New Project, help me Design and pick Devices

Hello All,
I have a second house about 5 states away. I would like to monitor temperature, water (in case a pipe breaks) and electricity. If something goes wrong then Text me (i.e. Electricity is Off, Temperature is at freezing, or Water has been Noticed on the floor).

Now here are the Got-Yaā€™s.
While I keep the Electricity on, there is no Phone/Internet active in the house. However, T-Mobile Cell is available with 5 bars. The other carriers only have a bar, sometimes two.

I have seen products that provide this type of monitoring. However, I have not found one that works on T-Mobile. I thought, I found a Motorola solution. While reviews mentioned it worked with T-Mobile, when I spoke with Sales support, I was told the Internet posters were wrong (imagine that) and it only worked on the AT&T Cell Network. But, maybe I am not thinking about the right configuration for these type of devices.

This lead me to create my own solution. Now, I know I going to need to spend a little money. BUT, letā€™s not suggest solution(s) that will break the bank.

My initial thoughts are to get a T-Mobile Hotspot and connect a Hubitat, then sensors with rules.

Any ideaā€™s on sensors that can monitor Temp and Water?

How about a suggestion for Power outage notification?
I guess Iā€™m going to need an UPS to keep the Hotspot, Hubitat and sensors active. But, with an UPS providing power, how will the sensor realize power was lost?

Next, I think I remember reading something about Hubitat dropping their SMS capabilities. Does this mean the only solution will be IFTTT?

And finally, as an extra, your thoughts on a motion activated Camera and it texting me when someone is in the driveway or house, for that matter.

Looking forward to some ingenious ideas.
Thanks
Bill

Temp and water are easy: the Samsung GP-U999SJVLCAA Smart Things Water Leak Sensor does both, for under $20.

Native SMSā€‹ from the hub isn't possible anymore. But you can send a notification to the Hubitat mobile app which is just as good. Some users prefer to use the Pushover app instead (which has a small one-time charge). I use the Hubitat mobile app notifications and they are very reliable.

Regarding UPS, there are a few posts on here including this very cheap option for a few bucks.

If you want to power more devices like the router too then yeah best to get a larger option I think. This may help...

For notification regarding power out, the below may give some ideas...

I really like the one that uses WiFi presence (eg. check a cheap WiFi plug device using its reserved IP address to see if it's still accessible/online). Then power down the hub a certain time after that fails according to how long your UPS will last.

The Twilio built-in app supports sending SMS messages for notifications. It is a little over $10 per year.

The latest ST water sensors do not use coin cell batteries.

You are correct. I just popped open one of mine and it is indeed a CR2 battery.

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Iā€™ve just installed 5 of them to test a new app Iā€™ve written.
Thatā€™s how I knew :slight_smile:

Some routers have SIM card slots so you could skip the hotspot.

Water shutoff valve - either the Dome or Econet.. some others use "Water Cop".

The knock on the Dome's are they are not as strong. I prefer the Econet although its more expensive. "Water Cop" requires a bit more installation but people seem to really like it.

You can hack the Samsungs and dot solder a wire sensor to them as well as replacing the battery with USB power.

There is also the Aeotec Home Energy Monitor Gen 5 but I have not used it so cannot say whether it is worth it or not.

One other thing is a couple of motion sensors maybe not for motion detection but for temperature sensing etc. There are some inexpensive IRIS ones you can get on eBay - again consider hacking to use usb power instead of batteries - less hassle if you are going to be offsite.

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Thanks for ALL the replyā€™s guys. Appreciated.

Jwjr, I like the Samsung GP-U999SJVLCAA Water sensor a lot! Itā€™s not complicated and just plain works. That is definitely going into the project.

Angus_M, I did not know anything about Hubitat Mobile Notification app until reading your post. That is also going to be part of my solution. No need to bring IFTTT into an already complicated solution.

Ritchierich, Thatā€™s the way to go! A SIM based Router. Perfect! I spoke with a Metro T-Mobile person this morning and she told me I could not just buy a Hotspot, I also had to be on one of their Phone plans (Prepaid or Contract). This SIM router solution solves that difficulty.

Angus_M, I read and clicked and read some more trying to figure out how people were using a Windows/Door contact sensor as a power loss sensor. I mean, either the magnet is alongside the Windows/Door sensor or it isnā€™t. Can anyone elaborate how this type sensor is modified to respond to power loss? I understand the need for the USB power cube and USB wire. Just not the lost of power sensing. I betting it is something really stupid and Iā€™m just not seeing it.

THANKS for EVEYONEā€™s post. I knew there would be some ingenious ideaā€™s from the folks on this board.
Bill

The way I originally created mine was to use two wires to the contact sensor.
(Some contact sensors have wired external connection points that replace the magnet as a trigger.
This means if the wires are connected together the sensor shows ā€˜closedā€™ (thus mimicking the magnet)
So, a little 5v n/c (normally closed) relay, powered by a mains supply will remain ā€˜openā€™ until the power goes off.
Once the power goes off, the relay closes then the sensor changes state.
You can then use an app or RM to react to that state chnge.

Here is what I created a long time ago (for smartthings) and brought it to hubitat when I migrated.
The hardware is still the same I made then, but I have written a much better app for this now.

If you look at the post I made all those years ago you will see pictures of the modified device etc.

Andy

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Got ya Andy, I think understand.

The Electric sensing circuit will consist of;

  1. A USB Power Cube
  2. USB wire
  3. 5VDC Relay
  4. Z-Wave Sensor.

I have an old Tilt Sensor/Z-Wave device sitting in my junk box. At 1 time it was attached to my garage door and sensed whether the Garage door was open or closed. Iā€™m going to cut out the tilt switch in that Z-Waver sensor, leaving just two wires connected to the Z-Wave circuit. Then connect those wires to the Normally Open terminal on the 5VDC Relay. With 5VDC applied to the Relay the contacts Close.

When the plugged in USB Power cube loses 120VAC, the 5VDC drops and the relay will change state from closed to open. That change in state is noticed by the modified Tilt sensor and sends a Z-Wave signal back to Hubitat that notifies me.

Is my logic correct?

Thanks

Bill

Perfectly! :slight_smile:

I use exactly the same system.
Because it hardly ever changes, my batteries last over a year!
When my website is open (hopefully soon) there will be an app & driver that you can configure to shut down any number of hubs (inc localhost) after a set amount of time (how long does your ups last?)
If the power comes back on then the shutdown timer is cancelled.
I have been using this hardware for a couple of years and the app for quite a while
It works perfectly for my

Andy

Well it is a 400W UPS, I used on my DirecTV receiver, before changing over to Streaming. So, with this amount of current draw, I'm thinking it could last days.

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Another quick question, if I can ask.
Concerning the Hubitat RM, would you use ā€œChange in Stateā€ in the Rule, or Open / Closed so I can get the App Notification to tell me Power is On or Power has been lost?

Iā€™m sorry, I donā€™t use RM on any of my hubs, but I would think so.
Iā€™m sure one of the guys that use RM can confirm that for you.

Andy

If you put your router etc on the ups as well then you will be able to send notifications of power loss etc too.

It depends on what you want, but I would say yes because my rule would be something like.

Triggers contact changes.

If contact open THEN
Send notification the power is back on
ELSE
Send notification the power has just gone out what do you want to do?
END IF

You may want to check out https://5gstore.com/ for cell modems and routers. I've used them for work related stuff, and have found them to be very helpful. And I've used a couple of the devices they sell very successfully for years at remote sites.

S.