Long Range Gate and/or Doorbell Solution: ideas needed to replace Dakota Alert 2500

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Hi Folks!

I’ve been doing some following up and research for some project ideas for my Home Automation stuff. One of the problems I have is I have 2 gates on my farm. I’d like to slap a sensor on there to determine if they’re open/closed, have a button for a bell which triggers the receive to chime inside my house. This way we know if someone is at our gateways or have come in, etc. The gates are about 600ft from my house.

Now, I’ve most already found the solution awhile ago, the answer was to get a Dakota Alert 2500, which has doorbell-open/close sensors, motion sensors, and some driveway sensors. The major thing was it had 4 contact for 12vdc output. Those I would connect to my SmartThings Shield since I have multiple zones, I could use them an NO or NC and receive alerts into SmartThings based upon which zone was triggered. (IE House Gate open/Pressed, Barn Gate, etc)

The issue is, they’ve discontinued the 2500-series receiver. they have replaced it with the DCR-4000 series which has improved range, however it doesn’t have the contacts for the 4-zones to open to additional accessories. So, I’d hate to chance it and use the LED lights and they not work. The 2500 is still available, but it’s tripled in price and I’m worried about replacements.

So really when I need is a long-range RF-based solution that the receiver has contacts that I can link into my shield or some dry contacts. Gaurdline makes a solution that meets the range specifications, however it seems to only have motion sensors, which isn’t bad, but I need to know the gate status as well. and I couldn’t see if there was compatible “door chimes”. Might Mule also makes one but it’s just a driveway sensor, but only has a range of 400ft.

On the reverse side, I was looking just for some wireless door chimes but those were just buttons and not necessarily open/close sensors.

Anyone build something like this? Or seen a product that I can build off of?

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Hey @kaizokudave - in case you haven’t seen it, they released the Re-4k model which is the same 4000 series but with built in dry contacts + a 12v relay. Just an FYI: I had the 2500 series as well and am 500’ off the road with clear pasture in front of me. The signal BARELY reached inside our house (we have a metal “barndominium” which is probably a big reason why - signals don’t like pentrating through the metal). We had to sit the receiver inside the window sill to barely get a signal. When we upgraded to the 4000 series, we can put the receiver anywhere in the house and it easily gets the signal. Definitely a excellent upgrade!!!

To make things even better for you… :wink: I just did a write up of exactly how to connect Driveway Monitors (specifically the Dakota Alert Re-4k) to a smart dry contact sensor (specifically the Aeotec Door / Windows Switch 7 Gen 5). It may not help the OP since it’s over a year later, but I hope it helps anyone else doing searches looking for this info!