Mailbox pressure plate

[Gast]

Hello,

I would like suggestions on possible hardware to make this happen. I would like to connect my postbox to my loxone system.
The idea would be to have a pressure plate (maybe it goes by another name), something that detects if there's weight on it, on the bottom of the postbox. Once a letter is dropped inside, the plate notices a change in weight and sends a signal (no wiring so maybe wifi?) to loxone system maybe through a post request and loxone can take it from there and alert me of new mail.

Any suggestions of hardware that I can use to get this pressure plate thingy off the ground?

Thanks.

[killeriq]

wouldnt be easier something like "door contact" magnet device or an simple "motion detector" ?

As the letter enter the mailbox - u should get some alert from that

[Jan W.]

I've used a simple reed contact with a magnet to detect if somebody opens my postpox. A Cat-7 cable runs to the postbox, so the little function was not expensive and I was able to add some RGB LEDs, too. Of course it is not exactly the same, but was simple to install. If you are looking for a wireless solution - do you have power? If you need a battery, the solution should be energy efficient - polling values over WiFi is not efficient. Maybe Air is a solution in this case? As far as I can see there is no generic input module for air available in the Loxone shop, but only a Door & WIndow Contact Air. Maybe you can combine such a solution with your "pressure plate", e.g. by using a plate that is combined with a little spring. A single letter should be heavy enough to pull the plate down and trigger the reed contact, e.g. Door & WIndow Contact Air.

A Raspberry PI might work as well, the new one has WiFi already onboard. With such a solution you only have to turn on WiFi to signal a change and can use UDP inputs on the MS instead of polling from the MS. On the other hand, it's a lot of work to put everything together and program the PI. Energy consumption on the PI is much higher, so a battery would not last for two years as with the air solution above.

[Christian Fenzl]

Some time ago there was a German thread about this.
It has taken Jan's idea with reed contact, but two of them:
One on the top, so the reed switches the state to "Post is in" when the postman opens the upper door.
The second in your postbox door when you open to clear the postbox, to reset the state.

[Gast]

Some time ago there was a German thread about this.
It has taken Jan's idea with reed contact, but two of them:
One on the top, so the reed switches the state to "Post is in" when the postman opens the upper door.
The second in your postbox door when you open to clear the postbox, to reset the state.

This sounds like a great idea. What kind of reed contact would this be? Does Loxone sell one or should I get a 3rd party one?

[Christian Fenzl]

Window contacts are reed switches. They consist of two parts: The reed switch with the wires, and a second part with the magnet.
Loxone has them in their shop. There are also smaller variants in different designs, and "pure" reed switches (look like small bulbs) available in electronic stores.

[killeriq]

forget loxone - try to search alternatives like this one for example: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1Pc-...718929711.html
you just connect it to DIGITAL INPUT and setup rules in Config

[Jan W.]

you just connect it to DIGITAL INPUT

For a wired solution I fully agree. I believe the initiator of this thread was asking for a wireless solution. In this case I would use the Air components (see #3).

One on the top, so the reed switches the state to "Post is in" when the postman opens the upper door. The second in your postbox door when you open to clear the postbox, to reset the state.

I was thinking about this for my own postbox as well, but advertisements or newspapers are often just put half into the box. So if my wife is just pulling them out, the "status" is not reset. Therefore I like the idea with a "pressure plate".