Display Security - Lights, Lights, Lights! Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
I try not to be paranoid but with increased word of mouth I had quite a bit more cars coming by the house than I expected. Nothing wrong with that so far.
However, there were also some homes within a couple of miles of here which did have some vandalism - mostly focused on damaging wire frames, inflatibles, and taking pieces of nativity sets. None of it was of the magnitude that some on PlanetChristmas have experienced.
Nevertheless, I'm thinking about next year. I have plans to expand my display slightly (not in size, but in content - adding chasing mini-trees, for example) and am wondering what -- if anything -- I can/should do to minimize potential problems.
I'm not concerned about problems during the day or when the display is operating as there are always a lot of people around. The challenge, I think, will be overnight - 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
My display area is quite small ... from the front edge of my porch to the sidewalk is about 9' and total width is about 45'. I think any type of motion sensor will be falsely triggered by people just walking by (which there are quite a few of).
We have streetlights so it's not totally dark, but the street trees obstruct some of the light.
And finally, I don't want to create any hazards for dogs who are being walked along the sidewalk but may stray from the concrete just a bit.
All of that is a very long-winded way of saying I'm quite perplexed. Anyone have any suggestions ... or comments ... or further questions which will help clarify my thinking.
I don't want to create a problem where one doesn't exist, but I also don't want to go out some morning and find cords cut on my LOR controllers, for example. (Could put them in the garage, but it's on the back of the house ... approximately 100' from the display. Hmm ... 140 channels times 100' of cord. 2.5 miles of SPT -- "hello, Action Lighting"?)
I bought some of those "driveway patrol" things off Ebay. well one was a dud from the start and the other atleast blinked showing it was picking up motion. I could not get it to work but put it out anyway to deter atleast. Well it decided to start working like 5 days later and the squirrels were making it go off like crazy. I had it about 3 feet off the ground too. I turned it off and it has not worked since. So I am looking at cameras outside and also hook up motion sensors to floodlights to blind the people if they try anything. I put my LOR controllers behind bushes so not obvious where they are and really would have to get close to the house to get to them. I only had 4 13" pieces of yard art stolen. The rest was left alone. I have lots of people walking by during the day as well and also some "thugs" that look suspicious. I kinda give them the stare down to know I am there and not to touch anything. Wasn't LOR2 going to have some sort of security feature?
try using a cable connecting your mini trees together, that way if they want to stea it they will have to take them all,and your house. you can also use this for your lor bords too,and nativity pieces
try using a cable connecting your mini trees together, that way if they want to stea it they will have to take them all,and your house. you can also use this for your lor bords too,and nativity pieces
I'm starting with LOR next year and was wondering about security. I live on a corner and generally feel quite safe, but having all that gear out away from the house does concern me a bit.
I'm going to get a couple motion sensors and box mount them like in a Greenlee, exterior grade box so it's sorta waterproof. Then, I'm going to run a cable to three or four flood lamps, each also mounted onto a box.
This way, I can place the motion sensors anywhere I want to on the lawn, and yet have the floods kick on whenever they're activated. This should wake up anyone going where they shouldn't be.
Rick, The big home improvement stores sells those little wire fences that you shove into the ground. They're about two to three feet high and are little connecting arch's. Fairly cheap too. Add some lights and it should keep the dogs from going too far into your Celebration sized front yard... Also, judging by your picture there, I'd just remove part of the lattuce on your front porch there and mount the LOR's under the porch. Out of sight, out of mind... May shorten your cord requirements. You may also be able to send a couple circuits from your breaker box there too... IMHO, that's where my LOR's would be... Of course, I'm familiar with the zoning/code limitations you face in Celebration. I have a friend that lives there too and works at Florida Hospital - Celebration. He's about to move into Kissimmee... Somewhere off 192, I think...
Rick Hughes wrote: I try not to be paranoid but
Rick,
Don't feel paranoid. Every year I'm shocked and appalled about the news stories I see where someone stole Halloween and Christmas decorations. It amazes me how low people can be. Having said that, I have a couple ideas for you.
There is a company in Texas called Supercircuits. I won't post a link 'cause I don't know if I'm allowed to do that. Google it. They have great prices on some pretty fantastic closed circuit video equipment. I have a 4 camera system going onto a hard drive of an old computer turned digital video recorder.
