Do you need a Driveway Alarm? Well you have to ask yourself is a Driveway Alarm really necessary, it is a matter of personal choice, but they can be quite an inexpensive addition to your overall home security.

A driveway alarm can be incorporated into your home burglar alarm system, this makes perfect sense as you will want to know if an intruder drives or walks up your drive before breaking in to your property, this may seem a bit obvious to most because it is a fact that most burglaries occur during the day. But maybe your Driveway alarm could become a source of annoyance to you or your neighbours if your regular burglar alarm goes off every time a cat strayed on to your drive.

Lets consider how a Driveway alarm could be more effective and less of a social nuisance to people who live near you. Firstly your Driveway Alarm could operate separately from the main home alarm system. The advantages of this would be that you can use your driveway alarm as more of an early warning that someone has entered your driveway. In other words a chime or alert can sound every time someone calls, a bit like they have in shops or liquor stores.It can just switch on lights when the trigger is alerted. The receiver could be a portable type that you can carry with you, but warned if anyone strayed on to your property

A driveway alarm does not have to be just limited to drives, any gateway doorway indeed any entrance around your property can be monitored, so that you are alerted to anyone who approaches your home or valuables.

As you may be aware they come in all different shapes and sizes, so you will need to give some thought to what needs protecting, where the risk of trespassers are and what kind of distances need to be alarmed.The wide range of driveway alarm available means you will certainly find a suitable one for your own home security needs.

Wired or wireless? again this will depend on your personal requirements and budget, But while a wireless driveway alarm may be a little more expensive to purchase, it can be far more versatile and easier to install, so you could make savings by fitting it yourself. Having said that the extra cost of a wireless system is minimal and means you can add more to it if your needs change.

Driveway Alarm Sensor

There are also many different types of driveway sensors, again mostly down to personal choice, you can have a wireless hose that lies across your driveway that would alert you much like the old gas stations used to use, obviously an intruder on foot would just step over this. A motion sensor may be a better option and will detect any movement that passes near the alarm sensor. Alternatively a magnetic probe that is triggered when a vehicle passes might be more to your needs. 

Another consideration before you purchase a driveway alarm will be the size and shape of your property. What distance will the transmitter need to cover are there lots of trees, shrubs or obstacles in your garden or drive that may prevent the signal triggering the alarm, as a general rule a wireless driveway alarm can still operate in these conditions but obviously the more obstacles the transmission operating distance will be reduced.

Sometimes even the construction of your home may prevent the alarm working correctly for example  a mobile home, may have an aluminium structure or aluminium insulation. Electric fences or transformer nearby will interfere with your driveway alarm, all these need to be considered before installation