Need ideas for magnetic contact alert system for outside gates

Eweforia

New Member
I happened upon this forum while searching for options for a notification system for my front gates. You sound like just the group to ask for some help. I need a magnetic contact (normally closed) sensor system that relays an alarm to a wireless receiver in the house. The sensor needs to be battery-powered, weatherproof, and able to connect to 1) a steel gate and 2) a chainlink gate. (I created a photo to show you but I don't believe I'm allowed to upload to the Gallery yet and I am definitely not allowed to post a link to it, and embedding it in this post didn't work either.) I am a 61-year-old female with very limited understanding of electronics (but pretty technical otherwise), so I would appreciate detailed information, brand names, and links to products. I'll figure out how to get someone to install the system once I know what I need.

Motion-sensing devices aren't a good option because I have lots of cats that jump through that gate (raccoons, too). I've seen lots of options for standard magnetic contacts but they all have noise-making alarms at the sensor. I just want to know when someone opens the gate; I don't need to scare anyone. I also have wi-fi set up in my home so the device would not necessarily need to have its own receiver if I knew how to connect it to my wireless router. I also have always-on computers and tablets.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.
 
 
Thanks, drvnbysound, the Honeywell 5816OD was one of the first items I flagged as a possibility. But it looks like I'd also need the $150 Lynx 5200 control panel and a separate $55 Honeywell L5100-WIFI circuit board to be wireless. My eyes glazed over. Am I thinking correctly? Can you see anything else that I'd need to buy to build a working system?
 
Sparkman1, do you have any personal experience with Dakota products? I read a lot of Amazon reviews about various Dakota products and backed off the idea. Amazon seems to be backpeddling on this particular UTDCR-2500 model as well. I'd feel better about buying a Dakota system if I had some glowing reports from reputable sources, like you folks here.
 
Thanks to you both for your help. You're great!
 
Here's a photo of my gates:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/capq5d8cik4x5pu/front_gate.jpg?dl=0
 
Eweforia said:
Sparkman1, do you have any personal experience with Dakota products? I read a lot of Amazon reviews about various Dakota products and backed off the idea. Amazon seems to be backpeddling on this particular UTDCR-2500 model as well. I'd feel better about buying a Dakota system if I had some glowing reports from reputable sources, like you folks here.
 
I don't have any personal experience with it, but I do know that a number of people on the HomeSeer forum have used Dakota products and I don't recall anyone there ever saying anything negative about it.
 
Cheers
Al
 
Eweforia said:
Thanks, drvnbysound, the Honeywell 5816OD was one of the first items I flagged as a possibility. But it looks like I'd also need the $150 Lynx 5200 control panel and a separate $55 Honeywell L5100-WIFI circuit board to be wireless. My eyes glazed over. Am I thinking correctly? Can you see anything else that I'd need to buy to build a working system?
 
Sparkman1, do you have any personal experience with Dakota products? I read a lot of Amazon reviews about various Dakota products and backed off the idea. Amazon seems to be backpeddling on this particular UTDCR-2500 model as well. I'd feel better about buying a Dakota system if I had some glowing reports from reputable sources, like you folks here.
 
Thanks to you both for your help. You're great!
 
Here's a photo of my gates:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/capq5d8cik4x5pu/front_gate.jpg?dl=0
 
The 5800 series sensors are a proprietary wireless signal, not WiFi. You'd just need a panel that supported the 5800 series wireless devices.
 
drvnbysound said:
The 5800 series sensors are a proprietary wireless signal, not WiFi. You'd just need a panel that supported the 5800 series wireless devices.
What would be a good and reasonably inexpensive panel that would support the 5800 series wireless devices? Can you give me a model name or a link to one that you know would wori?
 
Dakota alert would be the cheapest and easiest option. Many flavors and ways to skin the cat with their products in this case.
 
The honeywell devices would require the most cash outlay and configuration.
 
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