Garage Open/Closed/Left Open Push Notification from ESP32 (trigBoard) with Mercury Tilt Sensor

[@rfdave3980]

Kevin I put the reed switch at the top of the garage door, the magnet on the door(moving) and the switch screwed to the door frame(Wall), little to no vibration. At the top of the door if it opens in the smallest amount, top moves away quick because the track has a radius. To protect the wires of the reed switch I fished them though some vinyl tubing. Plus it is up and out of the way of snow, water people hitting it. Has work very reliably for years now. Great channel. 73 (Best wishes) CND

[@Kevindarrah]

nice!

[@chawlamohali]

Thank you. Great alternative to reed switches.

[@connecticutaggie]

Another option would be a magnet an a hall sensor. One advantage with that approach is you could put the magnet on the door and the detector on the frame/rail. That would mean the electronics would be fixed mounted and you could hook external power and maybe even connect into the close button so you could open/close the door remotely. Another idea would be to have two magnets (one on one side to detect full open and one on the other side to detect full closed) and two hall sensors.

[@alanesq1]

If worried about the mercury you can get "non mercury tilt switch" which I believe use a metal ball (I suspect they are not as reliable though). BTW - If you search eBay for "rotary limit switch adjustable" - these switches are very handy for this type of project (there are several designs)

[@Djkyle65]

wish trigboard wasnt so expensive.

[@gwkdad]

Yep. I guess it comes down to how much are you willing to pay for security....

[@Kevindarrah]

yea, there's a lot packed in there - small margins.. believe me, but also built and tested in the US - all components genuine as well. And also these are made in small batches.

[@Djkyle65]

@@Kevindarrah I can appreciate that for sure

[@avejst]

Great project Thanks for sharing 👍😁

[@kozinator]

Love the content! Could you do this one step further and an additional option to trip an audio device and/or flashing light? It could be used to let u know something is tripping in the middle of the night (alarm). And if possible we could define when it is armed?

[@Kevindarrah]

yea, you gotta see my cellular project that relays the info to "monitor" boards that play mp3 files based on the events - that project is fully documented up on the docs as well. I still need to make a video on the monitor part though

[@kozinator]

Kevin Darrah thanks, I took a look. What about something a little louder (non-mp3)? Maybe a buzzard (old alarm clock that runs off a 9volt) or one of those flashing strobe lights for deaf people to let them know the phone is ringing or someone is at the door (granted it may run on 120, but maybe could find a DC type).

[@Kevindarrah]

yea, actually I have an idea for that as well - but like turn on a relay or something then could activate anything you want.

[@kozinator]

Kevin Darrah a relay would be perfect.

[@oskimac]

Nice. You know there are also a non mercury version. It has one or two solid metal balls in place of mercury. I use them and works fine. The only problem is if moisture gets in the balls corroded and can't make good contact.

[@Kevindarrah]

thanks, yea you got a link? I'm interested in testing something non-mercury that performs as good

[@MrMartinZockt]

​@@Kevindarrah I thought the same as Oscar Caetano. For example RS component has a few: americas.rsdelivers.com/category/non-mercury-tilt-switches/8433 I never used one myself. So I can't recommend one. But I had a cube shaped IKEA clock with something similar. You could flip the clock and it showed different values on its display (Clock, Alarm, Temperature). That is working fine still today. You can even hear the metal ball inside.

[@Kevindarrah]

thanks!

[@troybaird404]

Really cool alternative. Thoughts on best option for a roller type door? I find reed switches aren't so reliable... As you say the doors move around a bit...

[@Kevindarrah]

this could work too I think?

[@yogeshitaliya473]

Nice one

[@Alex-vu5uu]

is there a way to make this smaller?

[@prachethire812]

Why you have not used hall effect sensor Instead of reed switch.

[@dave_dennis]

How often do you have to recharge the battery? And do you have a way without dismounting the entire assembly?

[@Kevindarrah]

years, and yea lid pops off then just unplug the battery. I have a lot of these batteries, so just swap them out. Or even supports AAA/AA batteries, so easily replace

[@adamjhuber]

LOL my first IoT project was also a garage door monitor. I used a NodeMCU but know you like to use trigBoards. Should I switch to trigBoards? Any advantage?

[@Kevindarrah]

yea, main advantage is power consumption - trigBoard only consumes 1 or 2uA when in standby. And that's both if door is open or closed. Will last for years on a battery

[@nyckid]

From a security installer... the door contacts you use indoors will drop dead in a couple of years, especially on a steel door. Use the proper switch and you won't have problems. Anything along these lines will be fine and last you 10+ years... I've had some on a golf course greenskeepers shed that have been installed for more than 20 years and still work... www.amazon.com/dp/B004KNZ7FQ/

[@spacewolfjr]

So I'm _not_ supposed to drink the mercury?

[@Kevindarrah]

lol, well I felt a warning was needed

[@mrteausaable]

Hi Kevin, since I follow you video, I have been using the pushover and telegram as a notification to my phone. I see your all your video has notification instantaneously. But when I use my pushover sometimes it takes up to 1 minute to get the notification. Do you have any suggestion as how I get the notification under 5 second delay?

[@Kevindarrah]

wow that's crazy long, have you tried push safer? I have tutorials on that as well. Pushover always seems faster for me - ~3seconds or so

[@mrteausaable]

@@Kevindarrah Yes, same delay also seem not consistent. I like to using phone texting notification so it is instance and guaranty receive it.

[@Kevindarrah]

are you part of the discord group? if not send me an email and I'll give you a link. We can help you out over there

[@IareDewey]

That's may be an issue with your phone. Are you on Android? Some manufacturers are very aggressive with their power saving, so the app may not be receiving notifications in the background all the time like you might expect. You might try turn off power saving for that app, or to troubleshoot you can try sending a notification while the app is open in the foreground and see if that reduces the amount of time it takes for the notification to come through.

[@MiniLuv-1984]

The Trig board can be made to do so many thing in the detection space, what a great idea. I'm just uncomfortable with transmitting that kind of info to the rest of the world via pushover and telegram et al. Is this discomfort warranted?

[@Kevindarrah]

I'm not a security expert, but I personally think it's safe, but also note that I converted my system to use a local network and send all data out via cellular

[@Kevindarrah]

yea a lot of people have done it this way, and was requested heavily on v7 trigBoard, so now MQTT is built-in as an option for you on v8

[@jarchdm]

I run all my stuff locally on raspberry pi with node red. I use telegram bot for all notifications and for certain commands. (you can make your own telegram custom keyboard to send commands)

[@MiniLuv-1984]

@@jarchdm Thanks KJ Archer. Will investigate this further. (There will probably be a video on it by Kevin if I look )