never thought of this, will keep that in mind for future projects!
Metal mailboxes acting as a Faraday cage is going to be problematic of course, but if your mailbox is not far, and especially if it is made of plastic, a Wyze Sense motion sensor and the Wyzesense integration are a cheap option. They are cheap (~$6), tiny, battery powered, have surprisingly good range, are reasonably reliable, and might work well for certain mailboxes. They are great for automating simple things like closet lights.
I hope I donât sound too pedantic here, but just wanted to point something outâŠ
When you mention Faraday cage, that refers to EMI shielding; this only affects dynamic fields, not static fields (see âLenz effectâ, or âeddy currentsâ). As such, any conductive material can act as a Faraday cage, ferrous (steel) and non-ferrous (aluminum).
However, the magnetic field that operates a reed switch is static (non-moving). So if it is a non-ferrous enclosure (aluminum included), it wonât have much of an effect on reed/magnet operation. Aluminum may warp the field as the magnet is moving, but this wonât interfere with the final static state of the magnetic field (it will end up closing the reed after it stops, regardless of the induced currents that existed while it was moving). That said, an aluminum Faraday cage WILL block wifi and other radio signals (radio is obviously a dynamic field).
The problematic physical phenomena that warps the static magnetic field in a ferrous box (which makes our reed switches not work so well inside steel enclosures) is called âpara-magnetismâ (itâs how magnets stick to a fridge). Itâs similar to eddy currents in that there is a warping of the field, but the causes are very different. Para-magnetism warps the static field as well. With this understanding, we can see that an aluminum mail box will work just as well as plastic when it comes to the reed/magnet. So as long as the radio can be placed outside the box, a reed/magnet can work fine inside an aluminum enclosure. Further, one can study how paramagnetism works (ie, visualizing field contours⊠which BTW doesnât require a semester course) to get an idea how to âtweak magnet locationâ in a steel box.
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If the mailbox is metal, canât you just add a plastic box underneath it to hold the antenna/ESP/Zigbee/Z-wave device and route the cables up to where they are needed?
Sure, in fact that is how most folks do it. The other option, if you have a radio board that has a way to connect an external antenna, is to keep it all in the metal box and run the antenna wire out to a good location. Here is a good example of such a board that would work with esphome or similar:
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-
TV Alarm Clock
Connected iPhone callendar to HA so TV turn on on specific channel (depends on time and day) with sound low and turn up each 10 seconds also turn on bedroomlight on (depends on time and day). -
TV Schedule channels/programs
Same as above but this time i tuned HA so TV will turn on, check source and switch to the right channel. -
Not at home/When at work/When almost at home
Automate lights, send notifications when motion is detected, turn off all eneryconsuming stuff and turn on when almost at home. -
AirCast playing? TV turns on and go to chromecast source.
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Dogs home alone
Turns radio on + a small light. Not that fancy but a time saver. (Turns TV off when on, audioset changes to âradioâ, tune the right volume, all other lights off, turns webcam on.) -
Motion sensors.
Back door, so gardenlights turn on when someone goes outside.
Hallway, bathroom.
(i want to use iBeacons in the future) -
Apple Watch
I controll all HA stuff (complete house) with my Apple Watch 3 Series. -
Standard stuff like: good morning, good night, lights on/off at sunset/sunrise, adjust light brightness on time of day, track daily energyconsumption with a API.
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I know itâs been a while since you posted this, but would you care to share details about your calendar setup?
My sd card crashed, so i setup a new HA
i used before the crash icloud integration. When synced you are all set to setup alarms 
Thanks, I may setup the icloud integration this weekend to get calendar info!
My bad! you will need the CalDav integration to get the icloud calendars into HA
Oh, that is a different beast. Looks like I would have to set it up in the host OS? I guess I could also set up nextcloud again from the looks of itâŠI have been putting that off for too longâŠ
We have the usual geofence for cctv and alarm monitoring with notify to a group with photos of tripped etc.
We have solar pv with solar edge inverter, so we have that hooked on showing power generation, consumption data and now importantly if we have excess power is turns on pool pumps, water heaters etc, to utilize the solar pv power, works really well, gets best just of our own generation, reduces costs and helps us be green.
We have it controlling our bhyve irrigation as well.
Next projects will be the electric blinds and ac switching
Love ha
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I like my automated blinds and z-wave thermostat. Two of my most used pieces of Home Automation kit.
âif we have excess power is turns on pool pumpsâ - Iâve been pondering this one myself, only turn the pump on when I have excess solar, turn off once I start to pull power from the grid. How have you handled making sure the pump does run on cloudy days? Curios also if your using automations or NR?
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One of my favourite automations is regarding my smart watch.
When I start sleep tracking it:
- Arms the house alarm in âsleep modeâ
- Turns off all house lights except the bedroom lamp
- Slowly dims the bedroom lamp over the next 3 minutes
There is a condition to ensure the alarm does not get armed if âguest modeâ is enabled.
When I stop sleep tracking in the morning it disarms the alarm.
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I have something similar. When I tell Google âGoodnightââŠ
- it asks me what time I would like to set the alarm for
- it starts a script in HA that locks the front door (on the off chance it isnât already)
- turns off all lights in the house
- turns on my c-pap
- sends a message to my phone that Tasker picks up and starts Sleep as Android to track my sleep
- and finally it starts a thunderstorm soundtrack on the Google as background âwhite noiseâ.
I plan on adding a couple of thingsâŠ
- arming the alarm when I finish getting all the door and window sensors setup
- a check that will tell me prior to arming the alarm if any doors or windows were left open
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How do you do that?
And how do you capture the response?
When I say âOk Google, Goodnightâ, that fires off a Google routine. The first step asks about the alarm, then it starts a script in HA that does everything up through starting the sleep tracking, then the Google routine kicks in again to start the Thunderstorm soundtrack. I occasionally sleep in another room and used to travel due to work, so this ensures that it gets played on the same speaker I told Goodnight.
I am also curious, how do you get Google or Home Assistant to set the alarm for you?
I am setting an alarm ON the Google Home device, not in HA. If you go into Assistant Setting on an Android Device, you will see a button titled Routines. Clicking this button will take you to another menu where you can setup a series of commands to be executed all from one voice command. I have a Routine called âGoodnightâ which first asks about the alarm time I want and then executes a script in Home Assistant that ⊠see Projects that have made life easier and more enjoyable - #98 by atomicpapa above. When it is time for the alarm to go off, it is Google that is handling it. HA has nothing to do with it.
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