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Long Range "LoRa" Universal MailBox Sensor

Can be Integrated into Home Assistant, receive notifications via WhatsApp, or be used offline.

Use Cases

Mailbox Sensor - "Code examples are provided"
Motion Sensor
Door Window Sensor

How it works - Mailbox Use Case

The Mailbox Guard is a device that detects when a new letter or package has been delivered to your mailbox using a PIR sensor and door reed switch. It can send a signal to your LoRa gateway, then the gateway sends a message via WiFi to Home Assistant "MQTT" or its "API" or to WhatsApp allowing you to receive notifications directly into your phone. Or you can use it offline, the gateway display will show the number of letters received, Battery status, and signal strength.

Sensor Specifications

Microcontroller "Attiny1616"
LoRa Bands "433/868/915"
PIR Sensor AM312 "With the option to turn it off"
Onboard reed switch "optional"
External reed switch "Input 2 Pin"
Battery Holder for "Li-Ion 14500"
Optional 2 Pin SMD LiPo Battery connector
Build-in Battery Charger "Can be separated"
- Connector USB-C
- Charge status LED "Charging, Full"
Extremely Low Power Consumption
- Motion Sensor PIR 11.30uAh
- Only reed switch 280nAh
- Every data submission uses 65uA
- TX LED "With the option to turn it off"
Size
- With charger "XXmm to XXmm"
- Without charger "XXmm to XXmm"
Programming Protocol
- UPDI / Serial2UPDI

==============================

⚠️ Battery Polarity ⚠️

Before connecting the battery, make sure to check the connector polarity on your battery. This is especially important because many 1S LiPo batteries have inverted polarity.

Mailbox Sensor Programming

For programming MailBox Guard, you need any 3.3V "UPDI programmer" You can use my other open-source project "UNIProg Programmer" GitHub

Connection Diagram

UNIProg	MailBox Guard
GND	GND
3v3	3v3
UPD	UPD

Arduino Setup "IDE 2.0.x unsupported"

Note

For the Library "megaTinyCore" the official recommendation is. Only versions of the Arduino IDE downloaded from https://arduino.cc should be used, NEVER from a Linux package manager. The golden standard is "V1.8.13".

Additional Boards Manager URLs
- ESP32 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/espressif/arduino-esp32/gh-pages/package_esp32_dev_index.json
- megaTinyCore http://drazzy.com/package_drazzy.com_index.json
Libraries Used
- LoRa
- PubSubClient
- ESP8266 and ESP32 OLED driver for SSD1306 displays
- UrlEncode
- HARestAPI "Sketch > Include Library > Add .ZIP Library..."
  - https://github.com/debsahu/HARestAPI

MailBox Sensor Configuration

Frequency Configuration

In Mailbox_Guard_Sensor.ino
The settings in the gateway and in the sensor must match.

#define BAND 868E6 // frequency in Hz (ASIA 433E6, EU 868E6, US 915E6)

New Mail and Low Battery Key

In Mailbox_Guard_Sensor.ino

String NewMailCode = "REPLACE_WITH_NEW_MAIL_CODE"; // For Example "0xA2B2";
String LowBatteryCode = "REPLACE_WITH_LOW_BATTERY_CODE"; // For Example "0xLBAT";

MailBox LoRa Radio Configuration

In Mailbox_Guard_Sensor.ino
- The settings in the gateway and in the sensor must match.

LoRa.setSignalBandwidth(125E3);         // signal bandwidth in Hz, defaults to 125E3
LoRa.setSpreadingFactor(12);            // ranges from 6-12, default 7 see API docs
LoRa.setCodingRate4(8);                 // Supported values are between 5 and 8, these correspond to coding rates of 4/5 and 4/8. The coding rate numerator is fixed at 4.
LoRa.setSyncWord(0xF3);                 // byte value, any hexadecimal value from 0x00 to 0xFF, defaults is 0x12
LoRa.setPreambleLength(8);              //Supported values are between 6 and 65535.
LoRa.disableCrc();                      // Enable or disable CRC usage, by default a CRC is not used LoRa.disableCrc();
LoRa.setTxPower(20);                    // TX power in dB, defaults to 17, Supported values are 2 to 20

Gateway Configuration

Choosing Firmware for LoRa Gateway

LoRa_Gateway_OLED.ino - "For offline use" Display turns on and shows that there is a new letter in the mailbox "the number of letters", "signal strength" and "Battery State". After taking your mail, you need to press the reset button on the gateway.
LoRa_Gateway_WhatsApp.ino - Sends a message to WhatsApp "You Have New Mail".
LoRa_Gateway_MQTT.ino - Sends a row message and RSSI to MQTT Server.
LoRa_Gateway_HARestAPI.ino - Sends a message to HA via the API interface.

Select TTGO_LoRa Board Version

In Arduino IDE select Tools > Board > ESP32 Arduino > ESP32 Dev Module
Change the BOARD definition in board.h according to your gateway Version " 1 = ENABLE / 0 = DISABLE ".

