I have read everywhere that if someone wants your van, or to break in, they will. I understand. That being said, I believe in some form of security to make it more difficult than the next car, so the thief moves on.
I want to develop a 4x4 van security system. I have looked at the market and do not see anything close to what I envision.
First, a little about what I do. I am a photographer, specializing in landscape, wildlife, underwater habitats (
http://tonyrath.com). This takes me to remote locations for extended periods of time. I am purchasing a 4x4 van to be an expedition vehicle that will support me for weeks at a time and carry my gear. As such, I want to develop a security system that protects me and my gear in three different scenarios.
1. When I am sleeping in the van in remote locations. I want 4 motion detectors (preferably Microwave) on the four sides of the van. The detectors should pick up movement to a minimum of 6m away and turn on lights in the direction of movement and also ring a buzzer inside the van to wake me up. The detectors should be sensitized to human sized motion to remove false alarms by animals or wind.
2. Parked in remote locations while I am away from the van. In this case, I want tilt sensors, glass break sensors and maybe motion detectors again to set off a loud siren. I will have a Ravelco device which will prevent the van being stolen (Google it if you are not familiar with Ravelco), but want to be notified if the van is tampered with.
3. Parked in the city or along streets. Obviously motion sensors won’t work here because of traffic, but would like the tilt sensors and glass break sensors to set off siren and send a text alert.
I would like to be able to turn the alarm on and off either via switch or remote, and to be able to simply switch between the different modes or just off.
There is nothing on the market anywhere that even closely approaches this as far as my research shows.
The van has a separate power system from the engine, and will be charged via solar and the alternator when engine is running. Regardless I will need to design for a minimal power draw by the security system.
I have some experience with coding (php, python, html, scripting, etc.) and electronics (electrical engineering in first year college and ham radio), though it has been a while that I have done either.
I have done some research on the Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms and have identified the sensors that might work. Is this a practical application for Raspberry Pi ( I think so from my research).
I am a pure beginner at Raspberry Pi and scratch programming, but am not afraid to experiment and learn.
To big a project for a beginner? Anyone out there hear of such a product? Doable? Anything I am missing that I should be considering? Anyone have a security system that works in these scenarios? Thanks!