i want to monitor a gate on a semi trailer to trigger an alarm inside the truck wirelessly.
Is the trailer yours? IOW, can you wire into a harness to use trailer power and mount some hardware? Or is it something you need to be able to take with you at the end of a day’s shift (and fully portable, battery powered, leave no marks, etc)?
Is a commercial wireless camera ruled out? Can you say more about the gate?
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yes it is mine. its for alarming the driver of the truck that a door is open on the trailer. Im thinking a 12v proximity switch, wired to an rf transmitter then a rf receiver in the truck wired to an alarm on the dash. i just am stuggling putting it all together. thanks
There are any number of wireless relay dealies that could be used for simple two-state (Open? Y/N) status. A lot have keyfob remotes but are readily hacked and very inexpensive. A simple plunger or stomp switch could perform the Y/N determination. A pair/dual channel relay could be used for each if they’re swing doors. If it’s dark enough in the closed trailer, a light sensor might be interesting and non-contact.
A little more sophisticated could be something like this:
But, really, I’d just use a backup cam above the door near the center lights. You get the benefits of a backup cam plus trailer door monitoring. Another thing to consider is that truck doors are open a lot and you really don’t want an operator understandably silencing the alarm while they doze during the wait to get loaded. I’ve been around some truck docks and you also probably don’t want overreliance on a flaky new sensor system. “Not my fault, boss. The Door Open light was off. Are those people gonna be OK?”
Ideally, you’d want it to alarm rarely: when the doors are accidentally left open AND over a certain speed and/or time duration(?). Perhaps there’s a similar seatbelt nuisance function you could wire into?
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