Quicksand Fans

I am pretty sure we have several people here who know about microphones and speakers. If so, can you describe a very inexpensive system by which I could have a microphone (directional) outside on the front porch and connect it to a speaker on the inside, and have it run for several hours. Here is what I want to do: The house here at my Studio is so well insulated insofar as sound is concerned that I frequently have delivery people drop off a package and drive off and the first I know of it is when I find the package. I have tried various kinds of driveway alarms and they simply do not work. What I would like to do is to set up a directional microphone aimed at the driveway and connect it by wire to a speaker so I will hear a vehicle approaching. I usually have a three to four hour window of time when a delivery is expected so I want something that will run unattended at least that long. The microphone will be on the front porch, which means it will be mostly protected from rain, although I would want to bring it in when a heavy rain approaches.

There are cheap wifi cams with built-in mics that also detect motion and sound a beep on your PC or phone. Some will even record when tripped. I have one made by Geeni aimed at my driveway.

BogDog wrote:There are cheap wifi cams with built-in mics that also detect motion and sound a beep on your PC or phone. Some will even record when tripped. I have one made by Geeni aimed at my driveway.

Thanks. I will look into that. However, I have tried motion detectors and they all seem to have too many false triggers. For example, every time the wind blows leaves or branches around the motion detector triggers. Recording is not needed, as this is really to be just a doorbell, not a security system. I actually have a doorbell that triggers a sound when pushed. What I really want is exactly that except with the pushbutton at the end of the driveway and pushed by the passage of a vehicle instead of a finertio.

Just like that the problem appears to be (mostly) solved. I remembered that deep in the workshop building I still had a musical keyboard left over from the fire nearly three years ago, and that it had an auxiliary input for a singer as well as a built-in speaker. It now works with two of my three microphones, one of which is a directional shotgun I used to use when filming scenes. I expect the third microphone might also work once I get the battery charged. The only element missing from what I really want is a wireless connection to the mic, but I can run a 50 foot wire under one of the doors. Total cost = 0.

Thanks to those who have provided suggestion here and directly.

Fred588 wrote:I am pretty sure we have several people here who know about microphones and speakers. If so, can you describe a very inexpensive system by which I could have a microphone (directional) outside on the front porch and connect it to a speaker on the inside, and have it run for several hours. Here is what I want to do: The house here at my Studio is so well insulated insofar as sound is concerned that I frequently have delivery people drop off a package and drive off and the first I know of it is when I find the package. I have tried various kinds of driveway alarms and they simply do not work. What I would like to do is to set up a directional microphone aimed at the driveway and connect it by wire to a speaker so I will hear a vehicle approaching. I usually have a three to four hour window of time when a delivery is expected so I want something that will run unattended at least that long. The microphone will be on the front porch, which means it will be mostly protected from rain, although I would want to bring it in when a heavy rain approaches.

I mean this all sounds well and good but seems a little overly complex for what this could do if you are looking to be alerted when someone pulls up

https://www.amazon.com/Milton-805-Self- ... B000NNECX0

and even more options on Miltons site

https://www.miltonsbells.com/collection ... chime-kits

TK421 wrote:

Fred588 wrote:I am pretty sure we have several people here who know about microphones and speakers. If so, can you describe a very inexpensive system by which I could have a microphone (directional) outside on the front porch and connect it to a speaker on the inside, and have it run for several hours. Here is what I want to do: The house here at my Studio is so well insulated insofar as sound is concerned that I frequently have delivery people drop off a package and drive off and the first I know of it is when I find the package. I have tried various kinds of driveway alarms and they simply do not work. What I would like to do is to set up a directional microphone aimed at the driveway and connect it by wire to a speaker so I will hear a vehicle approaching. I usually have a three to four hour window of time when a delivery is expected so I want something that will run unattended at least that long. The microphone will be on the front porch, which means it will be mostly protected from rain, although I would want to bring it in when a heavy rain approaches.

I mean this all sounds well and good but seems a little overly complex for what this could do if you are looking to be alerted when someone pulls up

https://www.amazon.com/Milton-805-Self- ... B000NNECX0

and even more options on Miltons site

https://www.miltonsbells.com/collection ... chime-kits

Actually this device would be more complex. And more expensive. The bell has to be paired with a hose, and also the configuration of the driveway is such that I would likely need two hoses, at least. At any rte the problem has been solved. Thank you.

I would suggest looking into a "trail" type camera/mic setup used by hunters and trappers. My old man has one at a feeding station he set up tk record local wildlife. He sends me videos of all types of random critters that show up and far as I know he doesn't have issues with false positives caused by background noise or movement.

Mynock wrote:I would suggest looking into a "trail" type camera/mic setup used by hunters and trappers. My old man has one at a feeding station he set up tk record local wildlife. He sends me videos of all types of random critters that show up and far as I know he doesn't have issues with false positives caused by background noise or movement.

Thank you. The problem has been solved. The problem turned out to be that all the devices I had tried to plug the microphone into apparently require an aux or line input, even though they are just marked as "mic". I solved it, ultimately, by using an older, tape camera that had both mic and phone jacks. The mic goes into the camera and the phone output goes to a computer speaker and it all works perfectly. Final cost was zero. I also solved it using an electronic keyboard but the camera is much better as it is smaller.

The system I put together is a sort of lash up, but it just passed its first test. It told me UPS was here with a delivery even before the tuck reached the driveway. And the battery in the mic had been running continuously for three days so far.

Nice! I forgot to add that the good trail cams that don't eat batteries and do well at filtering background noise/movement aren't exactly cheap, so if your free solution works so much the better!