Hi friends.
I am looking for a ESPHome solution that scans the gate area before it allows the gate to close; particularly the gate clearance area. I used to have an inbuilt IR sensor but that has stopped working… My research seems to suggest maybe an ultrasonic sensor would work… but I am not sure how to implement it. any suggestions? It is unlikely i have power there… unless i draw from the gate… so prefer a battery powered solution, thanks v much in advance community 
Esp battery powered is quite challenging if it needs to be responsive (not in sleep 99% of time).
And how would it command the gate if it’s not wired?
What you mean with inbuild? Normally gates use separate ir-beam brake sensors.
Yeah I would have thought a break-beam solution using power from the gate would be the way to go.
Battery powered would definitely be more of a hassle.
But I guess other beam bouncing solutions might do the job too if you get the right sensor that can get the distance and field of view right.
Will you get wifi out there?
Won’t the sensor need to interface/interlock with the gate? So might as well share power?
I’m sure I’ve seen a fair few other similar projects on the forum to this.
What’s wrong with gate power supply? I use it without problems for my esp32 which controls gate, electronics has more than enough reserve for that. You just need to convert it’s 24VAC to 5VDC. If you use switcher for that draw from 24VAC will be even smaller. I use graetz and module similar to THIS - it’s just an example, make sure it can handle input voltage of about 35V or more.
Regarding sensor: perhaps you should look LD2450, which is, as i read presence sensor with multiple targets options (it can report multiple persons). The topic about it exists here on this forum.
thanks for your reply. yes you are right. it was a break beam sensor. but i think the wires that go underground broke and is no longer working.
you are absolutely right. i need a solution that talks to the gate. there is wifi there. i am just looking for a solution that doesn’t require it to be wired on the other end of the break beam. the end that is connected to my gate is fine. i just can’t have cables across to the other side
I use the VL53L0X Time-of-Flight (ToF) Laser Ranging Sensor Breakout on a Wemos D1 Mini to tell me if the trash bins are still in the garage.
I use this sensor for my pellets stove for pellets quantity monitor. It has less than 1m range, though.
But, in reality gates have a second pair of photocells at the back part for this.
Many transmitters can be battery powered, only receiver is connected to gate.
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005001665469994.html
There are also break beam sensors with reflector, transmitter and receiver are in the same unit. I had in my previous house, was working without issues.
https://it.aliexpress.com/item/1005006390164122.html
A certain caution is needed in using reflective photocells - they can reflect from a car and falsly report “clear” (just saying from experience, i was installing automatic gates etc… for quite a while).
But models with battery-powered TX certainly exist - we did install models, powering with two AA cells and they were running over a year with one pack.
Some of the distance sensors claim a 10m range.