, but wouldn't be helpful at night time anyway. We are residential, and the gateway area is covered by street lighting so its never completely dark.

This leads to the all too common scenario in our house that when the buzzer goes off, we aren't sure if someone has crossed the gateway or has pushed the button because we often are not sure if the gate is closed or not. Its like Schrodingers gate. 

So we need a simple way of knowing from inside the house whether the gate is actually open or not.

I'm presuming a camera that links to a screen in the house may be suitable, but I'm concerned about the distance the camera would have to cover. The best view of the gate from the house would be from a vantage point that is 40m away. There is another position about 30m away which would require a lot more pruning.

First and foremost any solution would need to be able to provide an easy view from inside the house of the gate simply to see if its closed or open. 
But while we are looking at such systems, perhaps we could factor in some security features like motion sensing and recording.

I look forward to your suggestions.




Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!


Create new topic
NZSpides
155 posts

Master Geek


  #1353261 28-Jul-2015 11:35
Send private message

Dumb question, but what cabling to you have from the gate to the house?
Type of cable and cores would be very helpful.
What's the distance?



wellygary
8320 posts

Uber Geek


  #1353282 28-Jul-2015 11:52
Send private message

Simpliest ( and cheapest) option is a microswitch on the gate that senses when the gate is closed and indicates with a light on the intercom

 

 

The hard part is wiring it up, if there is a spare circuit in the existing cable running to the gate then its easy, other wise you might need to run an additional cable

 

 

If there is no spare cable capacity to the gate ( and running a new one is difficult ) then you need to look at some sort of wireless link, and if you are going to go down that path you might as well put a camera overlooking the gate enterence so you can actually see who is at the gate ( and if the gate is open)

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3421 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1353321 28-Jul-2015 12:35
Send private message

NZSpides: Dumb question, but what cabling to you have from the gate to the house?
Type of cable and cores would be very helpful.
What's the distance?

There are whatever wires are required to power the gate and and connect the keypad and the beam to the buzzer. The distance is 30-40m. The wires run underground and underconcrete.
Given the difficulty of running additional wiring the easiest solution I thought was a camera attached to the house.

What sort of picture would a camera give me at a distance of 30-40m? Certainly it would show if the gate was open or not. Would it be any good for anything else? 




Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!




RileyB
247 posts

Master Geek


  #1353942 28-Jul-2015 22:47
Send private message

Theirs quite a range of WiFi based Cameras (some with two way audio), some wired and some battery operated that could work, Belkin, Panasonic and Netgear all make them.





Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.