Want to build your own alarm gizmo?

I've been involved with electronics related work for many many years. From way back in the "relay control panel" days...

When electronic chips and microprocessors first came out, all the equipment needed to program and build your own circuit boards cost thousands of dollars. I wanted to play around with this, but could never afford it...

All that has changed! A company called Parallax now makes a product called "What is a Microcontroller? Basic Stamp kit". And this is sold at Radio Shack or on the parallax.com web site store (in the Basic Stamp / BASIC Stamp Programming Kits area) for $70.

And that is all you need! It comes with a serial cable to connect to your PC and the programming software editor. And you can program it from your PC.

Note: If you have a laptop without a serial port, there are problems with USB to serial adapters which do not work (like the kind which sell for $40 in office supply stores). But on the parallax.com store they sell one which works in the Accessories > Cables/Converters area for $15.

Anyway I've been having fun playing around with this. Making LED's flash and so forth. But then I noticed all the sensors and communication add/on devices you can get to add to this circuit board. This would be in the Sensors and Accessories / Communications areas.

They even have RFID readers and Bluetooth add on boards! (Thought you guys would be interested in that stuff...)

The Basic Stamp microcontroller is very easy to program, but this is a very simple microcontroller. It can only do one thing at a time. So you can't be making a sound on a speaker and at the same time check to see if someone is pressing a button. Or if you do, you need to get the timing just right.

They do make other microcontrollers which are faster or have multiple processors in the same chip (Propeller), however those would be more complex to program. The Propeller chip can include "assembly language programming" which is very advanced programming - not for beginners! If you are new to programming, I would start with the Basic Stamp What is a Microcontroller? kit.

Then I would not use this stuff to "reinvent the wheel". If there is a security product out there which suits your needs, it would probably be tested and designed to prevent false alarms and so forth. The wireless products would probably be better designed with low battery alerts and so forth. So best to use those products if they are available.

But I know every now and then in the security business you get a customer who says "Can you do this?" or "Can you do that?", then no product available for that... Now maybe you can build your own!

Reply to
Bill
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RHC: Sir, not to burst your bubble; however, I very much doubt that any serious alarm professional would consider such a thing for use on any system connected to the authorities (and this IS a newsgroup comprised of alarm professionals by and large...). In the DIY market, I suspect you might have an application, since no real harm (or good) is done when the alarm goes off. Speaking personally, I have yet to find a security application that is not covered by at least one manufacturers products (and usually many more). No matter how well it may work, I doubt there would be a need to resort to such a "cluge", since any custom arrangement must also be serviced after the fact.

Anyway, best of luck

Reply to
tourman

On Apr 17, 10:46=EF=BF=BDam, tourman wrote:

Not often but occasionally, a project comes up that there is just no product on the market that will do the job or at least will do the job just the way you want it to work.

A few years ago, I had a customer who's under construction house was being vandalized by kids. Very expensive windows broken, other destruction and missing material. He had put up lights but they just broke them and did their thing. He asked me if I could put one of the talking sirens at the site but I told him that it would only work a few times and once they saw that the police were not showing up ... it would be business as normal. ( there was only electrical power at the site, no telephone line) He didn't want to go for the radio alarm because he was too far away and by the time the police arrived they'd be long gone through the extensive woods all around the house. I told him I would try to think of something and came up with a barking dog system activated by 5 out door motion detectors. I fabricated the alarm out of 2 or 3 ( I forget) Visonic recordable voice modules. I recorded various multiple barking dog sound clips from the internet. Even got one with a dragging chain accross the floor! It sounded like a number of dogs, not just one. I set the modules up to be tripped via delay timers and stepping relays because I didn't want the recording to start with the same barking sound each time it was tripped and I didn't want it to sequence and end with the same barking sound each time it ended. I charged him about $ 1700.00, much less than the amount of time I put into it (about two weeks of evening time) , but it worked great and I loved getting back into circuit design that I hadn't done for decades.

No more vandalizing. When it came time to do the siding on the house, the siding crew knocked down, buried or destroyed the motion detectors. Obviously the system stopped working. Within a week the kids set fire to the house. Fortunately it didn't burn down but caused lots of damage. From that point forward he had an all night guard service on site.

If it were my house I think my next project would have been "the big bundle of 2 x 4s falling from the ceiling, alarm" or maybe even "the Shotgun alarm" ;-)

Reply to
Jim

FYI - I've known a couple of security companies to do custom work. And I mean gizmos designed by engineers and built by electronics companies. This was in the early 80's though and not nearly as many security products were available at that time. But the customer wanted it, had the money to pay for it, so it was designed and built! And these looked just like any other electronic product made at that time. Proper enclosure, wiring, fuses, etc.

You would come across these things and say "What is that?" (Because it was the only one of its kind in the world!)

