I’ve just managed to integrate a ring alarm contact sensor (thanks Prime day) with HA via MQTT to give me automations that trigger on doors being opened in my home. I thought I’d start with something simple (turn on the kitchen light if someone goes in there after 11pm) but I’m having to apply lots of conditions to the automation to help determine whether someone is opening the door to leave or enter the room.
Which makes me think… this would work so much better if I had a strain gauge or capacitance sensor on the handle, so that I could determine which side of the door the human was standing when they started to open it. I guess the alternative is to put a motion sensor over the door frame, but I was wondering whether anyone has ever come across a neater solution?
Yeah, electrically isolating would be tricksy. Maybe detecting the twist is too complex too. I suppose a cheap ultrasonic aimed from the frame to the handle would tell me if someone’s hand was on the outside. Don’t need to measure the inside because if the door opened and it wasn’t on the outside, inside it is
You could do it with hall effect sensors and magnets. Sensor on the rose (shroud / lock cover) and a magnet on the shank. With a bit of fiddling it could possible be totally hidden in the handle.
