I’m still thinking about a use for my Aqara vibration sensor that wouldn’t be better implemented with a door sensor.
The problem with our letterboxes is that we live on the third floor and I think the range for the letterbox would be too short. I also think it would be impossible to set it up so that it only triggers when we receive mail.
Then yesterday I had the idea of using it to make a smart door mat. Apparently not many people have had that idea yet, as I could hardly find anything about it apart from this Kickstarter, which has implemented it a bit more reliably.
I think my main problem is that I have to install the sensor somehow so that it doesn’t break when you step on it. I was thinking of a door mat that you could hide something in. However, I haven’t found anything for this either. My last workaround would be to place 2 door mats on top of each other with the sensor in between. But I’m not sure if that would work so well.
Does anyone have any thoughts/ideas/suggestions on this?
You can find multple different pressure sensors that could do this. I saw someone modify a Withings Sleep Tracking Mat in a cool way along these lines. At a simpler level, Govee Life has a pressure sensor though in my experience it is not great yet. Just go to Amazon or Temu or wherever and type in pressure mat sensor and you get tons of options. It’s important to note that not all of them are smart out of the box so you might need to do custom work.
As for the Aqara Vib Sensors I currently have QTY 7 deployed at random locations around my house. Some on the edge of Zigbee range and others closer in. You can cheaply and easily increase Zigbee range with multiple devices. In this case I have multiple Ikea sockets deployed that increase that range.
If your mailbox has any sort of door that only you or the mailman open close then you can leverage Aqara (or other) contact sensors to trigger alerts very easily. I do this now on my mailbox and it works well
Hello. Got notified of this post and was wondering why. Any hoot, I was reading op post and was not sure what the final intention was. A sensor inside the mailbox to get notify of mails?
Then, I read a door mat sensor. A few years ago, I saw this diy post (swear the thread got locked at some point, but now unlocked) of making a bed sensor with supplies you already have. Could function under a door mat. This is my version of the bed sensor and still working to this day.
Hey, thanks for the messages so far. Wasn’t perhaps not entirely clear, but my problem is not that I absolutely want a smart door mat. It was just another idea I had for the vibration sensor that I wanted to put to use and hear some thoughts.
So I would either like to make the mat with the vibration sensor or find another purpose for it.
The information on smart door mats is still helpful and maybe I’ll come back to it at some point.
