I had the idea to use an amazon dash button to track my mailbox (hassio addon Dasshio). So I opened it and soldered a reed contact (magnetic sensor) to the button solderpads.
Unfortunately I had not thought about the reset function of the dash button. If you press it (= magnetic contact) for 6 seconds it will reset and lose its wifi configuration.
So when the post man needs more than 6 seconds to put the mail in, it will reset.
I don’t think that there is a way to control this on the device itself.
I’d need something that reads the sensor and than sends a short trigger (not 6 seconds^^) to the dash button. I would be able to to this with an arduino, but this would need another power source. Is there a way to to this with a circuit (soldering would’t be the problem)?
Also I have no experience on how to make arduino code that is power efficient.
There is no power plug near the post box, so all has to be mobile.
Do you have further ideas? Also completely different suggestions are welcome.
BTW: Before I tried to use a Zigbee device (aqara door sensor) but the signal wasn’t good enough. I will add some zigbee routers to my network, maybe this will work.
I have no solution for your dash button, but I would think it would be pretty easy with a wemo oder nodemcu and sone kind of proximity sensor, guess you should be able to put a powerbar in your box also… just a though.
What about putting the magnet for the Reed Switch where it triggers the switch ‘in passing’.
I don’t know what your mailbox setup looks like, but maybe it is possible to put the magnet to line up with the switch when it’s a quarter or halfway open. This way the mailbox lid with the magnet passes, triggers the Reed Switch briefly, and moves away again.
The only time a problem occurs is when you have a larger piece of mail that keeps the lid open in a way where the magnet lines up exactly with the switch for a longer period of time.
Thanks. I also thought of this. It happens pretty often that a the post man leaves the lid open by not pushing the letters in. So this also will reset the device.
Hmmm - that’s a tough one.
I can easily see how the lid can get stuck in any position depending on the size of the mail pieces and the amount of mail you get.
Don’t have a solution but will keep thinking about it.
