Recent content by independentpete

I researched this a bit and found that the inexpensive 2-way mirrors were made of acrylic, not glass. They scratch easily. Also read that the coating on acrylic is easily washed off. Must use care when cleaning. No amonia producs. I ended up not doing it because of all the gotchas.

Doesn't sound like it's a camera issue. If you can see the person walking, then the camera is picking it up. If you're only getting a few frames per second from your capture device, that's likely to be the problem. 9 frames per second might not be enough to trigger. In AWC, try different values...

Good point BSR. Yes, AWC does have positive and negative motion detection. It's possible that Terry has it the wrong way. Terry: Check your settings under 'Define Motion Area' > 'Exclude selected cell (cells) from the motion detection' / 'Detect motion in the selected cell (cells)'. Make sure...

Terry: Not sure what the question here is. Basically, the image you show indicates that the person walking past the camera has modified 6% of the pixels during the sample taken. If you say a car in the steet shows 2%, that means the car has modified 2% of the pixels during the sample taken...

The EX View is a newer sensor than the SuperHAD. Both are very good, but the EX View has superior performance in low light. Supposed to be the best CCD for low light (not using IR illuminators).

There's nothing better than having a live team of experts standing by every Friday night to answer any HA questions that come to mind. :rolleyes: Great site! Great people! Keep up the good work! Congratulations!

Yup... Decided to start off simple and inexpensive. I was over there the other day and brought over one of my EagleEyes and spare TM751. Connected it to a lamp and it worked fine. Told him that he can connect a radio or whatever he wants to it. That seems like the route we'll take. Just have a...

No existing HA in the house. I'm thinking it would be cheaper to add a few Hawkeyes and a receiver than to get the $160 IR beams. Just concerned that a cheap receiver will not have the range. A WGL800 starts to bring up the cost and complexity. Went to Home Depot yesterday and they had nothing...

Could I use a set of those IR beams from a garage door? Seems like they'd be a lot cheaper than those Optex ones. Maybe they're not meant for outdoor use? Any other reason not to?

Nice find. But the rebate they link to says, "Offer valid on purchases made October 26 – November 8, 2005 from Fry’s Electronics." and must be postmarked by November 22. I know the Outpost page says, "valid from 2005-11-23 to 2005-12-01". ...Hmmm... ;)

IMO I would have the motion sensors / beams set off floodlights too. You make a good point that the kids might like to set off the alarm. There's less fun in setting off lights. If I wanted the beam (link above) to turn on floodlights, what would I need? How about if I wanted it to send an X10...

The setup needs to be weatherproof (Chicago climate). Attached is a sketch of the yard. The idea is to set off some sort of alarm when someone enters the property - to scare them away. The area that wouyld be protected by the beams are the dotted red lines. He'd want to be able to turn the...

Oh yeah... About the siren... How do I control how long it stays on? If the person breaks the beam for only 1/2 second, would the siren only stay on for that long? Would I need to install some type of timer to go longer?

Here's a link - http://www.smarthome.com/7460.html. Hopng you guys can tell me how to wire everything. I'm handy, but not an electronics guru. Diagrams would be great if possible. e: Sprinklers might be good, but not to defend the Christmas decorations during Chicago winter. Thanks! Looking...

My father in law has had problems with vandals destroying holiday decorations in his front yard. He wants my help with setting up some sort of intrusion detection system. Something that would sound an alarm to scare away vandals when if they cross onto his property. We thought about putting up a...