Detect locked/unlocked for non smart lock

[geoffrey1 (Geoffrey)]

Hi all,

I love HA…
Just added some Aqara sensors today to test with zigbee2mqtt… looks awesome so far

But I have a question:
I have multiple doors (sliding door, shed door, etc.) with conventional ‘dumb’ locks… and many times I want to check if they are locked or open, because visually looking at them the sliding door is slid closed and the shed door is shut.

Has any of you thought about this before? How to measure the locked/opened state of a door lock using a conventional lock?

[eggman (bertie basset)]

Yup, there’s a could of threads on here about it. Several people have dismantle those aquara sensors, you can easily extend wires out from each end of the reed switch.

Then anything that’ll make / break the circuit can be used, I used a reed switch in the door surround with a magnet on the lock bolt, when it’s locked the switch closes. Others have used micro switches, and even just the metal bolt making the circuit across two small springs.

[geoffrey1 (Geoffrey)]

I tried searching for locks on the forum but couldn’t find anything ‘dumb’ related… Abusing an aqara switch sounds like a plan…

[eggman (bertie basset)]

How I made my dumb locks a little smarter!

All I wanted to achieve was to see in my HomeAssistant dashboard if the deadbolts on four doors (front, balcony, office, patio) were locked at the end of the day - and trigger some automation when I go to bed, e.g. tell me which deadbolt isn’t locked when I check if the house is ready for the night… For a while, I was looking into buying a smart look (or better: 4) to be able to see the status in Home Assistant, but couldn’t get myself to go that route because: I only want to see, if the dead…

Best door sensors as of April 2019?

I’m getting rid of my GE Hinge door sensor. This is the second time in a 6 months that it has stopped responding and I’m tired of messing around with it. It worked will for a year and a half and then started going flaky. Which brings me to the point of this post. What sensors on the market now seem to be behaving the best? I tend to lean heavily toward zwave devices. These are solid wooden doors so I would prefer not drilling holes in them so something externally mounted. Cost is an issue…

Try these.

[geoffrey1 (Geoffrey)]

Thanks… Let’s see if I can do some experimenting with a remote Reed switch