Finding lost keys. What do you use

Hardware
1

I have a trackR key ring. It is useless. When the battery works it sometimes takes ages to respond and start beeping. Also it seems to use up the battery very quickly.

I’m wondering if RF would be the way to go. I could use my broadlink rm pro plus.

Does anyone know if you can buy keyrings that take a AAA and have an rf beeper? I’m sure rf would last longer than Bluetooth.

2

I use TILE. Seems to work pretty well and the battery on my keys has lasted me about 6 months so far. I have one on one of my motorcycles too, but it’s only about 3 weeks old.

3

In case your motorcycle gets stolen?

4

Yep. Also, I tend to forget where I park sometimes.

If it were to get stolen, I have the entire TILE community to use to find it. Not that I am super concerned with my bike getting stolen, as that’s why I have insurance, but it’s nice to be able to track the bike somewhat.

5

It’s a shame that the TILE doesn’t have a user replaceable battery.

6

They guarantee 365 days of operation. Did you get a replacement?

7

I’ve only had it since Christmas. It didn’t stop working, I just stated that it has lasted me 6 months so far.

8

Ok. Didn’t understand you correctly. I am curious how their service is, so was hoping you could tell. :wink:

9

Well, the one on my bike broke on me while on a 1,000 mile motocamping trip last month. After I got back from my trip, I contacted them and told them what happened. They sent a replacement out to me right away, with a prepaid envelope to send the dead one back. Definitely great service.

10

Why use Bluetooth when you can use satellite? Take a look at this
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1117704837/in-2018-it-s-totally-unnecessary-to-lose-your-thin/description

11

I am also trying to find good key trackers. Tile is not a preferred option due to non-replaceable battery. Also I am running Hassio so I guess this limits my options due to no support for BLE? Is Trackr a decent choice or something else that could be integrated to Hassio?

12

I didn’t like trackR i found the battery didn’t last long. Maybe you could pull a trackR apart and convert it to use a AAA battery or cr123a battery (larger battery).

13

I have a couple of chipolos which are working reliably for the past 6 month. The downside is, there is no API so it can’t directly be used with HA.

14

I was thinking of this maybe.

Digoo DG-KF15 Pet Dog Cat 5 in 1 Wireless 433Mhz Anti-Lost Remote Control Smart Tracker Key Finder Purse Tracer Locator Tag Alarm

I already have a broadlink rm pro that can learn the 433mhz codes so i could integrate with HA and Google assistant.

15

I too am looking for a solution. I’m using the tile trackers and the HASS integration isn’t great. The tiles themselves are high quality when used the way the company has designed them for with the official app.

My requirements:

  • something that is cheap so I can get heaps of them
  • something that HASS can trigger it to beep/ring
  • I don’t need strong community support as I only want to locate things in the house (i.e. Remote control wedged in couch)

Any ideas?

16

@kiwijunglist did you ever get round to trying the RF keyfobs with the Broadlink and how’d it go?

17

Wow I have so many projects on the go.

I haven’t bought any rf key fobs to try out, however the broadlink rf pro does work to control my rf kitchen fan extractor.

18

I just bought this from Amazon https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07CNMSNFG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I’m pleased to say I’ve managed to learn the RF signals and they are able to be triggered from HASS with the RM Pro. The range using the Broadlink RM Pro is also impressive, i’m guessing at least 15m and going through several rooms.

Note: I had to use “broadlink manager” to learn the RF codes as the learn service in home assistant didn’t work. Details in this thread: Broadlink Manager - Nicer way to Learn and Send IR/RF commands

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