My brother in law had one of his farm buildings broken into over xmas & machinery stolen He has asked me to find out if there is such thing as a device which a) runs off a 12volt battery (no electric its in a remote moorland spot) and b) sends a message to phone or pager & not sets off siren etc as he wants to catch them in the act & deal with them himself rather than have them run off because of the noise/siren/lights!!!!

The name Tony Martin springs to mind.......... :rolleyes:

It certainly does!  I presume you are advising him strongly against this, Sam, as he stands to loose a great deal more than his property, at best his own liberty at worst he may receive very much worse punishment from the crooks possibly even his life

I know Isabel, i have said it would be better to get cctv & hope the pix are good enough to catch them, but he is adamant he can block the into the lane &"deal" with them....not helped by local copper whose advis was "just dont shoot them in the back....get the in the leg!!!"
They cannot have security lights because of national park regulations, its within the park in a remote spot with just a dirt track up to it & its obviously going to be targeted again. he thinks a device like a motion sensor that would send a message automatically to his mobile or a pager is a good idea thoug.

I have a house in a National Park, admittedly not the same one but interested in keeping the place ecological and tourist friendly all the same and I have a security light.  I would definately persue the deterent angle in fact, in reality, he doesn't really have any other practical angle.
I would not be suprised if the copper denies that bit of advise if your BIL found himself in a court of law.  By way of deterent to his plan :) you could mention that you have posted his intentions on a public message board and as you are not exactly anonymous that also may lead to something if things hit court and publicity.

Some alarm systems send an automatic phone message to the police. Whether or not they can be battery-powered though, I don't know.

Friends of ours have had tools and equipment stolen from locked buildings - these b*****ds aren't usually bothered by alarms because they know the police won't be there in time to catch them.

What about a CCTV camera or security lights or both?

Infrared CCTV would be ideal, if it could be made to run off a battery. :)

I think you can get a 12v CCTV system!