Long Range Remote Switch

RustyH

Senior Member
Having recently had my shed broken in to, I am on a mission to secure it the best way I can. Obviously one is a shed alarm, however i want to modify this so that if the alarm is triggered, a small alarms in my bedroom will also go off to alert me of the activity.
The shed is right up the top of the garden, 30m ish. What would be the best wireless solution for a simple on/off signal?
 

hippy

Ex-Staff (retired)
If the shed is 30m up the garden you could possibly run wires down the garden to the transmitter. That way the transmitter can be closer to the house and doesn't need a full 30m range.

I would probably just power up a 433MHz dumb module with a PICAXE so it sent a toggling signal when it was active. Have the bedroom receiver look for that signal being on and off for the period expected. That should be immune from false alarms.

First thing to do is have a look to see if any manufacturer makes an alarm with a remote wireless slave alarm.
 

Jeremy Harris

Senior Member
30m isn't really long range for any of the decent 433MHz modules. I have a pair of cheap HC-12 modules reliably working over a range of around that, through thick walls and effectively RF-screened glazing.

There is a LOT of 433MHz interference around, from the plethora of other devices that operate in this band, so if you have neighbours nearby, then there is a very good chance that everything from remote weather stations, through remote alarm systems to door bells will be on the same frequency. I got around this by using a pair of fairly cheap transceivers to operate an alarm recently. In my case it's just a unit where power is applied to a Picaxe 08M2 and HC-12 transceiver by an alarm sensor (I'm using a small doppler microwave sensor, but it could as easily be a microswitch or PIR sensor). At the receiver end I have an always-on Picaxe 08M2 and another HC-12 transceiver, plus a small relay. The relay turns the CCTV recorder on for a pre-set period, whenever triggered by the remote sensor.

To get around false triggering, I chose a sensor that only ever responds to object movement (originally I used a PIR, but had lots of false triggers from wind, shadows etc) as a first-line defence. The second line of defence was to prevent false triggering on the 433MHz signal, as there are a lot of 433MHz band signals around where I live, even though it's out in the countryside. The solution I chose was a "challenge and response" one. The alarm sends a challenge to the receiver, the receiver responds by transmitting a response to the alarm unit and the alarm unit responds with "this is a real alarm" to the receiver. Only then does the relay operate and turn on the CCTV recorder. I find I now get around four or five CCTV recordings a day, now (postman, us, occasionally a cat), whereas with the PIR I was getting well over 100 alarm trigger events on a warm day.

The total cost of my units, for both ends, was only around £15 to £20, including the cases.
 

PhilHornby

Senior Member
HC-12

+1 to the use of the HC-12 ... and +1 to making use of its bidirectional capabilities.

In my case (I have 11 x HC-12 in use, on two sites), I use "AT+C064" (458.6MHz) and "AT+P8" (20dBm - 100mW) ... and I have never seen any data, other than that sent my own units (as monitored by a USB->HC12 plugged into a PC). Data integrity is - to all intents and purposes - 100% ... far better than achieved using 433MHz ASK and CRCs or RFIN commands.
 
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