Also, the idea of stringing a wire through the entire display is a great one. I have a twist for it though. Add to it a continuous piece of RG6, and connect it to a 12 volt wall wart power supply that picks up a 12 VDC relay. Use the "D" (denergized) contact of the relay to trigger spotlights and some kind of noisemaker. I use an old X-10 remote reciever as the trigger. It stopped working as a remote receiver, but the push on and off buttons still worked. That would also trigger other modules set to the same unit#. I hooked up 4 appliance modules to halogen floodlights. I also connected 1 appliance module to a light in my bedroom. (I use appliance modules because of load, and lamp modules have a strange way of just coming on magically whenever they feel like it) I had to disassemble the module to solder wires to the on button contacts. I'm pretty sure X-10 makes a interface that has a similar option. They made it for DIY alarm systems. The nice thing about this set-up is when someone cuts the wire, it's daylight in your front yard. In my neighborhood, that tends to get my nosy neighbors stirring.
(I bet after reading this post, you don't feel so paranoid do you?)
Also, the idea of stringing a wire through the entire display is a great one. I have a twist for it though. Add to it a continuous piece of RG6, and connect it to a 12 volt wall wart power supply that picks up a 12 VDC relay. Use the "D" (denergized) contact of the relay to trigger spotlights and some kind of noisemaker. yea but accedntly connecting the hot wire could light someone up and not in the good way.
light man wrote: yea but accedntly connecting the hot wire could light someone up and not in the good way.
If you feel unsafe using a wall wart, then charge a battery like the ones used on kids electric cars and only use it overnight. I don't see the possibility of hurting someone with a 12VDC 100ma power supply. I've used this type of loop set-up for a long time, and while it has never been cut I don't think there is any possible way that someone could get hurt by it. Besides, if they're in the yard to cut wires of christmas lights they stand a much better chance of being electrocuted by a string if mini's than a 12 volt source. Many electronics stores use a similar device on the cameras on display. You cut the cord and the alarm sounds. Mine just lights some lights by remote control.
jeffmill wrote:
There is a company in Texas called Supercircuits.
I was there about 4 years ago and they do have some cool stuff.
As a side note, Kmart has cameras with power supply and cable for $39. This is everything you need to hook it up to a TV/VCR and record for 8 hours a shot. Much better than nothing at all. At least you would be able to get a good nights sleep for the cost of a cheap motel room knowing you have a set of eyes on things.
____________________ For every spark of genius there are a hundred misfires.
i have one and it is worth the money,for the peace of mind that you will have the vandels caught red handed lol, espescly for halloween.,and for baby jeasus, i feel soo bad that in this day and age i have to lock up my nativity pieces with a key.
Christmas season 2004 at 2 in the morning, the day of our neighborhood light contest, I went outside to find about half my 100+ lighted candy canes in my candy cane forest stolen and the lights in my trees and bushes trashed. I spent all day driving to all the local Targets and Walmarts for new candy canes and trying to restore my display to working order (I did win the contest for the 5th time in a row). Last season I had no problems but with my conversion and investment in LOR this year, security does have me concerned.
My plan is still in work, but here is what I have so far.
1) LOR controllers will be securely mounted to the house with large anchoring bolts.
2) On the Tune your radio to 89.3 FM sign, I am also adding the following statement For security purposes, 24 hour video surveillance. Sometimes a sign is all it takes, but just in case I am going to back it up.
3) On each side of the house I am going to mount 2 fake video cameras under the eves and very visible, and a real minicam hidden from sight. I am also by a street light so lighting should not be an issue, and a motion detector should also assist at night just in case.
4) The camera will be connected to the video capture card in my computer. My daughter has a digital microscope and the program allows for time lapse photography with adjustable frame rate, so it shouldn't use up a huge amount of disk space (as long as I clean it up once in a while).
5) I am also really starting to like the idea of the looped wire through the various displays to set off an alarm if cut. I am not really concerned with the current from a Power vampire or wallwart, but I think maybe solid state is the way to go. I will draw up a schematic and parts list in a couple days and post if anyone is interested, but here's the theory of operation. Single strand of wire, one end will be at device ground potential the other end connected to one of the inputs to a CMOS exclusive OR-gate with a 50K pull-up resistor. The other input to the exclusive OR will have a resistor and electrolytic capacitor (values to be calculated later) to setup a time constant to act as an automatic timer to turn it off after a predetermined amount of time. Also both inputs will have to be isolated with diodes. The OR-gate output will go through a buffer which is connected to a transistor which will drive a relay that can turn on lights or activate an alarm.
