• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Burglar Alarms for Shooting Club

Our Rod and Gun Club has been broken into 3 times in the last 2 years. So far they have not done any vandalism, just stolen things. Last 2 break ins have the same MO. Cut the padlocks or crawl through a window, steal gas , gas cans, propane heater, kerosene heaters, motor oil etc. Our club is out in the country, no Wi-Fi or even good cell service, but lots of deer and critters. Our neighbors are 1/2 mile away. We are upgrading our dusk to dawn lighting, adding motion lighting, installing dead bolts, bars to windows and would like to install a siren or horn that has motion, door and window activation. We think motion lights and a siren or horn of 200 db. would deter entry. Ring and ADT are out of the question, no Wi-Fi or cell. Have been researching DIY burglar alarms. Anybody with some firsthand experience???
 
Depends on how serious the club is about security. It sounds like you have power so the Quick and easy start to the solution is Starlink. That cures the wifi issue, then it’s adding a security system. Without power, you could still possibly go with solar power and battery.

The problem you can’t overcome will be response time.

It’s probably the same cast of characters, once they figure out, or even think they are on camera, the word gets out and likely stops.

The ring system is pretty good as a dyi. Battery life is fairly impressive, with two batteries installed, 4-5 months of use is not uncommon in reasonable temps.

My guess would be once security is installed, the cost of Starlink, would be partially offset by insurance and loss costs.
 
I agree with what dellet mentioned above. Only thing a light coming on at night would do is aid the crook in getting inside. You could hide an Apple AirTag to items that would be taken. With a hidden motion detector inside the business, it could alert you instantly with movement inside the building.
 
One more piece of advice, prosecute whomever you can catch or identify. Once word spreads that you are serious and will follow through, the ones looking for an easy hit are going to skip your place.
A good no-glow game camera or three will be a good first step in the mean time.
 
There's satellite texting devices and the cost isn't much for the unit or service, assure your cameras have storage cards in them so you have the evidence and pair those with this to send a text out anytime the alarm trips. It's not as good as being able to send pics and video, but it's less costly.

Figure out all the lighting and other power needs you want to have, then you can size and install solar with a battery system to power all that stuff reliably. Talk to the folks at NAZ, they've been doing this stuff for 45 years and can help you with what to consider, then design a system that meets your budget and get it shipped to you. They do everything from very small (think remote cabin) to large scale.

NAZ Solar Electric (you can also find them on youtube)
solar-electric . com
 
Meth heads here are stealing gas, propane and copper(electric motors and such). You may want to prosecute but if the county attorney is a lib, it probably won't happen unless there is a serious probation violation. Need to catch them with felony level theft/damage.
 
I have e-mailed NAZ for suggestions. We do have electricity, no phone and cell service is spotty and no Wi-Fi. l am going to install several cheap wildlife cameras, but they are after-the-fact. Home Depot has a Defiance unit with siren and window and door activation. Since we have a lot of legal activity, we need something that is simple to arm and dis-arm. State Police and Sherriff's Dept think a siren or loud horn and lots of motion lights would be a huge deterrent.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Hire retired club member preferably retired LEO to baby sit for one month. If he/she is just a little inventive, problem solved. Worked very well at my friend's truss yard where they would steal whole units of 2x4s using his hotwired forklift.
 
Another idea would be to install visible trail cams around the area.

Make them high and hard to reach but visible. Don't need to work they just give the impression that someone is watching and discourage the people that don't want there pictures taken.
 
take turns having a member be dropped off so no vehicles are present every evening. My nephew is on the Response Team at the local prison. He suggests the 12 gauge Rock Salt loads. Aim at their ankles.
 
Hidden video cameras should do the trick. You won't get the info in real time but you will know who is breaking in. Chances are that the local PD will recognize them right away. Cheap & effective.

My buddy has a yard with heavy equipment. He was hit hard a couple of times. He had a camera put on the roof of a different building some distance away. Eventually, the thieves returned and it was all recorded. They were smoking and drinking something on the video. The bottles and butts were collected, and the DNA was used to put the guys away.
 
For inexpensive but high resolution cameras, look into Arlo. You'll need WIFI for notification purposes but they do work well. Could an ag type hot wire system be used as a deterrent around windows and doors? Sting but no real injury type of deterrent.
 
I would not replace anything of value - leave it bare bones and bring the equipment when needed. Inconvenient, but necessary these days. If you do leave anything, if you haven't already, mark everything discretely (or paint them pink) so you can ID them at the pawn shop.

It really stinks you have to go to so much trouble.
 
Hey Fellers, my grandsons use trail cameras that call their cell phone and send the pictures in a text. It's a deal with the cell phone company and not very expensive. An infrared camera inside a closed building would trigger the thing and send a text immediately and you would have pictures. Boys just activate it during deer season so just use it till you catch them.... John
 
Even though the op said no cell coverage. Cell game cams are texting photos not calling, the unit probably can text. It just may take a few minutes. Typically the cam can share photos with more than one phone, so monitoring can be shared. Inside a building would greatly reduce motion activated photos, also would slow texting.
 
Our Rod and Gun Club has been broken into 3 times in the last 2 years. So far they have not done any vandalism, just stolen things. Last 2 break ins have the same MO. Cut the padlocks or crawl through a window, steal gas , gas cans, propane heater, kerosene heaters, motor oil etc. Our club is out in the country, no Wi-Fi or even good cell service, but lots of deer and critters. Our neighbors are 1/2 mile away. We are upgrading our dusk to dawn lighting, adding motion lighting, installing dead bolts, bars to windows and would like to install a siren or horn that has motion, door and window activation. We think motion lights and a siren or horn of 200 db. would deter entry. Ring and ADT are out of the question, no Wi-Fi or cell. Have been researching DIY burglar alarms. Anybody with some firsthand experience???

Could the answer be a steel exterior door with a keyed locking system and bars on the windows?

Sometimes just making it a bit more difficult is all that is needed.

drover
 
My club is in the country also. While we don't have a theft problem we do have cameras. I think they are Stealth Cams. They are the ones that allow me to see what's going on with the phone app. Ours all have solar charging systems so batteries aren't a big issue. They aren't fool proof and miss a picture now and then but they were fairly cheap compared to a full blown security system. It does let us keep an eye on the club without being there.
 
Check if some of the DIY home systems will dial out on a landline (though the default is cellular now, I think.) Most of those go to a call center who actually contacts either the subscriber and/or law enforcement. Internally, they're mostly locally wireless (i.e. sensors talk to the head unit wirelessly), so are pretty easy to set up to cover windows, doors, and any motion sensors you want to install. You do need decent response time by LE if the siren/lights don't deter the criminals though.

Your best bet is to harden access to the building(s). And realize that most security systems are to keep honest people honest. Actually securing stuff against everything gets real expensive.
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
165,024
Messages
2,188,204
Members
78,639
Latest member
Coots
Back
Top