4 ms·
RE: Smart Mailbox I've seen a few people DIY them. You can put a reed switch or similar on the door, and watch for state changes, to trigger a "PostBox opened
by paradox460 3y ago
RE: Smart Mailbox
I've seen a few people DIY them. You can put a reed switch or similar on the door, and watch for state changes, to trigger a "PostBox opened last at" style sensor, or use a light sensor in the box to do the same.
If you want to seriously over-engineer, you could put the box on a load cell, and measure the weight of the post.
Use an ESP32 for your control board, and its pretty much just basic ESPHome plumbing
- rekoil 3y agoUnfortunately I can't do any of those things because I live in an apartment and we have mailboxes like these: https://kopbrevlada.se/pub/media/webp_image/catalog/product/cache/9ee025d4de222759f4b25feadcc9b7f2/f/a/fastighetsbox-renz-budget-789d.webp https://kopbrevlada.se/pub/media/webp_image/catalog/product/... But I appreciate the suggestions!
- drra 3y agoSurely low power PIR sensor would work. Something like this maybe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZFg4SVySM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZFg4SVySM
- paradox460 3y agoA light sensor on an ESP taped to the inside of the mailbox would probably work, and a note to the postal carrier informing them of its function, but I suspect you'd have issues with the range of the device.
- rekoil 3y agoYeah, I live 3 floors up and on the other side of the building from the mailboxes.