bupkes

I'd like to have a picture sent to me (MMS, email whatever) each time someone comes up my .5 mi long driveway. The challenge is limited connectivity and power. The gate operator is a DoorKing 1808 using preprogrammed codes or push-to-call serviced by a regular PSTN line all powered by a small solar set up. Connectivity: There is Verizon but not ATT wireless service at the gate/on the driveway (so the Covert Black Ops trailcam didn't work). I'm not sure if there's a way to "use" the PSTN. Power: There's the solar array feeding the gate with battery backup. Sensor: Video motion on an IP camera would probably be set off by background too frequently. PIR seems not to catch cars reliably. Magneto buried might work. Hose might work. There's the ground loop for the gate. And there's the relay used by the door king once a code / remote authorization happens. Not sure how to make any of these possible sensors work within the constraints. Seems like using the relays would be most reliable. Thoughts?

Looking for camera recommendations for a 3 camera install at a vacation home. I'm primarily interested in event detection (pool guy shows up, UPS dropoff, unknown persons skulking around) and secondarily in recording/playback. The locations are outdoor under eaves with rare weather extremes of 30-105 deg. We are looking for wide field of views .. 90 to 150 depending on location. Illumination is not good .. we want to stay away from visible floodlights. Distances of interest range from 8 - 30m depending on location. We have Cat5e run to the locations. Prior experience with cheapo Linksys cams resulted in a lot of false event alerts. Still, we'd like to have camera-driven email notification. From what I've read, PIR works best but can we get decent video motion detection to work? We are very unlikely to try a DIY from an external PIR to a DIO enabled camera. Culling through forums has lead to the Acti TCM-7411, Vivotek FD8362, a Mobotix which is probably out of price range. Also curious about ClareVision CV-C4-100 ... this company touts its event detection but there's almost nothing online .. and the camera must be OEM'd but I can't identify from where.