Another Wi-Fi Mailbox Sensor Request

Hardware
1

Hello,

Has anyone discovered a really good and easy-to-setup battery-powered mailbox door sensor?

Preferably something ESP-based or otherwise Wi-Fi based because I don’t have Zigbee.

I’ve seen a few “projects” but they requires more time than I have to build. I’d rather buy something ready-to-go.

I have good Wi-Fi not too far from the mailbox. And I don’t mind changing batteries every few months.

Running the latest HA, and have MQTT [for a few Tasmota wall switches].

I could do Zigbee if the entry cost/time is low, but not sure I want to spend anything more to get this working just for the mailbox sensor.

I have ESP32 experience as well, but not with building anything battery-powered (low power and all that).

Thanks in advance.

2

I use Dakota Alert for my mailbox alarm and driveway alarm…

The plus receiver in the house has outputs you can wire into external sensors…

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I then used dry contact switches to hook then into Hass, I am sure an ESP32 would work just as well

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I did this because low freq RF seemed to work better in a metal mailbox and at the necessary distance

hope that helps

1 Like
3

I had to use Lora. Mailbox was to far away also all metal.

I just used a Yolink starter kit like this

Lora is a protocol that is low energy and good for about a 1/4 Mile.

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Works great with the yolink integration. I have an Automation that announces You’ve Got Mail!!!.

2 Likes
4

Wish I had mailbox’s like yours that opened from the front… the ones for my building open from the back to take out the mail that arrived and are built into a brick wall so I can’t really do a door sensor for input trigger, still looking at threads like this for ideas otherwise if one comes up that may work with my setup.

5

One cheap an robust solution I use is a off-the-shelf door window contact sensor (433MHz in my juristication) and a inexpensive esp8266 with an receiver to get the signal into HA. The esp has esphome installed and is solid as a rock. Installed this couple of years ago an still the first set of batteries in the contact sensor.

1 Like
6

I use 433 as well. I desoldered the Reed switch and put on wire so I could position transmitter on the side facing the receiver in the house. Battery does last long but water ingress destroyed 1st one.

7

Interesting! I’m guessing the receiver would sit inside the house and be connected to the ESP (connected to power), which would in-turn send the signal over Wi-Fi back to Home Assistant. Is this correct?

Would you please share your parts list and any schematics for the ESP connections to the receiver?

Greatly appreciate it.

8

I also started looking at Zigbee. It seems that the USB dongle isn’t too expensive ($29.99) and a Zigbee sensor is less than $10. I’m not sure about the range, but it seems the battery life is pretty good (over a year). Does anyone have experience with this type of setup for a mailbox sensor?

9

Indeeed! And the range of 433 is quite good (depending on the device) but 20 meters is probably on the lower side what’s possible.

  • Esp of choice (8266, 32, …)
  • rf receiver
  • cables of choice (e.g. DuPont)

VCC - VCC (preferable 5V usually)
GND - GND
GPIOx - Data

1 Like
10

I used to have some ZigBee and a few matter devices but got rid of all because of lack of functions and stabiltzy. Today I only have some RF and BLE devices and a army of rock solid esphome devices which work great (opposite to my ZigBee mileage)

1 Like
11

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Here are 4 devices I have used to collect 433Mhz signals from the mailbox. esp8266 with a SRX882 is the cheapest. The RTL-SDR and Heltec V2 are about the same price and the most expensive but they have a good coverage with home made ground plane antenna. The SONOFF RF device requires a bit of cutting and reprogramming with serial connectors.

2 Likes
12

For an update, I did go the Zigbee route. Purchased the SkyConnect for $38 and an Aqara door sensor for $12.99 which I attached to the mailbox door to detect opening. Here’s my automation YAML that seems to be working so far:

alias: “Mailbox: Mail Arrived”
description: “”
trigger:

  • platform: state
    entity_id:
    • binary_sensor.lumi_lumi_sensor_magnet_aq2_opening
      to: “on”
      condition:
  • condition: state
    entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_acknowledged
    state: “off”
  • condition: state
    entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_opened
    state: “off”
    action:
  • variables:
    acknowledge: “{{ ‘ACKNOWLEDGE_’ ~ context.id }}”
  • service: input_boolean.turn_on
    data: {}
    target:
    entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_opened
  • service: input_datetime.set_datetime
    data:
    datetime: “{{ now().strftime(‘%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S’) }}”
    target:
    entity_id: input_datetime.mailbox_first_open_time
  • service: notify.alexa_media_kitchen
    data:
    message: The mail has arrived
  • service: notify.mobile_app_iphone
    data:
    message: Acknowledge?
    data:
    actions:
    - action: “{{ acknowledge }}”
    title: Got It
    title: The Mail Arrived
  • service: notify.mobile_app_iphone2
    data:
    message: Acknowledge?
    title: The Mail Arrived
    data:
    actions:
    - action: “{{ acknowledge }}”
    title: Got It
  • wait_for_trigger:
    • platform: event
      event_type: mobile_app_notification_action
      event_data:
      action: “{{ acknowledge }}”
      context: {}
      timeout:
      hours: 6
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 0
      milliseconds: 0
      continue_on_timeout: false
  • service: input_boolean.turn_on
    data: {}
    target:
    entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_acknowledged
    mode: single

I have a few helpers used to capture the states. And I have another automation which resets the helpers at midnight. Any suggested updates would be greatly appreciated.