Reply to
Bill

That's exactly why people don't do much of that anymore, too much of a pain for the next guy to troubleshoot

Reply to
mleuck

RHC: In all honesty, why would any company want to bother with an activity that eats up valuable time for one customer which could be far more wisely spent making money serving many others. It's simply not a good use of your limited time resources.

You might want to do it because it's a challenge; because it's a bit of a hobby, or because you're doing a friend a favour, but as a matter of business course, absolutely not ! Any activity that is outside your core business activities means you are not conducting your business as efficiently as you can or should. IMO, it should be strictly the domain of the hobbiest and the DIY crowd

..... but then wtf do I know.....:))

Reply to
tourman

Don't you ever do anything because it's a fun challange, even if it cost you time and money? That device that I built is now sitting in my basement but ........ I know I can do it now and it really was a lot of fun figuring it out. I wouldn't do it on a regular basis but .......... once in a while it's ..... ummmm fun! How ever I guess the other part of what you said is partially true too. I'm one of the few lucky ones that I can make a living at my hobby. Gadgets and gizmos and inventiveness, and being able to improvise and work outside the so called "box". Otherwise, all this alarm stuff only, would be pretty repetitive and ultimately boring. A number of people that I meet in this trade will tell me that they think what they do is boring and that they wish that they could do something else. I tell them if that were true, they'd be doing it.

Reply to
Jim

RHC: Sure I do far too much stuff because it's fun or a challenge, but I recognize it for what it is...a waste of my time and resources. I don't find installing and servicing alarms boring;far from it. It's still a challenge to solve a problem for a client but I do it with off the shelf hardware.

The day this becomes boring is the day I get out of the business....that's exactly why this is my fourth business venture

Reply to
tourman

Jeeze Robert, cancha hold down a decent job? Have you tried a support group? Rehab? Unemployment insurance? Holding up convenience stores?

Reply to
Jim

On Apr 19, 11:19=A0am, Jim wrote:

RHC: Hahaha,,,,,no,it's nothing like that Jim...:))

These businesses were IN ADDITION to holding down a challenging full time job with a large corporation in middle management for 27 years. They were side businesses that started because of hobby interests much like yours. They ran successfully for years until I lost interest, or other concerns overrode them, at which point I simply stopped them (or in one case, I sold the business). I needed these stress relievers on the side which actually helped me in my main employment (although management there often wondered if I was spending as much time on my regular job as I should be....(I was). It was simply, when you spend all day managing people and dealing with policy and personnel issues, an evening outing to do something with my hands was like putting grease on a bad burn....!!!!

The main side business I had was as a locksmith specializing in physically securing homes against break and enter, including a lot of lecturing on the subject at police meetings, insurance group and neighbourhood watch meetings. This was the business that ultimately lead me into the electronic alarm side of the security business after the large corporation "bought me out" at age 50, and even today, allows me to address far more of the customers common home security needs than most other competing, local alarm companies. It also allows me to offer "package deals" which make my higher alarm prices a bargain when they compare the total costs of having someone else in to do the "extras" (which I include at no extra charge). The second business I had many, many years ago was as a custom rifle maker, putting together high end, VERY fancy rifles (engraved, AAAA level wood), which I usually ended up selling to Americans. This business didn't really make me a huge amount of money, but was more a "labour of love" due to my life long interest in firearms. Back then I wasn't being paid very well, and it helped put food on the table (I supplemented beef with huge amounts of moose meat which kept the bills down as well). I bailed on this business when the firearms laws up here became so intrusive and restrictive that it was no longer worth doing (the "bullshit factor" rose too high for me). The other business I had was mobile welding of all sorts of things needed by people...repair of railings, fences, trailers etc....which I ultimately sold to another interested party at a decent profit. All of these left me with a superbly equipped machine shop in my home which doesn't get used much today except for making up custom door strikes to re-inforce doors against kick in ( the most common form of entry here in my town)

So...yeah, you and I have clear differences of opinion on how to run an alarm company; however, I have pretty much always done things outside the box. I saw an opportunity to operate in a niche that didn't exist....full priced systems with no long term contract. In our local market, there is tremendous fluidity of job movement, and people just refused to lock in for long terms. It seems to have struck a major nerve such that I am still usually booked two systems a week, a month in advance. This business was set up to give a large cash flow, versus huge equity at the end. Even so, I have managed to negotiate a closing price that basically gives me about 30 to 36 months, given they are doing the billing and monitoring (but that is hypothetical if my son takes over the business...) Plus as you know, honesty and quality work build up a name in the business that carries you well into the future. And the amount of bullshit associated with a large percentage of the alarmcos out there simply turns people off totally....

But getting back to the original gist of the thread, I turn away more business than I take on as I have said many times, instead referring these people to other trusted friends in the business who "specialize" in those aspects of security that I don't...ie: large corporations, commercial work in general, and all forms of video surveillance. Better to be good at a few things, than mediocre at lots....:)) Maybe this wouldn't work for others, but it sure does for me....

