DIY Smart(ish) door closer for about 30USD - battery operated, USB rechargeable, RF controlled

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DIY(ish) Smart(ish) door closer for about 30USD - battery operated, USB rechargeable, RF controlled

Sick of your wifi leaking out of the open doors? Hate closing doors but don’t mind opening them? Then this is the perfect gadget for you!
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Video of it operating:

Functionality summary:

  • Spring loaded door is released by battery operated mechanism that is controlled via RF/433mhz.
  • No power cables and recharge via powerbank etc

My main use case:

  • Close some doors when heater/air con kicks in.
  • Also close door if sunlight is shining on my guitars.

Door closing mechanism
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Cabinet lock
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Replace motor controller and power supply
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The 9V battery USB recharging port is (relatively) accesible post assembly
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How the internal mechanisms look when you crack open the cabinent lock.
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Materials List:

Outline of approach:

  • Replace RFID motor control board with RF control board
  • Replace 2 x AA power supply with 9V USB rechargeable power supply.

Con’s:

  • Door may not fully latch close (but this doesn’t necessarily really matter)
  • No open sesame, only close sesame.
  • A fair bit of hardware mods and plastic cutting etc.
  • I 3d printed a holder for the clasp thingo that attaches to the door.

Reliability:

  • Will report back on general reliability
  • I’m a little suspicious of 9V battery capacity and RF control power usage, but if they do what they say on the tin, I might get say 3 to 6 months between recharges.

Other failed prototypes:

  • Use a small latch solenoid. Wouldn’t move - too much side force
  • Use a bigger latch solenoid (15N) . Wouldn’t move - too much side force
  • Use electro magnets somehow like fire safety doors – too much power consumption.

Will post up a vid of it in operation shortly.

Can provide more detail if there is interest.

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Great, looking to do something similar.

@Mahko_Mahko
looks like the link to the AliExpress “Latching mechanism and main enclosure” is dead, can you link a new one or let me know what to type in search to find it?

Cheers

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Try “rfid cabinet lock”. See below.

It’s still going pretty strong. But this was one of my earlier diy endeavours and I’d probably rethink it if I did it again. I moved to powering the lock with 2 x 18650 batteries and I get maybe 3 months between charges

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Ah great thanks found it!

Ah nice what do you use to control battery charging?
Maybe I should use an esp or similar and use wi-fi so then I can monitor battery levels maybe.

I’ll also need to weather proof this as it’s for a balcony door.

Thanks for the links and I’ll see what I can come up with :grin:

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If you can power it from a cord then that opens up a lot of options.

If you can solar charge a battery in place that would be great too.

With the two above options you could use an ESP which opens up a lot.

You probably can’t use esp deep sleep for the project.

You can look at ESPlanty for solar battery ideas (including a waterproof enclosure).

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