Long-range contact sensor for mailbox

[Cobra]

We could go on forever, but this doesn't sort out the OP’s problem as he has already said he is unable to run the cable - shame... it might be fun to try

[billmeek]

An "off the wall" idea...

What about a solar powered repeater? You could also add solar to the mailbox side.

[shadowjig]

@mbishop if you are handy with electronics (Arduino or ESP8266). You could create a notifier using a pair of 433mhz transceivers, a reed switch, antenna and battery on the mailbox side. It should be battery efficient as you can close the battery circuit using the reed switch. Therefore it's only on to transmit the "I'm open" signal.

Then connect the transeiver in the house to a ESP8266. Transceiver signal goes high and indicates the mailbox was opened. Then use the Hubduino or Tasmota firmware to connect the ESP8266 to HE.

The 433mhz transceivers are very cheap. Do you could test the distance easily. Also 433mhz is a long wavelength (when compared to other frequencies we have access to). The long wavelengths penetrate obstacles better. That's why 2.4ghz WiFi penetrates better through houses and has a longer range than 5.8ghz WiFi.

I built one of these with my Dad. But on the house side he tied it to the door bell. So the the door chime is ding dong and the mailbox goes dong ding!!!

[rcjordan]

Happened to find one I had bookmarked as a possibility before I went with the modified Mail Chime.

Normally Open Contact Trigger Transmitter and Receiver With Relay Output

https://www.carymart.com/normally-open-contact-trigger-transmitter-and-receiver-with-relay-output-p-2242.html

[Eric.C.Miller]

Do you have line of sight from the house to the mailbox?

[shadowjig]

@rcjordan

Happened to find one I had bookmarked as a possibility before I went with the modified Mail Chime.

Normally Open Contact Trigger Transmitter and Receiver With Relay Output

https://www.carymart.com/normally-open-contact-trigger-transmitter-and-receiver-with-relay-output-p-2242.html

315mhz is a long wave length, this would be good for distance.

[haas]

I got Lora working with hubitat.. interfaced using a MonaLisa Zigbee board. Discussed over on this thread...

Thingshield replacement for arduino over zigbee now available for hubitat

I just got a nice little extension working. I've used a couple cheap (~$10) E32 LoRa UART modules to send serial commands to/from the MonaLisa over LoRa (which then of course go to/from the smart hub). So you can send a command from a distant (3km in theory!) LoRa node, to a LoRa node hooked up to the MonaLisa, which then gets relayed to the hub. And you can send a command from the hub to MonaLisa, which is passed to the connected LoRa node, which then gets relayed to the distant LoRa node. I'v…

[oraclerouter]

You can try a cellular alarm contact sensor such as this one www(.)amazon(.)com/dp/B089ZZYJ63?ref=myi_title_dp

[tamaracks]

Does anybody know of a write-up for this type of solution?

@shadowjig

if you are handy with electronics (Arduino or ESP8266). You could create a notifier using a pair of 433mhz transceivers, a reed switch, antenna and battery on the mailbox side.

[callegari.dreaming]

Other ideas to throw out there for long range:
Use 433Mhz RF long range transmitter to signal a Sonoff RF 433Mhz Bridge (which can be HE integrated). I think that can go from 100m up to 500m (plenty)
Wait for Amazon Sidewalk (up to a mile?) and see if that can be integrated to HE.