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
Bill, If you do get a chance to post a rough schematic and parts list that would be great. I am considering using a system like that to route through my mini-trees and the few wire frames that I have. Stay safe.
I have a rough draft schematic and on my next weekend I'll get it breadboarded. A finished schematic and parts list will soon follow. Glad to be of help.
Bill
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
The slightly better (in my opnion) version of the wire/loop it this. You go down to your local RatShack (Radioshack) and buy a ton of hook-up wire. Also get a 6-12vDC wall transformer. For all of you who don't know this, this much of a shock will hurt but will not be fatal or have any long lasting side-effects. You then take the hook-up wire and string it through two holes in your controllers, through your wireframes, whatever just as long as it cannot be removed without cutting the wire. Stake down the wire loosely, so to hold it in place but not to cut it. Bring both sides to the same location, one where you can have your electronics mounted. Wire one sied of the loop of wire to the wall transformer. Then get a normally colsed relay form Newark Electronics. Make sure that the input voltage range matches the output voltage from the wall transformer. Wire the output side with an acceptable voltage, you may or may not decide to use a wall SECOND wall transformer. Then wire that to a normally open relay capable of handeling all of the load you intend to place on it. Wire the output side of that to an outlet for easy pulgging. Wire all of the power inputs to a switch and central cord. You are done. I like to mount a 120dB siren from Chauvet and a 500watt flood light to the system and plug it in. When it trips because the theives have cut that small harmeless hook-up wire, just go outside and unplug the siren and use the flood light to see what is going on. When everything is ok, just turn the main powerswitch off to powerdown for the night and reset the system in the morning. This might wake up the neighbors, but those theives sure won't be returning that night.
That will indeed work however, but when one is not at home, I don't think our neighbors would appreciate a 120db siren sounding off for hours upon end. A mechanism's should exist to automatically shut it down after a period of time. Now one could incorporate a time delayed relay in conjunction with the before mentioned relay to act as a timer, and that is essentially what I am doing, just using logic chips instead and the cost will be far cheaper.
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
I've got a simpler idea (assuming you have a house alarm). Just 'extend' one of your normally closed circuits around the yard. You can tap into either a window or door connector, or better yet, run a permanent new 'zone' for outdoor stuff. You can use a jumper on it for the rest of the year.
That way, when you turn your alarm on for the night, it also activates your outdoor security.
If you don't have an alarm, you can get use a an x10 powerflash interface from smarthome. Wire this up and it can trigger other x10 module events (ie, siren, all lights on, etc).
Does anyone watch "It Takes a Thief" on the Discovery Channel? The show helps show homeowners how to improve the security on their residence. I am curious how much of the technology could somehow be used to help secure a large holiday display in ones yard.
Just an FYI, to be on the show one has to be within 3 hrs of NYC and if you get chosen for the show you get free security upgrades for your home
____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
MichaelC wrote: I've got a simpler idea (assuming you have a house alarm). Just 'extend' one of your normally closed circuits around the yard. You can tap into either a window or door connector, or better yet, run a permanent new 'zone' for outdoor stuff. You can use a jumper on it for the rest of the year.
That way, when you turn your alarm on for the night, it also activates your outdoor security.
I like that idea, Thank you. I think I may incorporate that into my home alarm on a zone that is always activated. But for those who do not have a home alarm (and I have invested alot of time in to this design and it's almost done), I will still post it's design when it's done. It will work and won't cost much.
On a side note: I will consider any and all ideas and based upon its merits, determine what is best for my circumstance. I think one of the reasons for these forum's is to share ideas, debate them, and let each of us decide for ourselves what is best.
____________________ 16 sequenced Christmas song's, 104 channels of LOR (up from 88 last year), audio transmitted on 105.7 FM, about 20,000 lights and over 3000 feet of extension cords.
MichaelC wrote: I've got a simpler idea (assuming you have a house alarm). Just 'extend' one of your normally closed circuits around the yard. You can tap into either a window or door connector, or better yet, run a permanent new 'zone' for outdoor stuff. You can use a jumper on it for the rest of the year.
We were talking about this in another thread last week. Sorry I don't have a link and am to lazy to search .
.