Are you concerned about who is pulling in and out of your driveway while you are asleep or not paying attention? In today’s world, maybe you should be. Technology has a number of solutions so that you don’t have to wonder if someone is there or not.

If you want to know every time someone or something enters your driveway or at least want them to think twice before doing anything around your home, then this article is for you. We will discuss ways of building and/or purchasing the perfect driveway alarm system for your home.

Products for Driveway Security

There are probably hundreds of products on the market that claim to enhance the security on the driveway to your house. Let’s take a look at some of them, shall we? If you go online, you will find everything from dummy cameras to lasers. Our search turned up several useful devices and some not so useful ones.

The dummy camera is an example of a not so useful device. The dummy camera is not quite worthless, but nearly. Expert thieves, will probably know they are not real, but they might help keep kids in the neighborhood from creating mischief in your driveway.

They are simply an empty plastic camera case without any insides except for some red led lights to make it look real. However, a dummy camera is not an alarm, so now we will list the different types of alarms for your driveway.

Driveway Alarms

A driveway alarm is s device that alerts the homeowner of a presence in or around your home’s driveway and/or garage. Here are some different ones available in today’s marketplace:

Reflected beam systems: A reflected beam system consists of a two piece transmitter and a receiver that alerts the homeowner when a vehicle enters their driveway. A beam is shot across the driveway and if that beam gets broken by a vehicle or anything else big enough to break the beam, it sounds an alarm inside the house. There are pre packaged systems available such as “The Driveway Informer” available for about $150.

Motion detector systems: There are all sorts of motion detectors available. You can get a wireless motion detector with an alarm for under $100. This can be effective if set up properly. They are simple devices that sound when they detect significant motion in your driveway. All you have to do is set the sensitivity so that your neighbors cat doesn’t set it off every five minutes.

GE Wireless monitor: Good old General Electric makes a system that installs at the entrance to your driveway. It will only detect rather large metal objects. It then sends a signal to a receiver inside the house and chimes when someone pulls in your drive. It also has a light that will remain lit when it is set off so that you can see if someone has entered your driveway when you were not home. The one we found online was selling for $79.95.

Security cameras: You can get security cameras at any of your local DIY, Home Depot or Wall Mart stores now. The ones you want to look for to install on your driveway, are ones that come with motion sensors and will only record when something is moving. That way you are not wasting your time watching hours of video to see what someone may have done in your driveway. You can get prepackaged systems with 2 to 4 cameras, monitor and motion detectors for anywhere from about $100 to upwards of $2,000 depending on how elaborate you want to get.

Summary

We have touched base on the basic driveway security devices that will alert you to someone’s presence. Perhaps the best system would be a combination of more than one listed above. For example, to be totally secure, you would want to have a device that both alerts you to the intruder’s presence as well as records their actions on video so that you have evidence in case you need to prosecute them for wrong doing later.

What we would recommend is that you build a system that shoots a beam across the driveway to detect vehicles. Then your system should have cameras linked to separate motion detectors that will activate when something big and “car-like” approaches the home. With a double system, you are sure to be both warned and have evidence of any foul play if it occurs.