PS: ..to change the subject......Just got back the results of the MRI on my prostate and met with all the doctors this morning. Very low grade cancer, very localized and overall the decision is "active surveillance" testing PSA every three months, with a 30% probability it will not increase (70% it will, but I can have any kind of treatment I'm comfortable with up to the age of 75).

And ...oh yeah....I got another order for an alarm system from one of my doctors...ain't life strange sometimes....:))))

Reply to
tourman

My background is quite varied also.

By the way, I hear/read that there's some easing up of the restrictive firearms laws up your way.

Reply to
Jim

RHC: Yes and no ! There is a private members bill that has passed two of three readings needed to eliminate the long gun registry once and for all. This politically motivated "white elephant" has cost the Canadian taxpayer over $2 billion dollars so far and has done virtually nothing to either assist the police in investigating crime or realistically prevented crime in any way. However, with the recent proroging of Parliament for several months, its given the anti gun extremists time to scuttle around trying to stack the committee studying it before third and final reading, with equally anti gun members of Parliament. This tactic may or may not work. At this point, it's an even split whether or not it will pass and finally be eliminated. Thank God we finally have at least a shadow of a gun lobby now which has so far done a fairly credible job of getting the truth out.

You have to know the politics of the Canadian culture to really appreciate how deeply engrained the anti gun sentiment is in this country. Sometimes I think all non gun owning citizens in this country have been brainwashed by a left leaning, holier than thou, political "elite" who really believe that the average citizen is a complete idiot, and can think no deeper than the last violent movie he or she has seen. I believe they believe that the average citizen is not to be trusted with a gun, and these sorts of restrictive and unnecessary laws go a long way to promoting their anti gun goal of "social engineering" guns out of society over the longer term. Horror stories of shootings south of our border do nothing to ease community fears about the general ownership of firearms; however, that same reporting media never look any deeper than the thrill factor side of reporting. If they did, they would see a very different truth existing - one backed up by facts and accurate statistics - and one it seems that same "political elite" don't want the public to know about.

Remember, this is the country that gave its highest honour - the Order of Canada - to the woman who spearheaded the passing of the legislation bringing the long gun registry into being to start with ! Enough said.....

Reply to
tourman

I sympathize with your concerns and observations.

The Order of Canada. ....... Sad. When I hear things like that I just get a very helpless feeling.

Here, statistically, in most of the states have the least restrictive firearms laws, the lower the crime. I never hear that in the news reports.

Oh well.

It seems that the sheep ..... ummmm .. I mean meek, actually HAVE inherited the earth. Unfortunately they'll destroy it in the process.

Reply to
Jim

RHC: The only time I've ever been ashamed to say I was a Canadian was when I heard this abomination of an appointment....our highest honour given to a liar and an extremist.!!!!!

Just the other day, the leader of our Liberal Party (akin to your Democrats only farther left) has publicly told his MP's on the committee they are not allowed to vote their conscience on this Bill. They are expected to vote along party lines to keep the registry simply because it's a past Liberal "accomplishment". These idiots sense that the public are finally coming to their senses about wasteful programs and restrictive government activities of all sorts and are desperate to keep the "status quo". This would permit the maintaining of a large useless bureaucracy to continue the ineffective registry.

Their main argument is that the police have a way of knowing which household has guns in it prior to going there. These dimwits seem to forget that the authorities already know it from the Firearms Aquisition Cerificate gun licensing program, so a database to keep the information about individual firearms is redundant and can only be used to further restrict certain types of firearms in the future when some bureaucrat decides that such and such a gun is deemed dangerous to public safety (whatever the hell that means...).

I know and shoot with a lot of police officers. To a man they tell me the whole thing is a joke from their perspective. As one said to me, if he doesn't always prepare for the worst when going on a call, he will end up dead someday. The registry does nothing for him. The registry is nothing more than "pap for the public" to make the government look like it's doing something against crime !!

So you have to ask the question, what is it's real purpose. I think we both know the real answer to that question !!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply to
tourman

RHC: BTW, I forgot one of the most telling parts of this story.

The Association of Chiefs of Police have stated they support this gun registry even though the rank and file largely don't. So the question is ..."why". The answer would seem to be that the Association receives large donations from the company who has been mandated to manage the computer system that makes up the registry. That same company has designed and then thrown out the system many times over the years, which is a large part of why the cost of the registry has ballooned to such obscene levels.

Lets see....conflict of interest, mismanagement of the registry, total incompetence by the designers, no overseeing of the contractor doing the work, no rendering of competitive tenders after the first screwup.......how many ways can I count the incompetence and criminality of this boondoggle ?

And they want to continue doing business as usual.....wtf !!!!

Reply to
tourman

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