Wireless Gate Status Monitoring - ZWAVE?

[batwater]

I am fencing in my back yard, the fence will have 3 gates that I would like to monitor whether said gates are closed or not.  I do not want to hard wire as I just took an indirect lightning hit 3 weeks ago (for the 2nd time in 6 years).  I would like to use Z-Wave but have not tumbled onto anything that appears to be weather proof.  Any suggestions?
 
Thanks,
-Ben 

 

[wkearney99]

One way to weatherproof things is to dunk them in Plasti-Dip.  It's pretty tough but is easy to cut open later.  That and it's thick enough it doesn't tend to seep into the small seam on most cases.  
 
Otherwise I've seen folks do clever things like put the sensor into a piece of PVC pipe with caps on the ends.  These days there's plenty of plastic-friendly, UV-resistant outdoor spray paints so as to better camouflage it.  Then bury a magnet into an adjacent surface.  Most of these sensors allow the magnet to be up to an inch away.
 
I'm surprised nobody's made an all-in-one gizmo that included a small solar panel.  While there's certainly situations where that would be "too obvious" I'd venture most folks just want to know if a gate has been (left) opened, not in the same way they'd be worried about a door into the house.

 

[jkmonroe]

I am fencing in my back yard, the fence will have 3 gates that I would like to monitor whether said gates are closed or not.  I do not want to hard wire as I just took an indirect lightning hit 3 weeks ago (for the 2nd time in 6 years).  I would like to use Z-Wave but have not tumbled onto anything that appears to be weather proof.  Any suggestions?
 
Thanks,
-Ben 

 
maybe not applicable because of distance, but the linear/nortek/gocontrol/2gig contact closures have the 'closure' hard wired.  so you could put the main bit with the battery in a weatherproof enclosure near your home connected to zwave, then run the wire to the magnets.
 
dont know how it fits into your no wiring thing, but in the event of a surge, youd only be out a few bucks since the device isnt wired into your home..  you can pick up the 2gig kit at homedepot for $50 (2 closures and a motion sensor).

 

[pete_c]

Many years ago I had a gate on the back yard that I did wire up cuz of our dog and cedar door gate was large and many times it would be left open.  I also made a small fenced in area for a garden behind the garage and did wire up a sensor there too. Additionally utilized a photo sensor on the driveway.  All of the stuff did last some 15 or more years and never did have an issue with it.
 
I did have one issue one day with lightning and it took out one computer and an old hub but the old combo alarm panel did well.
 
The above noted I have helped a peer with his DSC as its network port has gone out due to lighting now some 2 times in the last year which too me is a bit too much or too easy or too sensitive to lightning? 
 
I never looked at the panel personally but it was the first time I used skype to do a visual of any setup like this.
 
I did suggest to redo the grounding for the panel.

 

[ano]

I just use GE sensors which i already use for my alarm. A bit of silicon sealer for extra measure and these things have been working 10+ with no problems.  The receiver even monitors them, so should something happen to a switch, I'll know. Note the conditions where I live can run from 25 to 120 degrees and these things just work.

 

[batwater]

This is interesting and the price is right.  Don't see the wiring issue you mention as these appear to just be zwave closure and motion sensors.  Even if there were wire back to a box as long as it's not physically connected to the house I'm good. 

Thanks!
-Ben
 
edit - read the specs closer, now see that it has additional contacts that you can use to run your own wire, that's perfect now just need to get the fence installed...

maybe not applicable because of distance, but the linear/nortek/gocontrol/2gig contact closures have the 'closure' hard wired.  so you could put the main bit with the battery in a weatherproof enclosure near your home connected to zwave, then run the wire to the magnets.
 
dont know how it fits into your no wiring thing, but in the event of a surge, youd only be out a few bucks since the device isnt wired into your home..  you can pick up the 2gig kit at homedepot for $50 (2 closures and a motion sensor).

 

[batwater]

I just installed this opto-isolator between my DSC IT100 and the serial port to my PC, 2nd time this module was damaged by lightning and as you say it is quite sensitive.
 
-Ben
 

The above noted I have helped a peer with his DSC as its network port has gone out due to lighting now some 2 times in the last year which too me is a bit too much or too easy or too sensitive to lightning? 

 

[batwater]

Several very good suggestions, may try in combo with jkmonroe's hardware suggestion.  Agreed on the all-in-one gizmo, I'd like to do that with a wireless camera.
 
-Ben

One way to weatherproof things is to dunk them in Plasti-Dip.  It's pretty tough but is easy to cut open later.  That and it's thick enough it doesn't tend to seep into the small seam on most cases.  
 
Otherwise I've seen folks do clever things like put the sensor into a piece of PVC pipe with caps on the ends.  These days there's plenty of plastic-friendly, UV-resistant outdoor spray paints so as to better camouflage it.  Then bury a magnet into an adjacent surface.  Most of these sensors allow the magnet to be up to an inch away.
 
I'm surprised nobody's made an all-in-one gizmo that included a small solar panel.  While there's certainly situations where that would be "too obvious" I'd venture most folks just want to know if a gate has been (left) opened, not in the same way they'd be worried about a door into the house.

 

[pete_c]

Here lightning took out two Rain8 dot nets but not the Digi Edgeport that was connected to them.
 
Here my issue was that the gate was just too large and a bit difficult to latch.  Yeah personally I couldn't figure out why the Homeseer user's network module had failed right after the first one.  I knew there were many storms around though.
 
The panel too was layered in one room and a closets two rooms from the outside wall.  Not sure where and how he did his ground.  He has not had the issue though since then.
 
Well too Ano's suggestion of a GE wireless sensor would let you continue to utilize your DSC stuff and it would be just another sensor there.
 
I would say try them all and see which one fits the best for you.  I still have a few DS10A's in place doing fine after 2-3 years.  These are not utilized for security stuff.  One is connected to the Rainbird rain sponge that I really utilize much.

 

[bnesbitt]

Try a piece of PVC pipe with a cap on one end.  Stick the sensor in, and leave the bottom open.  Now you've got rain or snow protection, plus a way for it to dry out.