As I have noted in my on-going thread on starting a salvage grocery store here at the farm, my primary reason for placing it in a building near my mobile home, rather than another better building elsewhere on the farm, is the option to go inside the mobile home when business is slow. To let me know when someone does drive in I have been looking into a driveway visitor alert system.

I am about to try the Driveway Patrol wireless system recently advertised on TV. Since the cost includes $6.99 S&H (not unreasonable but...) I have been looking in the general area for someone who stocks them. No luck at Lowes, Home Depot, WalMart, K-Mart, Radio Shack or Ace Hardwares. However, in explaining to the salespeople what I am looking for, a fairly common comment is they would like to have something like this themselves.

Makes me wonder if there isn't a possible homestead business here. Apparently easy to install and battery operated. Say each unit cost you $35 (to include initial batteries) and you charged $60 for installation. That's not a bad mark up to cover your installation costs.

You can get some information on these units by going to www.asseenontv.com. Perhaps someone knows of a nationwise retailer carrying them, or direct supply source?

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 24, 2002

Answers

According to tests conducted by WZZM 13 On Your Side, http://www.wzzm13.com/13yourside.asp you may want to make sure that you mount the Driveway Patrol sensor 3 ½ to 4 feet high as “Some customers complained it didn't work mounted below that”. Apparently the instructions do not come with this height requirement information.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

It looks like a simple PIR motion detector and wireless receiver. I am betting it will false quite often. As for income, how many people would pay you $60 to install it? Takes two screws for the PIR and a thats about it. Also how many people need this product? I have two dogs that let me know when someone enters the driveway.

If I was going to install a driveway alarm it would not be a PIR, but instead a burried magnetic type.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), April 24, 2002.

Gary, I know your dog are wireless, but how many screws do they need?

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), April 24, 2002.

the driveway monitor is manufactured in a homestead business, at least thats how it started, in SD,they advertise in countryside mag , Dakota alert www.dakotaalert.com elk point SD 605-356-2772

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

You could also utilize it in areas of the property other than the driveway to offer a complete security package deal.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

Ken, can you turn it off at night? Otherwise every deer passing through may set it off. I love the idea of driveway alarms, but can't get past the down side of false alarms. And then there is the distance from the driveway to my house and the folks that are just turning around (dead end, you know).

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), April 24, 2002.

Hi Ken, I have a long driveway into my "hollar". I had trouble with strangers driving in, and with people dumping trash, and unauthorized hunters parking to go into the woods.

A friend who was savvy with electronics, took a car alarm system and rigged me a driveway alert. ( I actually did two - in two seperate areas). A wire was buried across the road, and when a car passed over it, it sent a signal to the "alarm" hanging in a box on a tree, connected to a marine battery, and then a signal was transmitted to the device which alerts the car owner someone has set off their car alarm. ( Looks like a pager). The device would ring loudly like a fire alarm when anyone approached.

I am not very good with descriptions, and am completely clueless with it comes to electronics or mechanics, so this is the best I can do. Some of the guys here who are "savvy" could probably rig the same system quite easily. Judy

-- Judy (JMcFerrin@aol.com), April 24, 2002.

Joe, I spit out my coffee. LOL

-- Mike (PARISH48@MSN.COM), April 24, 2002.

How many people would pay $60 for a wireless driveway alert system? Don't know. A simple trial classified ad in the local paper may find out.

On dogs, the only thing I would have to feed this alarm system is the occasional battery. Remember reading somewhere a dog which is fed nothing but purchased foods, given routine flea control and taken to the vet on a regular basis for shots follow-ups, etc. cost about $600 per year. Say a dog cost you $1 per day in feed. That would be $365 right there. Plus, since it would be potential customers, how many might even friendly dogs deter if they barked at cars as they arrived?

I doubt false alerts will be a sigificant problem. If so, the sensor can be repositioned until they stop.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

Beth:

The Dakota site looks like a nice system, but is about 4-5 times more expensive than the one on www.asseenontv.com.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 25, 2002.

Id bet they work 10 times better though

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 25, 2002.

Sorry Mike, I couldn't resist!

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), April 26, 2002.