Goofy request... protecting an exterior Gas Grill

TheEther

Member
I just bought a pretty expensive gas grill and want to add something to it to let me know if it's being moved. I keep it next to my house and can definitely get wiring to it, I'm just not sure what the best way to protect it would be.

How would you go about protecting something like that, magnetic switch (i.e. garage door switch), disconnectable loop with 2.2k resistor, something else? I wouldn't want a potential thief to just bridge the loop in another location to defeat it..

mucho curioso..

Thx folks!
 
Depends on the location - if you feel like posting a picture of the grill in its home it might help spark ideas. A couple of ideas that come to mind...
  1. Some sort of cable that's looped through it - if cut it generates an alarm. Preferably it won't look like such a cable, so a would-be thief hopefully would think just cutting it and running would be fine.
  2. A light/laser pointed at a reflector on it and hooked to a photocell (like a door entry alarm) - so if the thing moves at all, you get notified.
  3. A near-field proximity sensor - maybe a RFID reader mounted within 3ft or so and a tag on the BBQ well hidden.
I think my first thought would be a way to rig up one of those laptop theft alarms - and rig it into a wireless alarm sensor of some sort. I'm sure with a little creativity, one could be modified to hook into an external alarm contact or DS10a so if cut it would trigger an alert.
 
You want to be notified, but really you want to scare the burglar away.

I'd probably do a couple alarm contacts. One loop with the chain lock (chain cut = disconnect) and the other elsewhere. Of course, this would be useful if you have an alarm system.
 
I would manage along the lines of work2play's first thought. Pretty much the same way your big box stores keep things they want you to pick up and play with from not walking off (like cameras). They use the springy telephone cord wire which you may or may not want to use. While a very crafty thief could suspect what you have done, carefully strip back the wire and determine which wire to short, I suspect this will not happen. Also, including an eol resistor would make that more challenging.

Certainly your imagination would be helpful in figuring out exactly how to run the wire through the grill and whether you put a connection jack of some sort for when you might actually want to unhook it.
 
Honeywell makes a 5870API wireless assets sensor with a accelerometer sensor. For a hardwire connection I also like the GRI 4704 series. Easy to disconnect if you need to move the grill.

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They make something called "pull apart" sensors just for this purpose.


These work very well. I have used these for some time on manual perimeter gates outdoors at facilities that have perimeter protection. They are reliable but you have to remember to "plug them in" or have notification if they are not. Depending on how you wire them and how you hide the connections they can be of some value.
 
That was exactly what I was looking for gentlemen. Great feed back everyone and thanks again! I think I'm going to weld one end on the chassis of the grill if possible. It'll probably be a a bit before i get to it but wanted to have something planned out.
 
Also, I guess I completely left out that I have an ELK M1G with plenty of Zones for expansion.. Sorry about that fellas..
 
I would think that a motion detector activating a flood light and/or a siren chirp would be a pretty effective deterrent. By the time they've yanked the grill away and set off your pull-apart sensor it's probably too late.
 
I am envisioning something involving a timer and a blasting cap attached to your propane tank, but I haven't worked out the details yet... :)
 
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