How do I set up up notifications to be triggered when a safe is opened?

[Iffy]

Hopefully somebody can help with a solution.
I run a post office where I need tight security. I basically need to know and see via remote link when my safe opens. I have no experience with cameras as such but I'm thinking that I need a sensor inside my safe to activate a camera when it's opened so I can view what's going on. Seeing live isn't as much an issue as long as it is recorded and I can access easily. Not though looking to spend a fortune on the system though.

 

[Sonic007]

Is the safe in a seperate room? Cheapest way would be to have a camera that alerts you once motion is detected in the safe room, however you would also set it so it is recording 24/7 too.

 

[Kyle]

Is the safe in a seperate room? Cheapest way would be to have a camera that alerts you once motion is detected in the safe room, however you would also set it so it is recording 24/7 too.

Sonic007 is right here. It's difficult to have any sensors/cameras inside the safe as you'll need to run cables to them that supply power to and carry data from them, so you would need to drill a hole in the safe to run the cabling through. This would be the most accurate and only way to ensure that nothing other than the safe door being opened will trigger the alarm. It is quite an undertaking though.

The simplest solution would be to have a camera covering the safe and then set up one of the smart event settings on the camera to notify you when these events are triggered within the area. Motion detection may work best, as mentioned above. However, you might need to implement a bit of trial and error with all the different smart events (intrusion detection, line crossing etc.) to identify which works best for you.

I will be posting a step-by-step tutorial on setting up smart events to trigger alarms and send notifications soon, which should (hopefully) guide you through what you'll need to do in a straightforward way.

 

[Iffy]

Thanks for the replies so far. Unfortunately the safe etc is in the same room as where business is conducted. Setting up a motion sensor would trigger the alarm all the time. Or often anyway. I suppose looking at the safe, it isn't viable to drill a hole in it either. So another solution is required.

 

[Kyle]

Is the safe at least somewhat out of the way from where business is conducted in that room or are you walking in front of it all the time? You can set up motion detection etc to only be active for a particular area you select on the cameras view (ie. set on the safe) to reduce the impact of movement in the room generally setting it off.

Otherwise, perhaps some sort of sensor fitted to the outside of the door? This will be prone to tampering though. After some Googling it does look like battery-powered wireless open/closed sensors that notify you via text etc. do exist, I couldn't tell you how they work though as I've not got any experience with them.

 

[Iffy]

Once again thanks for the reply. I'm opting to just have a camera system with a small trigger area set to start recording when an alert is sent to me. Any recommendations?

 

[Kyle]

You're welcome how far are you planning to position the camera from the safe? Did you want to use to camera top cover the surrounding space too or it the purpose purely to notify you when the safe is in use?

 

[Iffy]

I need two cameras on one system - both to cover two safes. The cameras will be directly above the safe to monitor purely the safe activity

 

[Kyle]

OK, I'd suggest the Hikvision DS-2CD2545FWD-IS 4MP IR Fixed Mini Dome Network Camera then.

These will have the most suitable IR performance for the space specified (the best viewing in low-light conditions) and are the most vandalproof of all the camera models, which is probably an important feature for a camera that is monitoring a safe to have.

 

[StewartM]

The camera Kyle Mc suggested has a great feature called Intrusion detection. A relatively small area can be defined in front of the safe with a trigger threshold set in seconds. For example, if you set the threshold to 5 seconds, the alarm would only trigger if an person dwells in the detection area for that period. The feature can be fine tuned with additional settings to minimise false alerts.