Mighty Mule FM231 Wireless Driveway Alarm Review

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(More customer reviews)I ordered the Mighty Mule Wireless Driveway Alarm model 231 because I have had fairly bad results with IR motion detector based alarms. The MM Alarm arrived on time and in very good condition. Right away after opening the box, I noticed there was a problem. The PVC pipe for mounting the transmitter has been cut on an angle to allow easier driving into the ground like a stake. Unfortunately, the wire to the detector also has to be run up that PVC to the transmitter, so you will surely damage the wire while driving the stake if your ground is not extremely soft. My solution was to drill a hole in the stake about about 10 inches up so that the stake can be driven and then the wire fed into the hole and up the tube to the transmitter. This worked and I was able to install the sensor and transmitter with no other issues. Next, I found that the advertised 400' range is very suspect. I placed the transmitter a little over 325 feet from my house and the receiver would not pick up the signal from inside the house. I had to take it outside where it worked well. I moved the transmitter to about 150' from my house and it works excellent. I would say that this alarm is not satisfactory at 400' and MM should advertise it for 250' or less to be completely truthful. If you want a longer distance model, you'll need to buy a different product. It would also help if the volume could be doubled. It seems that none of these alarms include satisfactory volume for those of us who are slightly hearing impaired.

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* Driveway alarm * Provides constant 24/7 monitoring for your home, property or workplace * Electromagnetic sensor detects vehicles entering and exiting driveway and alerts you with an indoor chime * Delivers up to 400' range from indoor receiver to driveway sensor and transmitter * Does not detect people or animals eliminating false alarms * Sensitivity adjustment from 3' to 12' radius reduces false signals from neighborhood traffic * Transmitter requires 2 AA alkaline batteries not included * Kit includes stake, wand sensor, transmitter and receiver with transformer * Carded

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Wireless Motion Alert Kit-600' Max Range Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the fourth remote driveway alarm we have tried. The others ranged from a $70 GE unit to a $250 unit that supposedly worked "up to four miles." They would either not have the range needed (about 100 yards) or would stop working after a few days. Replacements were tried for all, and all had the same failures or problems.
This one, however, has now been working flawlessly here for two weeks. It has been through a major rainstorm and several extremely foggy mornings. Temperatures here have been as high as 94 degrees.
Other pro's:
Worked out of the box with both receivers. The default settings were fine and setting switches was not necessary.
We like the ability to choose the alarm sound. We chose the short musical selection for the house. The workshop/garage has the sharp whistle tone, as there is often other loud noise going on.
Con's:
Like most infra-red receivers, it does occasionally pick up dogs, deer, and even a crow that flies close enough. It does not trigger on trees or leaves, even in high wind (and where we have it mounted, there is a small forest across the driveway.) I suppose that would be possible, however, if the tree/leaves were in the sunshine, and thus hotter than the surroundings. BTW, although called a "motion sensor," the manufacturer says an object must be a minimum of six degrees warmer than the surroundings to be detected.
Suggestions:
We found that vehicle pickup is more reliable if the sensor is pointed somewhat down the driveway rather than directly across it.
Setting it higher off the ground reduces the triggers on dogs, but also makes it possible to miss some vehicles that do not produce a heat signature that high off the ground. We set ours at about four feet. It still picks up medium and larger dogs, but has not missed a single vehicle. It does not pick up cats, skunks, etc.
If you get false alarms, especially at similar times of day each day, try changing the transmitter and receiver subcode. One of your neighbors may be using the same unit.
Update, 2009:
Well, it's still working fine almost two years later. It does occasionally miss a vehicle, and we have noticed that almost all of the ones it misses are painted white. Maybe that has something to do with the temperature difference requirements. Maybe mounting it a little lower would help.
It has stopped working once. That was one of those so-foggy-everything-is-soaked mornings. I brought the transmitter indoors and removed the battery. Then I set the opened case in front of a small fan for a couple of hours. After the drying it again worked fine, and has since. Still highly recommended.


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Don't be caught unaware. Protect your home or business from unexpected visitors. The WMA Wireless Motion Alert system sends an immediate alert when a person or car enters your property. The transmitter operates on one 9V battery, is weatherproof, and easily mounts to a tree or post near the driveway. The transmitter uses a infrared beam to detect people or vehicles to a distance up to 80', then sends a radio signal back to the receiver, which can be placed in your home up to 600 feet away. Dakota Alert WMA-3000 / Includes one Transmitter and one WR-3000 Receiver / Transmitter uses a passive infrared (PIR) beam to detect people or vehicles up to a distance of 80', then sends radio signal back to the Receiver up to 60' away (actual range will vary depending on local terrain). / Operating temp range: -30 degrees F to 120 degress F.

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Long Range Alert System Kit (DK-MURS-BS-KIT) Review

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(More customer reviews)Here's a device that does what it says. I've been able to hear the alerting transmitter as far away as six miles.
This unit operates on MURS channels which are in the VHF spectrum between
151.82 mhz and 154.6 mhz, respectfully.
This means that this unit is also fully compatible with the Dakota MURS intercom system.
I have both and have units in my Shop, Barn and House.
I am able to hear an alert on all three and intercom as well.
I almost never have any false alarms. I've mounted the alarm unit on a tree at about 4 feet elevation. The beam width if fairly narrow but detects cars, people or animals out to about 50 or 60 feet.
One nice feature allows an external contact closure at all of the receivers when an alert comes in.
This could be used to open a gate or perhaps another outside alarm or even a garage door. Lot's of possibilities here.
Dakota also makes a hand held unit that could hear the alert and also intercom with all the rest of the units in the system.
Great for us farm operators that might be out in the pasture working.
Care should be given when adding to this system as Dakota also makes a short range alert transmitter that looks like the MURS units. It is not the same and operates on UHF channels.
Make sure the device stipulates MURS or VHF operation.

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- Dakota Alert long range alert system kit- Includes one WMT-3000 wireless motion alert MURS transmitter and one M538-BS base station transceiver- Ideal for use in fixed locations such as homes, shops or offices- BlackDKMURSBSKIT

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