Good day all
Apologies for not being regular on the forum , life has been just too hectic.
I have decided to share a hack with you all so that you may also know the status of a driveway gate( open or closed) . I hope this was not already posted by someone else previousy . I did this diy project about a year ago , it works well at most times . I have attached photos for clarity.
I used a Sonoff waterproof case, I sealed off the bottom using a piece of old plastic shopping card and hot glued both the inside and outside to prevent any insects from getting in. One of the issues of the DW2 WiFi switch is that its very power hungry, so I soldered an additional power pack to it in parallel to increase the battery life and to that a small low wattage solar panel to provide a trickle charge to the rechargable batteries so that when the sunlight shines on the box it will hopefully keep the batteries topped up . Please note this is by no means a proper charging method, a more better way would be to use one of those small outdoor garden solar lights and modify it by removing the light and connecting it to the DW2 switch , provided that the output voltage matches to it of course. I then fixed all the components in the enclosure using some reusable sticky putty, this allows me to easily remove them to fully recharge or change the batteries . I then mounted the enclosure onto the driveway gate motor box and attached a small magnet to the rack of the gate matching the height of the box. Please be careful when mounting the magnet , please space the magnet away from the enclosure taking in consideration that the gate will also have some play of movement Sideways as well and it could result in the magnet colliding sometimes into the enclosure when the gate closes .
And there you go… Simple as that …Now you will know the Status of you driveway gate !
Some general things to note:
-The enclosure is not UV resistant hence the yellowing of the clear cover and the box itself after exposure to sunlight after some time.
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I used a DW2 WiFi switch because that’s what I have , I haven’t gone the Zigbee way as yet.
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Some time ago in my last post , I queried the *Signal range of devices , You have to take into consideration the distance of the DW2 switch to your router . I my case , I stay below road level , My gate motor is on higher ground approx 10m or so from the WiFi router . Signal from the router is lost / absorbed by a thick brick wall , metal stair balustrades and a metal carport . So many times it loses connection with the DW2 switch and it shows offline on the app. Even if I go Zigbee , I don’t have a power outlet in between the gate and router to add a hub to strengthen the connection. So consider the Signal travel distance before trying this out.
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I don’t know if any of the people from Sonoff read any of this but it would be nice if the ewelink door switch notification was edited to display OPEN or CLOSED only , so I don’t have see my notification as ’ Gate was Opened’ and below that ‘Door switch opened’.
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coming back to Signal range of devices, one of the issues I had was when I installed an Inching switch inside the gate motor box to open and close the driveway gate using the ewelink app , many times connection is lost because of distance from the router , however I solved this issue very easily and I will share the solution with you soon that will provide a solid signal connection from router to Inching switch. …That for the next post tho.
Take care all and Enjoy the Festive season !
