I have a shed in my yard about 300ft from my house.
The Problem: - when it's raining or the crickets are loud, the X10 alarm
can't be heard from inside my house while I'm asleep.
Failed Solutions: - I tried a power horn unit, it simply wasn't the
right frequency to be different enough from the cicadas and crickets
here, for me to be able to wake up to.
Solution: - I took a lamp module (110v) plugged it into an extension
cord. I then plugged a 110v to 12v wall wart adaptor. I then wired
(with speaker wire) in a 12v siren/bell. (super loud over 120db).
I cut a hole in the ceiling to conceal it all.
Tools used: leatherman 'charge'. That's it.
Everything was from bits that I had lying around, or had bartered
for.... secured the shed for pennies!
Now, when the alarm is tripped, its VERY LOUD.
There is ONE con however.... when you arm it, the programming (which you
can't change) flashes the 'lamp' to tell you visually its armed. So,
supposing I have to arm the alarm at midnight, now all the neighbors
will hear an ear piercing 1 second SIREN.
I'll have to fix that, most likely with a second switch. I'll wire a
light switch up to the feed to the siren which will block the voltage,
so to arm, I press the ARM button and then wait a tick, then flip the
switch.
That will allow it to be silent.
Doing this, saved a ton of money in wiring and buying a higher end alarm
system.
Like I said the X10 is a mediocre alarm, but it's mediocre + when you
hack it.
