Smart Letterbox

My letterbox is on the outside door, in the porch, behind the front door. So when the postman comes and delivers, I don’t always notice it. It also means that I will sometime open the front door just to check if post has been delivered yet.

I was wondering, how can I make my letterbox smarter so it alerts me when post has been delivered? Answer: use a sensor designed for door/window security.

I therefore purchased a Home Easy Remote Control Magnetic Switch Unit (HE305) from http://wirelesshomes.co.uk/

Home Easy HE305

Home Easy Remote Control Magnetic Switch Unit HE305

The idea behind this is that when the 2 piece are away from each other, a signal is sent and captured by my RFXTrx Transceiver so I can add rules in DomotiGa.

To achieve this I purchased a cheap letterbox from B&Q that I fitted in the internal part of the porch door, which gets lifted when post is pushed through:

Letterbox

Letterbox

Now when post is delivered, an audio announcement is played on the speakers and an email is sent. I also log each entry to keep track of delivery times, just because I can 😎

Important Note: Even though this is an Home Easy device, the AC protocol needs to be enabled in RFXCom Commander for the signal to be picked up in DomotiGa.