I'm looking for an outdoor (weatherproof) contact or shock sensor I can attach to my front gate. I'd like to be able to set up some automations to happen whenever the gate opens. So far, I haven't been able to find anything that looks capable of standing up my NW Ohio climate. It could be either z-wave or zigbee.
Since it only has to measure shock or movement, couldn’t you just mount a motion/contact sensor in a plastic box?
I suppose that is an option. I never considered weatherproofing a sensor myself.
I pasted an Amazon link but because your profile doesn't show your location, I hope it's good enough if you're in another part of this planet. 
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How would a solid box work for a motion sensor? It's not going to be able to see out through the box to detect that any motion has occured. You'd have to use a 3 axis sensor, like a garage door tilt sensor for something like this.
But the biggest concern I would have in your climate (I'm in western NYS) is the cold. With temps below freezing for long periods of time, your batteries are going to die because of the cold. That is to say, you won't be able to get any power out of them when they get cold. I tried to use an iris contact sensor for my garage door at first. As soon as it got close to winter, it died on me. As soon as i brought it in the house and it warmed up, it worked again. Batteries don't work well in below freezing conditions.
I have sensors that have been in freezers for years with no issues, not to mention they still report fine even though they’re in essentially a metal box. I’m using a Samsung Multisensor in a freezer and it would sense any movement or tampering with a gate. My Aeon MS6 works great in the freezer as well
and senses tampering.
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I just spray mine with some flex seal. Has worked for the last 2 years on three sensors.
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I can't believe it's been around that long. Awesome stuff really.
You can also buy this sensative contact sensor. Not sure the spec for your environment.
That’s a nifty thing!
The sensitive strips are awesome, but I have no idea of the range. I know the monoprice contact go forever.
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