I purchased the Maxcio Door Window Sensor from amazon (Amazon.com: Maxcio Door Window Sensor 3 Pack, Door Open Detector with App Notifications, Compatible with Alexa/Google Home, Entry Detector Sensor for Home Automation Security, Requires Maxcio Zigbee Gateway : Tools & Home Improvement) that I would like to add an external switch to. Has anyone done this with this particular sensor? I am wanting to use it as a mailbox sensor but do not want to keep the large part inside the mailbox due to the postal employee shoving the mail in and will most likely knock the sensor off. I have thought you could just connect the wires to the 2 pads that are on top and bottom, but when I connected those pads it did not update the sensor.
Hello Johnathan,
It looks to me like there is already a reed sensor on there, you probably have to remove that. At least that looks like it might be one. Put an ohm meter on it and see what happens when you bring the magnet closer. These are usually NC devices so that the closed state which is the state you would expect the device to be in most of the time would be open to reduce current in the battery.
Add magnet, switch opens, uses less power.
Then you have the task of getting Zigbee to work if your mailbox is away from your house.
That is the underside of the coin battery connector. There is one directly on the other side also.
Did you already de-solder the reed switch? It looks like the symbol for that printed on the top (in your photo) of the board. In that case I’d expect connecting and disconnecting them to change the state between open and closed.