#define LORA_V1_0_OLED  0
#define LORA_V1_2_OLED  0
#define LORA_V1_3_OLED  0
#define LORA_V1_6_OLED  0
#define LORA_V2_0_OLED  1

TTGO Boards GPIOs

Name	V1.0	V1.2(T-Fox)	V1.3	V1.6	V2.1
OLED RST	16	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
OLED SDA	4	21	4	21	21
OLED SCL	15	22	15	22	22
SDCard CS	N/A	N/A	N/A	13	13
SDCard MOSI	N/A	N/A	N/A	15	15
SDCard MISO	N/A	N/A	N/A	2	2
SDCard SCLK	N/A	N/A	N/A	14	14
DS3231 SDA	N/A	21	N/A	N/A	N/A
DS3231 SCL	N/A	22	N/A	N/A	N/A
LORA MOSI	27	27	27	27	27
LORA MISO	19	19	19	19	19
LORA SCLK	5	5	5	5	5
LORA CS	18	18	18	18	18
LORA RST	14	23	23	23	23
LORA DIO0	26	26	26	26	26

Gateway LoRa Radio Configuration

The settings in the gateway and in the sensor must match.

#define SignalBandwidth 125E3
#define SpreadingFactor 12
#define CodingRate 8
#define SyncWord 0xF3
#define PreambleLength 8
#define TxPower 20
float BAND = 868E6; // 433E6 / 868E6 / 915E6 /

New Mail Key Configuration

In LoRa_Gateway_OLED.ino and LoRa_Gateway_WhatsApp.ino

String NewMailCode = "REPLACE_WITH_NEW_MAIL_CODE"; // For Example "0xA2B2";
String LowBatteryCode = "REPLACE_WITH_LOW_BATTERY_CODE"; // For Example "0xLBAT";

WiFi Configuration

In LoRa_Gateway_MQTT.ino, LoRa_Gateway_HARestAPI.ino and LoRa_Gateway_WhatsApp.ino

const char* ssid = "Your_WIFI_SSID";
const char* password = "Your_WIFI_password";

MQTT Configuration

Only in LoRa_Gateway_MQTT.ino

const char* mqtt_username = "Your_mqtt_username";
const char* mqtt_password = "Your_mqtt_password";
const char* mqtt_server = "Your_mqtt/homeassistant server IP";
const int mqtt_port = 1883;

HARestAPI Configuration

Open LoRa_Gateway_HARestAPI.ino
For the ha_pwd go to your User Profile > Long-Lived Access Tokens > Create Token

const char* ha_ip = "192.168.0.xxx";
uint16_t ha_port = 8123;
const char* ha_pwd = "HA_PASSWORD";

Home Assistant Configuration

MQTT

Create a Sensor only For 'LoRa_Gateway_MQTT_Simple.ino', for 'LoRa_Gateway_MQTT_Auto_Discovery.ino' it's not required.

File loragateway.yaml

mqtt:
  sensor:
    - name: "LoRa_Code"
      state_topic: "LoRa-Gateway/Code"

    - name: "LoRa_RSSI"
      state_topic: "LoRa-Gateway/RSSI"

HARestAPI

File configuration.yaml

input_boolean:
  mailbox_guard_motion:
    name: Mailbox Guard Motion
    icon: mdi:mail
  mailbox_guard_low_battery:
    name: Mailbox Guard Low Battery
    icon: mdi:battery

input_number:
  mailbox_guard_count:
    name: Mailbox Guard Count
    min: 0
    max: 255
    icon: mdi:mail
  mailbox_guard_battery:
    name: Mailbox Guard Battery
    min: 0
    max: 100
    icon: mdi:battery
  mailbox_guard_rssi:
    name: Mailbox Guard RSSI
    min: -196
    max: 63
    icon: mdi:signal
  mailbox_guard_snr:
    name: Mailbox Guard SNR
    min: -32.0
    max: 32.0
    icon: mdi:waves

File automation.yaml

- id: "1693702614043"
  alias: Mailbox Guard Motion
  description: ""
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_guard_motion
      to: "on"
  condition: []
  action:
    - service: notify.notify
      data:
        message: You've Got Mail!
    - service: input_number.set_value
      data:
        entity_id: input_number.mailbox_guard_count
        value: "{{ (states.input_number.mailbox_guard_count.state | int) + 1 }}"
    - service: input_boolean.turn_off
      data:
        entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_guard_motion
  mode: single
- id: "1693703621871"
  alias: Mailbox Guard Low Battery
  description: ""
  trigger:
    - platform: state
      entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_guard_low_battery
      to: "on"
  condition: []
  action:
    - service: notify.notify
      data:
        message: Mailbox Guard Low Battery!
    - service: input_boolean.turn_off
      data:
        entity_id: input_boolean.mailbox_guard_low_battery
  mode: single

Dashboard card

type: entities
title: Mailbox Guard
show_header_toggle: false
entities:
  - type: conditional
    conditions: []
    row:
      type: sensor-entity
      entity: input_number.mailbox_guard_count
      name: Motion Count
  - type: button
    icon: mdi:sync
    name: Reset Count
    action_name: RESET
    tap_action:
      action: call-service
      service: input_number.set_value
      data:
        entity_id: input_number.mailbox_guard_count
        value: 0
  - type: conditional
    conditions: []
    row:
      type: sensor-entity
      entity: input_number.mailbox_guard_battery
      name: Battery
  - type: conditional
    conditions: []
    row:
      type: sensor-entity
      entity: input_number.mailbox_guard_rssi
      name: RSSI
  - type: conditional
    conditions: []
    row:
      type: sensor-entity
      entity: input_number.mailbox_guard_snr
      name: SNR

MailBox Guard motion detection events

Your phone receives a notification from HA You've Got Mail!
The MailBox Guard will add a count to the Motion Count
When you fetch the mail select the RESET button

PricelessToolkit / MailBoxGuard