Can anyone recommend a sensor I can mount on my garden gate to report open/closed events for me
(wifi/ or MQTT would be my choice) all I can find are non IP rated indoor window/door sensors
also must have a range capability of at least 10 meters. Thanks for any recommendations.
I use a “Honeywell Ademco 958 Overhead Door Contact” connected to a D1 mini (8266) integrated through ESPhome.
Do you have power at the gate or will you run from a battery?
How about a Wemos D1 mini (or any small ESP32) with a Hall sensor connected or using the on-chip one with a magnet and running ESP Home?
I haven’t used the onboard Hall sensor myself, but I’ve done the former and prefer the ESP-WROOM-32. This is the sensor I use.
An ESP32 will run better off a battery because of it’s sleep mode, compared to an ESP8266.
I can make power available at the gate location without too much effort
have you looked into LoRa and TTN?
Then something like this: https://iotfactory.eu/products/iot-sensors/lora-door-window-opening-and-closing-detection-sensor/
and this: https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2017/11/10/ttn-with-mqtt/
Have you looked at Sensative Strips? They are outdoor rated and completely sealed. However they are zwave. I use them for my side fence gates and my pool gate and they work well. Although they are a bit pricey.
Amazon Link
I recently completed a project using a Z-Wave controlled outdoor gate lock and sensor. The lock control and gate sensor are wired to a FortrezZ MIMOlite located indoors. The lock and outside keypad are powered by rechargeable batteries which are connected to an indoor 18V power supply that provides a trickle charge to keep the batteries charged. Here are the details of the components and some pictures:
Mighty Mule Bulldog Pedestrian Gate Lock (FM145)
SM-226L-3Q Seco-Larm Weatherproof Magnetic Switch
FortrezZ MIMOlite (Z-Wave)
I use zwave2mqtt to integrate my Z-Wave devices into HA. Here’s the binary sensor that monitors the gate open/close status and the switch that toggles the gate lock to open. It is locked automatically after 10 seconds.
Gate - Inside:
Gate - Outside:
Lock & Sensor:
Lock, Sensor & Push Button:
Lock Connections:
MIMOlite Z-Wave:
MIMOlite Z-Wave Connections:
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@taylormia That looks like a neat solution, thanks for sharing looks like just what I am looking for.
Glad to share my solution. It’s been working rock solid for the last 2 years through -14 F to 100 F plus weather. I’ve just migrated all my devices from HomeSeer to Home Assistant in the last month and am very impressed with HA and the community. Feel free to ask questions…
I use simple “wide-gap” contacts for my gates and garage door:
http://www.seco-larm.com/Security/magnetic-contacts/SM-216Q-GY
Available from a number of places including eBay and Amazon.
I run the wires back to an ESP that is indoors.
Referring to any number of ESP8266 or ESP32 wifi devices that’s been configured using easily available software (ESPHome, Tasmota, espEasy, espurna, etc). Basically, they are super cheap miniature computers with a few pins that you can connect things to.
Ah right understood thanks, I am familiar with them just did not click straight away, must have been having a brain fart or something.
for stuff outside, or out of typical range for wifi, you should use LoRaWAN. We use these sensors for clients: LDS03A -- Outdoor LoRaWAN Open/Close Door Sensor
Range can be up to 5 Miles away from the gateway. They are also outdoor rated, so no fiddling around with wires, just plug and play!
How are you integrating it with HA? Don’t you need to be on a paid LoRaWAN network?
No, you can as a bare minimum simply get a gateway and then forward the payloads via mqtt. I would however recommend installing chirpstack to control devices and gateways as well as where to ship the payloads
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