If you’ve ever been to a Spirit Halloween store, you recognize this step pad. It connects to Halloween props and when you step on it, it temporarily closes a circuit and tells the prop to turn on.
I want to connect the prop to HA. I think I just need some kind of low voltage relay that can turn on momentarily. Then I can cut the wires from this step pad and connect it to the relay. I think. Does this make sense? Any suggestions on what to get? Thanks!!!
Many people are hacking the Aqara Door Switch (Zigbee) with things like this (bed sensors,etc…).
You might do a quick search on YouTube and get a look at what others have done.
Thanks for the response! I think I’m actually trying to do the opposite. I’m not trying to connect the step pad to HA. I am trying to eliminate the step pad and replace it with some kind of switch/relay that is connected to HA. The goal being that one of my HA-connected motion sensors can trigger the prop.
The Shelly 1 works on 12V or 24 – 60V DC.
Or there are a multitude of cheap relay modules you can connect to an ESP board running ESPHome.
Yes you are right.
You want the opposite and you need a ESP/Shelly/Sonoff.
But what James says is also something you could consider, the pad can become a bed sensor fairly easy so don’t throw it away and don’t cut the wires too close to the pad.
Thanks @tom_l and @Hellis81! I’ve been using HA for quite a while now, but I am not familiar at all with ESP/Shelly/Sonoff. They look simple enough to integrate into HA, but I am trying to figure out if/how one of them would work for my scenario.
These animatronic props have a line in for power (DC 6V on the diagram below). This line would not get the relay, as it would need to be on at all times.
The relay would need to be attached to the red footpad jack below, which uses a mono headphone jack. I believe stepping on the pad simply completes the circuit momentarily and triggers the prop to move.
Given this, how would you suggest the Shelly 1 (or whichever) is wired?
If we look at the image Tom posted.
Add a 12 power supply and connect minus to N and plus to L.
Optional a switch between L and SW, is for manual control.
The two left connections is the wires where the pad was, one wire on each connection.
Check the bridge jumper that it’s correct.
Done.
Now that I look at the image again I see they labeled N as +.
@tom_l do you know something about this?
I have never used one of these, but why would N be +?
@_Mike
I know of a device that will control the relay contacts via HA. YoLink manufactures many sensors, switches and controls; their claim to fame is ¼Mile wireless using LoRa. So far I have tested and confirmed flawless interface to HA using their Contact Sensor, and Outdoor Motion Sensor. I ordered my first relay today, as any HA user can never have too many sensors. The contact Sensor could be attached to the Pressure Sensitive Pad and the Relay to the connected device.
The only drawback/investment is they require their own hub (That interfaces to HA as well as other common platforms. But if your like me and seek reliability with HA interface, you will be adding other sensors soon enough.
Here are the links from Amazon (Beauty is, if it does not perform as expected… Amazon has free returns.
YoLink Smart Relay ($24.95):
YoLink Hub ($23.99)
@Hellis81 @tom_l Thanks again for all of your help! I think I’ll give the Shelly 1 a try. Let me ask you a few more dumb questions before I order it. Can you confirm the following:
This is what I would order:
I can use a 12v power supply like this, but would have to cut the wires to attach:
I would need the Shelly app to set it up and get it connected to my wifi.
Once connected to wifi, how do I limit to only use local control?
HA should auto-discover it as soon as I connect to wifi.
Thanks for the suggestions @007DJ! I already went all-in with an Aqara hub and sensors, which in general are pretty great. I do like the long range ability of the YoLink. I tried to use an Aqara vibration sensor to detect when our whole-house generator turns on, but it is too far away to stay connected to the hub. I bet the YoLink sensor would work better. This is something to consider… I would have to get over the idea of having yet another hub.
Yes that Shelly works.
Now that I think about it you can use mains voltage on it also.
That way you don’t need the power supply.
But that also means it will not be as safe, so make sure no kids can touch it.
I believe you can set it up without the app. I think I did that with one of my bulbs.
There is some setting in the configuration of the device. You just visit the IP of the device.
Oh… and in case you do want to use a power supply, get the smallest one you can find or look around in your house.
You just need to power an ESP with it.
Here’s an update for those who are interested. I took @007DJ’s suggestion and opted for the YoLink relay. The Shelly relay looks great, but I liked the range that YoLink has, and there are some other devices in that ecosystem that I am interested. Plus, @Eric-YoLink is incredibly responsive [per this thread], which is something you don’t see from many device vendors in HA forums.
So here’s what I did. Using these materials…
YoLink Relay
3.5mm mono adapter
12V power supply
22 gauge 2-conductor electrical wire
… I created this guy:
The YoLink relay has built-in functionality to turn off X seconds after it turns on, so I set it to turn off after one second in order to mimic a foot stepping on a step pad. The 3.5mm adapter plugs in to the step pad input in the animatronic prop.
The result is this. The plan is to trigger it with motion sensors when someone walks by the house.
@_Mike, It excites me to know that you liked my suggestion.
And… OMG! I love the prop!! Now being interface to HA the possibilities are frighting. 
@007DJ Ha ha, I’m glad you like it! This isn’t the first animatronic I have connected to HA. But the others all had an “On” mode that allowed them to do their thing as soon as they received power, so I just connected them to smart switches. This new one was different because it could only be triggered by a step pad or the crappy built-in motion sensor.
This was my Halloween “Zombie Attack” automation from last year. I have a motion sensor in front of the house, so when someone walks by it kicks in. It’s a little blurry, but you’ll get the point. The new guy will be a nice addition to the gang!
Follow-up a year later… The Yolink option did work. But I only went that route because they were promising local control. That never happened. And refuse to dive deeper into a cloud-only ecosystem. So I decided to dump my Yolink system in favor of Shelly. I picked up a couple Shelly Plus 1s. They work great! Faster and local control!
Can you share a pic of your setup with the Shelly 1. Wanting to do this to our props this year too! How did you end up programming it? Thanks!
It’s essentially the same setup as my previous post, but I swapped out the YoLink for the Shelly:
This is what it looks like with the Shelly. The wires on the right go to the prop and the wires on the left go to the 12v power adapter.
The Shelly is configured as a momentary relay so it turns on and then immediately off. So in HA all I needed was an automation to turn on the Shelly switch.
