Glad your contraption worked. We seem to have the only dogs in the neighborhood that DON'T bark. Not during the day, nor at night. If they do bark, we know something or someone who shouldn't be are moving around outside. And, we bring our dogs into the house at night.
We are also only 1 of 2 houses in the neighborhood who mostly have open windows. (No air conditioning in summer and we like the fresh air at night in winter) So the barking dogs around us were really annoying. I finally hit upon my own solution that worked very quickly. Everytime a neighbor's barking dog woke me at 3:00 in the morning, I called the neighbor and woke them at three in the morning to ask they bring their dog in. If they didn't answer the phone, I went to their house and knocked, or rang the doorbell until they woke. I was always firm but polite, even cordial. It never seems to take more than a week people to start taking their dogs inside at night.