Hey all! New to the forum and posting to ask if anyone has found a hardware solution for something I haven’t been able to find a device that can accomplish yet.
Has anyone managed to give unique identifier tags, to track when those tags get within a foot or two of a sensor / tag reader? NFC needs to be very close to an NFC reader, but I was exploring different options like BLE devices that can track signal strength, or RFID devices that I can buy along with an RFID scanner.
I’d like to track which of my cats are entering into one of my litter boxes - I can track entry into the box through a motion sensor or magnetic ‘door sensor’, but I’m curious if anyone has found any hardware that integrates well with HA that can identify an animal, e.g. something they can wear as a collar and when it gets within a foot or so from where I put the ‘reader’ - can trigger an automation.
The cats already have the usual implanted RFID tags so I even wondered if those were possible to read, but I don’t mind buying new tags for them to wear around their neck or something like that.
I’d also be open to suggestions of a weight sensor that is easy to integrate, as I wondered if I could simply check their weight on a pad outside the litterbox entrance and determine which cat it was from that - but this was also difficult for me to find online.
Open to other suggestions as well - I’d be willing to build something with an esp32 or 8266 and esphome or something along those lines, but if anyone knows working integrated products for purchase - it’d be awesome