Peace of Mind

  I was once married to a gorgeous girl who was years younger than I.  We lived in Denver, and the metroplex was plagued by assaults on young women.

One favored technique was surreptitious entry into a girl's house or apartment while she was at work, then surprising her and taking advantage when she returned home.

Alarm

I designed, fabricated and installed a system that removed much of the concern.

When she arrived home my wife was greeted at the front door by a pair of lights, one red and one green.  If the green light was “ON” it indicated that the house had not been entered while she was gone.  If the red light was on it indicated that a door or window had been opened during her absence.

When a green light led her to enter, she went into the kitchen and activated a switch that closed the overhead garage door.  And a green light in the kitchen came on when the garage door was closed.

Later, when I arrived home and opened the garage door a “ding-dong, ding-dong”  door bell ringer sounded in the kitchen, to announce the opening of the door; and the “door closed” green light changed to a red light, showing the door open.  Then back to green when I closed the door behind my truck.

As we retired for the night a switch on the Alarm Box allowed me to activate the alarm circuit. A green light indicated that all the doors and windows were secure; if anyone opened anything a very loud audible alarm sounded.

Summary: Doors and windows were:

  ...monitored, for security while we were asleep.

 ...monitored while we were away, to provide assurance that it would be safe to re-enter.

 ...the garage doors were monitored — for assurance that they remained closed  — and to announce the opening, even while the alarm system was OFF, when one of us returned home and opened the garage door.

Daytime burglaries

Homes left vacant while the residents were at work were a tempting target for daytime burglars.  They would ring the doorbell, and if there was no response they would break in and ransack the house.

I built a circuit that monitored the circuit that powered the doorbell.  When the doorbell button was pressed and voltage was  applied to ring the bell, a timer in my circuit provided a ten second delay, and then turned the porchlight on.  After short delay the light was turned off

The perception for the visitor was that someone inside had responded to the doorbell, turned on the porchlight, looked through the peephole, and turned away without responding.  That showed that someone was home — just not interested in a visitor.

Light Switches

The light switch on the wall just inside the bedroom door powers an outlet near the bed, and will turn a lamp that I have plugged into the outlet. Then when I want to turn the light off and go to sleep, I have to get up and walk to the switch at the door to turn the light off.

         If I should choose to turn the light off using the switch on the lamp, 

then the switch at the door cannot turn the light on next evening. 

What's a guy to do?

What I did was build a free standing circuit that allows me to control the bedroom light with the switch at the door, OR with my bedside switch — regardless of which switch I had last used.

Some wire, some switches and a few relays, some ingenuity — and a lot more peace of mind.